Burnham backs Jackdaw gas as bridge to net zero — SkimNews
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Miatta Fahnbulleh approved Jackdaw gas production on Wednesday, authorizing a supply that Burnham says will heat homes and power businesses this winter.
- Jackdaw gasfield, Burnham says, will lift UK gas production by about 6%, support domestic supply for more than a decade, protect hundreds of Scottish jobs and add nearly £3bn to the economy over the project’s lifetime.
- Andy Burnham says domestically produced gas has a lower carbon footprint than imported gas and will remain necessary for years as a bridge to clean energy while Britain pursues net zero by 2050.
- Labour was elected on a manifesto committing it to both net zero by 2050 and no new North Sea oil and gas licences; Burnham says he stands by both promises.
- Energy wealth fund will start with an initial £2bn and turn future North Sea oil and gas tax revenues into clean-energy programmes; Burnham says this will substantially delink gas and electricity prices by the end of this parliament and lower bills over the long term.
- Andy Burnham says he has asked the chancellor and energy secretary to remove standing charges from gas bills at the earliest opportunity, after removing VAT from electricity bills and seeing the reduction reach households this month.
- Britain has just had its hottest summer on record, with Burnham citing nurses collapsing on hospital wards, bus drivers facing intolerable conditions and families losing everything to wildfires to argue for immediate climate action.
Why it matters: For Scottish workers and households, Jackdaw is presented as delivering a 6% rise in domestic gas production, more than a decade of supply and hundreds of jobs. But Burnham’s defence of added production sits uneasily beside Labour’s no-new-licences pledge, sharpening the unity concern raised by the Guardian Environment headline.
Ask SkimNews
