Andy Burnham has told Donald Trump he will be “pragmatic” about North Sea oil, leaving the door open for future drilling in the area.
The new prime minister, who is seeking to deviate from Sir Keir Starmer’s deeply unpopular leadership, told the US president that we “can’t ignore” the resources in the North Sea, during a phone call on his first day in office.
After the call, Mr Trump said Mr Burnham had told him he would “open up North Sea oil”, comments the former Manchester mayor was asked about during a visit to Barrow, in Cumbria.
“I indicated in the phone call that we had a week last Monday that I would take a pragmatic approach when it comes to the North Sea, and that is my intention as we go forward from here,” the prime minister said.
“There is a resource there. When people are struggling, we can’t ignore that. Hence, me indicating that to the president.”
The exchange secured the prime minister an early endorsement by Mr Tump and signalled a fresh start in the transatlantic partnership after relations with Sir Keir grew increasingly fractious over the Iran war.
But Labour’s 2024 manifesto vowed not to issue North Sea licences and Mr Burnham previously promised to stand by commitments made in the manifesto that delivered a large majority for Labour.
Ed Miliband, who held the energy and net zero brief under Sir Keir Starmer and was a strong supporter of the election pledge, has now taken the foreign secretary role.
Mr Burnham appears now to have left the door open to change. His successor as energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, has said the manifesto was clear there is scope to exploit existing licences and that oil and gas are “part of the mix” – but would not be drawn on whether there are plans to go further.
Mr Burnham’s government is also facing calls from the energy sector to approve the Jackdaw gasfield east of Aberdeen and Rosebank oilfield west of Shetland - but campaigners have warned that doing so would break the Labour manifesto.
Consultations on the projects are due to run until August 10 and August 17 respectively, with the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (Opred) due to make a recommendation to the UK Government after that.
Mr Trump had already talked up a change in policy that he anticipated under Mr Burnham before the former Greater Manchester mayor took office.
The US president, a vocal supporter of fossil fuels, has long railed against “windmills”.
He lost a legal battle with the Scottish government to stop a wind turbine development visible from his Aberdeenshire golf course.
Referring to his conversation with Mr Burnham, Mr Trump said on Wednesday: “Well, he did say one very good thing. He said he’s going to open up North Sea oil.
“If he does that, you’re going to be a wealthy country.”
He went on: “You have one of the most valuable oil finds anywhere in the world, and if the United Kingdom would use it, they’d be a wealthy country again. And I tell you what, I could not get Starmer to use it. It was incredible.”
Green Party leader Zack Polanski warned the prime minister against further North Sea drilling.
“Allowing new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea will worsen the climate breakdown putting more lives at risk and doing untold damage to our economy,” he said.
“It’s not too late for Burnham to do the right thing and commit to leaving dangerous fossil fuels in the ground.”
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