LONDON — Labour MPs and climate campaigners are abandoning resistance to a controversial new North Sea gas field ahead of Andy Burnham’s expected entry into Downing Street next month — but they say they’ll carry on fighting over a second, even more contentious, oil field.
Burnham, who is on a path to becoming Labour leader and U.K. prime minister within weeks, is under pressure from the party’s union backers to approve Jackdaw, a major new gas development 150 miles east of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, as well as Rosebank, an oil and gas field 80 miles off the Shetland coast.
The twin projects are bêtes noires for British climate campaigners and have been held up for years by legal challenges. A final decision from regulators is expected soon and then the last sign-off must come from the U.K. government.
Bill Esterson, a Labour MP and chair of the House of Commons Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, said: “My assumption is that both Jackdaw and Rosebank will go ahead.”
There is now a widespread expectation that Jackdaw at least will be approved, with even ardent climate campaigners in Labour ranks resigned to it.
“It’s important to show that we understand that people’s jobs are on the line and that’s not a secondary concern,” said one Labour MP, a leading backbench climate advocate, granted anonymity to discuss their lobbying strategy. “I think there needs to be a pragmatic approach — so I’m picking the battle of Rosebank.”
If one or both projects do get the greenlight, it could represent an early sweetener for Burnham’s relationship with Donald Trump.
The U.S president has taken an intense interest in North Sea oil and gas and repeatedly told incumbent Prime Minister Keir Starmer to take a more liberal approach to drilling. In his first public comments on Burnham earlier this week, Trump immediately pivoted to similar criticisms, saying Burnham is “extremely liberal” so “probably won’t open up the North Sea.”
If Burnham does oversee approval of either or both totemic fossil fuel projects early in his tenure, Trump is unlikely to miss the point of comparison with his predecessor.
Big call
The final legal approval on the two projects — which are already far-progressed and could start production as soon as this year — sits with current U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.
Miliband’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has been approached for comment. Burnham’s team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Labour’s most prominent climate champion, Miliband described the Rosebank project as “climate vandalism” when the party was in opposition. A key ally of Burnham, Miliband is now seen as a leading contender to become his chancellor, the second-most powerful role in government.
However, the Unite union, which represents oil and gas workers, has warned Burnham not to promote Miliband, citing their deep-seated opposition to his policies on the North Sea, which they claim have not done enough to support the workforce.
Under Miliband, the Labour government has banned new exploration for oil and gas (Rosebank and Jackdaw are already progressed far beyond this phase) and has increased a windfall tax on drillers. Burnham, when pressed on the issue, has said only that he has “no fixed position.”
While the decisions on Rosebank and Jackdaw are “quasi-judicial” ones for the energy secretary on the advice of regulators, Miliband has faced public pressure from Cabinet colleagues — and from potential rivals for the role of chancellor in the new administration.
Incumbent Chancellor Rachel Reeves reminded business leaders on Thursday that the Labour 2024 election manifesto had pledged to “honor existing licenses” such as Rosebank and Jackdaw. “I hope that we do,” she added.
Meanwhile Wes Streeting, the former health secretary, who had been expected to challenge for the Labour leadership but now backs Burnham, has also called for Rosebank and Jackdaw to be approved.
Some green campaigners are starting to move their focus, too.
The anti-fossil fuel group Uplift was campaigning jointly against Jackdaw and Rosebank as recently as March. But asked on Friday whether the group would challenge approval of Jackdaw, Uplift’s Executive Director Tessa Khan made no reference to that gas field — focusing on the oil field instead. “Rosebank is the test of this government’s credibility on climate,” she said.
On your right
Political pressure is also coming from the right-wing Reform and Conservative parties, who both back maximum exploitation of the North Sea’s remaining oil and gas reserves. The basin is in decline, with production peaking in 1999.
Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives won a by-election in Aberdeen last week — Britain’s oil and gas capital — with a campaign tightly focused on promoting more North Sea production and protecting jobs.
Andrew Bowie, the party’s shadow energy minister, said that while it was a pertinent issue for a local election, it could hold the seeds of a national strategy.
“Everyone cares about security. If you take oil and gas and make it a model for energy, security and jobs, and if we can communicate that in every election, we can win again,” he said.
But overseeing approval of Rosebank or Jackdaw could bring political costs to Burnham.
On his left flank, Green Party leader Zack Polanski has already said that any “backsliding on climate action would be a moral and political failure for Burnham” — one the Greens hope would help them make inroads with environmentally-minded would-be Labour voters.