ANDY Burnham will have a “change of emphasis” on North Sea oil and gas, Labour’s deputy leader has said, despite the party previously pledging not to issue new drilling licences.
It was reported earlier this week that the new Labour Party leader – who will become prime minister on Monday – has asked the civil service to draw up plans for new energy policies that will be revealed as soon as Monday.
It is understood that the Makerfield MP is planning a series of public statements in his first days in office to mark a change from the administration under Keir Starmer.
Among those policy changes are scrapping the digital ID scheme and plans for new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
The Labour Party's 2024 manifesto, which Burnham said he would follow, had pledged to issue no new licences but to honour existing ones.
Two oil and gas fields in Scotland, Rosebank and Jackdaw, have been at the heart of the debate over new licences as regulators approved them in 2022 and 2023 under the former Conservative government, but were overturned last year after a legal challenge.
Lucy Powell told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that reports Burnham could allow more drilling in the North Sea were “speculation” but added there would be a “change of emphasis” on the policy.
She said: “We’ve been really clear that the way to achieve, in the long term, energy security and lower bills is by ensuring that we do have our own homegrown, clean, much cheaper energy.
“But we’ve been absolutely clear that North Sea gas and oil is an important part of that transition.
“It’s an important part of the mix, and I think what Andy’s talking about is taking a more pragmatic approach and working with the industry to make sure that it can contribute to that transition and to the mix that is needed over the long term.
“So let’s see what he’s got to say about that. But I don’t think it’s a change of policy. It’s more a change of emphasis.”
Allies of the new Labour leader have said he intends to make a “dynamic” start to his premiership on Monday, when he formally takes over from Starmer, but have urged him to stick to the party’s manifesto and block further drilling in the North Sea.
However, Burnham reportedly said he is “open-minded” about such a move.
Senior Green Party figures on Saturday urged the incoming prime minister not to break “one of Labour’s flagship manifesto commitments”.
Green MP Adrian Ramsay said: “Andy Burnham says he takes the climate and nature crises seriously, but words are no substitute for action.
“With heatwaves causing deaths, wildfires and extreme weather across the country, approving new oil and gas drilling is exactly the wrong response and will do nothing to bring down energy bills.”
Meanwhile, Tessa Khan, executive director at Uplift, said it would be a “terrible look” for Labour if the first thing Burnham does is “cave to the demands of oil and gas profiteers”.
She added: “He's promising change and an end to unfairness, but this would deliver more of the same broken energy system that's made oil giants obscenely rich while families struggle with soaring bills.
“It’s naive to think that new drilling would stem the decline in oil and gas jobs, which have more than halved over the past decade, despite hundreds of new licences and new fields.
"Oil companies aren’t investing in clean energy, which would provide work for future generations – they just want to make as much money as they can and then quit.”
Fraser Sutherland, coalition manager for Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, said Burnham backing new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea would be “reckless” and that he is chasing “fool’s gold”.
He said: “The only people who will benefit from expanding oil and gas extraction in the UK are the multinational petroleum giants who sell the product to the highest bidder on the world market.
“We need to get off our addiction to polluting fossil fuels. Our country has vast resources of renewable energy that can be harnessed to improve lives and boost energy security.
“The UK and Scottish governments must ramp up the move to clean, cheap, home-grown power and increase local community, municipal and state ownership. This will give us back control of energy supplies, create good green jobs, lower bills and reduce the greenhouse gases that are cooking the planet.”
