Exploit last North Sea oil and gas or risk mass job losses, Andy Burnham urged

Climate activists protest against extending the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields in the North Sea. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Andy Burnham should be ready to exploit the UK’s remaining North Sea oil and gas resources to avoid mass job losses in Scotland and the north-east, the director of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), Shevaun Haviland, has said.

The decision about whether to allow extraction at the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields now appears likely to fall to a Burnham administration.