Andy Burnham has said he will not “abandon the responsibility” of fighting the climate crisis after the government approved the Jackdaw gasfield, pledging to block new North Sea licences and keep Britain on track for net zero by 2050.
The comments are the prime minister’s most forthright yet on net zero, after many MPs have privately cast doubt on the authenticity of his commitment to tackling the climate crisis.
The energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, insisted that she alone would make a decision on whether to approve the Rosebank oilfield – a decision sources say she is minded to block.
Burnham has been under pressure from industry and political opponents, as well as some Labour MPs, to water down Labour’s manifesto promises on new oil and gas licences and the net zero targets.
“There has been much speculation about what this announcement means for Britain’s commitment to addressing the climate crisis. I want to be clear that our determination is unwavering,” the prime minister said in an article for the Guardian.
He said he was conscious of the “acute global instability” affecting energy security and wanted to treat oil and gas workers with more dignity.
Burnham said that would not stop the government from abiding by its climate targets, saying he was “personally committed to confronting” the challenges of the climate crisis.
“Britain has just emerged from its hottest summer on record, during which we had nurses collapsing on hospital wards, bus drivers working in intolerable conditions and families losing everything to wildfires,” he wrote.
“More extreme weather is forecast in the months ahead. The climate crisis is no distant threat. It is here, on our doorstep, affecting people’s lives and livelihoods. I am personally committed to confronting it, and I will not abandon the responsibility we have to future generations.”
Meanwhile, Fahnbulleh doubled down on her insistence that she would not be influenced by other departments on whether to approve the Rosebank oilfield, setting up a potential standoff with the Treasury.
The chancellor, John Healey, has said he expects “oil and gas” revenues to contribute to a new energy wealth fund, but Fanhbulleh said “only I can make that decision”, insisting that she bore the legal responsibility to ensure the UK did not violate its climate commitments.
Dismissing speculation that Burnham, or his chancellor, would make the final call, she said: “[It] sits heavy for such a big controversial decision because, in the end, only I can make it. And if it is overturned by other colleagues, all that means is we’re going to be overturned in the courts. So we will do the process and we will do it properly.”
Fahnbulleh said she was “really concerned” and “quite sad” about the breakdown in consensus about the climate crisis. She said: “I think it’s a sad place where Reform has gone and got to. But I’m even sadder about the Tories because they know better, and they’ve had a long tradition, including Boris Johnson, of working cross-party on climate action.
“It has been really painful and tragic to watch that consensus burn at a time when we’re seeing the impact of climate change this summer.”
The climate crisis was having a real impact on communities, she added. “It’s people’s livelihoods, it’s their jobs, their communities. Even if you don’t care about climate – care about that, you’ve got to take action.”
Reflecting on the decision to approve the Jackdaw gasfield, Burnham said he wanted to make the transition to a greener future “on our terms”, saying that meant giving oil and gas workers a path to new jobs and using homegrown rather than imported gas.
“At a time of acute global instability, it makes sense to responsibly use our resources here at home. Gas from this field will begin heating our homes and powering our businesses this winter.”
He said he had been moved by the plight of oil and gas workers in Aberdeen, adding that it was an industry that had suffered from deindustrialisation “with too little thought given by politicians to the places left behind. I will not be so careless with people’s lives.”
Fahnbulleh echoed the prime minister’s words, saying the private sector had invested £100bn in clean energy in the last two years. “It’s a huge opportunity for parts of our countries that have been left behind,” she said. But that investment had to have a real-world impact, she added. “When you say jobs are going to be created, don’t say it. People need to see it.”
Burnham said the energy wealth fund that was being created to convert North Sea oil and gas tax revenues to clean energy programmes was long overdue – “something that, frankly, should have happened more than 40 years ago”.
