Trump Cheers Burnham’s North Sea Drilling Amid Green Backlash
President Trump has seized on reports that Andy Burnham may fast-track North Sea oil and gas, declaring that people in Aberdeen were “dancing in the streets” and that drilling would turn Britain “from a Poverty Stricken Disaster, to one of the Richest Countries anywhere in the World”. Downing Street has not confirmed any change of policy, and the decision on the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields rests with the Energy Secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh.
Rosebank, some 130km off Shetland, is Britain’s largest unexploited field; a January 2025 court ruling found consent for it and Shell’s Jackdaw gas field had been granted unlawfully, forcing fresh assessments that now count downstream emissions. A public notice period closes on 17 August. The government insists it will honour Labour’s 2024 pledge against new exploration licences, while remaining “open-minded” on existing projects. The campaign group Uplift dismissed Mr Trump’s enthusiasm, its Robert Palmer calling the North Sea “an ultra-mature basin that has been in decline for years”. The row is an early test of how Mr Burnham balances Washington against his climate commitments. Watch Ms Fahnbulleh’s decision.