Start with a Lie

Day one of Andy Burnham's reign in charge starts with a lie.

“Labour under my leadership will never turn our back on either our duty to tackle climate change or the prospects offered by the green economy” - Andy Burnham.

One of the criticisms of Starmer is that no-one believed him. He just seemed ideologically untethered.

Here comes Andy Burnham with a ten-year plan. He said on Friday he would stick to the 2024 Labour manifesto commitments. Yet the very first thing he seems to be doing is abandoning a key pledge. Andy Burnham looks set to approve Rosebank the UK's biggest untapped oil field within days of taking over as PM.

This is from page 52 to of that manifesto:

This isn’t just an ecological disaster. It’s a human rights nightmare too.

As LustraSke has pointed out:

“Rosebank is owned 80% by Equinor (the Norwegian state oil company) and 20% by Ithaca Energy.

Ithaca is majority-owned by Delek Group, an Israeli conglomerate. Delek is on a UN list of companies whose West Bank activities raise serious human rights concerns.

This isn't hypothetical money. Ithaca has already paid Delek over $1bn in dividends since 2020, $569m of that in just 2024-25, plus another $101m in April this year alone.”

Source: The Ferret.

These licences - Rosebank and Jackdaw - were ruled unlawful in 2025 at the Court of Session, in Edinburgh (Greenpeace and Uplift's judicial review, 2025
CSOH 10, decided by Lord Ericht on 29-30 January 2025.)

But these policies have been lobbied by Scottish Labour MPs and heralded by the Tories and Reform. It’s a cosy consensus that denies reality.

All of this comes amid a brutal heatwave and as the realities of climate breakdown manifest themselves everywhere. Huge wildfires have destroyed more than 100 homes in Norway. The Cairngorms have been on fire for days, prompting evacuations of the area, and a wildfire on Salisbury Crags has been raging. It’s the third in twelve months. More than 2,700 people died in England and Wales from heat-related causes during the recent record hot spells; and more than one million workers depend on the UK’s net zero economy.

Kevin Keane, who seems to be simultaneously the Energy Correspondent and the Environment Correspondent for BBC Scotland wrote this gushing piece celebrating Burnham’s decision: Is Burnham promising a new dawn for North Sea oil and gas?

As Fossil Free London put it: “Andy Burnham has a decision now. Prioritise the safety and health of the British people and invest in the homegrown renewables and green jobs we need - or continue to subsidise and appease the billionaire oil barons setting our world on fire.”