Burnham eyes new North Sea drilling as Trump presses UK on oil

Andy Burnham was due to announce plans for new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea as he became prime minister, putting the first days of his government on a direct collision course with Donald Trump over Britain’s energy policy. Burnham had not yet met Trump, but the two men were expected to speak shortly after he entered Downing Street, giving the North Sea decision an immediate foreign-policy edge.

Burnham was set to become the United Kingdom’s 59th prime minister after returning to Parliament only weeks earlier in the Makerfield by-election. The final weekend before he reached Downing Street was dominated by suggestions that he would unveil the drilling plan, a sign that the issue had already become one of the first tests of his authority.

Trump sharpened the pressure by saying he knew little about Burnham and calling the expected British leader “extremely liberal.” He urged Britain to “open up the North Sea” for more drilling and said Britain was “dying,” comments that tied the new prime minister’s energy choices directly to the tone of the transatlantic relationship.

The political problem is that Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledged not to issue new oil and gas licences while promising to honour existing ones. POLITICO said MPs expected a Burnham government to approve a controversial North Sea gas field, and BBC reporting said Burnham had already met trade union leaders ahead of his expected premiership, underlining the balance he had to strike between climate commitments, union pressure and the need to show Trump he was not yielding on every demand.