Andy Burnham will announce plans for new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea after he becomes prime minister, the BBC has been told.
The Labour Party’s 2024 manifesto – which the new British leader said he would follow – had pledged to not issue new licences but to honour existing ones.
At the heart of the debate are two oil and gas fields in Scotland – Rosebank and Jackdaw – which regulators approved in 2022 and 2023 under the then Conservative government, but were overturned in 2025 after a legal challenge.
The announcement will form part of a flurry of measures from Burnham including plans to take water and energy companies under public control and a new council house-building programme.
He is also expected to outline new measures that will give ‘people breathing space on the cost of living’ and intends to make a ‘dynamic start... focused on delivering tangible change to people’s lives as soon as possible’.
Some in Westminster had been expecting an announcement on oil and gas in Burnham’s first speech as prime minister, after he takes over tomorrow.
But it is understood that plans are likely to be unveiled at a later date instead.
A source close to Burnham said no final decisions in this area had yet been made.
While details of the oil and gas plans are not clear, the incoming prime minister is expected to uphold the manifesto commitment.
One source said Burnham might pitch this as a significant change of direction but said any overt support for completely new licences is not on the cards.
Rosebank and Jackdaw both already have licences to exclusively explore for oil and gas.
The decision currently under consideration is whether to give approval to produce oil and gas there.
If given the go ahead, that would not break the manifesto commitment on licences.
The ongoing legal processes around Rosebank and Jackdaw mean Burnham will also not be able to explicitly announce their approval, but he will likely nod to it in his first speech as prime minister.
This decision will instead effectively fall to the new, unannounced energy secretary.
But the Labour leader could pledge to speed up existing plans to drill more in the North Sea.
Many oil and gas licences already approved in recent years remain largely undeveloped due to a variety of reasons.
Outgoing premier Keir Starmer had said these gas and oil fields could be further explored, but some in the Labour Party have been frustrated that it has not happened more quickly.
The North Sea row has been longstanding, and Starmer has faced criticism for his opposition to new drilling licences.
He argued that new licences did not translate into cheaper bills for consumers and said it was more important to transition to renewable sources for secure energy supplies in the future.
The Conservatives and Reform UK pressured the outgoing prime minister to approve more drilling and said it is ‘reckless’ that the country is not making use of its own resources at a time when the Iran war has increased energy prices.
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