Largely, most people would agree that Andy Burnham has had a relatively successful start to his time as prime minister.
Whilst it is true that parliament’s summer recess has allowed him to avoid an element of scrutiny and many of his policies still lack detail, there’s no denying Labour are currently in a better place with him as leader.
A combination of popular announcements from day one and a much-improved comms style to Keir Starmer have helped change Labour’s fortunes almost immediately.
The party have overtaken Reform in the polls and Burnham has the best approval rating of any politician in the country, by some distance.
This is in no small part seems to be down to the fact Burnham has managed to bring disaffected left-wing voters back to Labour, with the Greens in particular suffering as a result.
But on the climate, Burnham faces his first major challenge.
Rosebank and Jackdaw
There is anger from left-wing voices – both within and outside Labour – over Burnham’s seeming willingness to approve the Rosebank oil field and Jackdaw gas field.
After he became prime minister, Burnham said he would be “pragmatic” about oil and gas, and he was even on the receiving end of praise from Donald Trump over his reported openness to drilling in the North Sea.
Whilst Labour pledged in their 2024 manifesto to not grant any new licenses in the North Sea, Rosebank and Jackdaw were already in the planning system by the time the party came to power after they were approved by the previous Tory government.
But in early 2025, a court ruled that consent for the two fields was granted unlawfully, and it was only this month that the consultation on their revised applications came to an end.
Proponents for the projects argue they will help the UK’s energy security and provide jobs, whilst critics – among whom are a number of Labour MPs – say it would be completely irresponsible to approve fossil fuel projects amid the global climate crisis and would also have no impact on energy prices in the country.
Burnham clearly is concerned about the dangers climate change poses to the UK. Last week, his government announced a temporary ban on purchasing disposable barbecues and sent out a nation-wide emergency alert warning people not to light anything that could spark a wildfire.
Addressing the symptom not the disease after an inferno summer
The issue for Burnham is that the debate around Rosebank and Jackdaw has come during a summer in which the climate crisis was laid bare for all the UK to see.
Extreme temperatures have caused thousands of excess deaths and A&E attendances reached record-breaking levels. Wildfires have ravaged thousands of acres of land and gutted homes. Drought has been declared across much of the nation and the country’s crumbling water infrastructure has been exposed amid prolonged dry spells.
The optics of approving drilling for more fossil fuels are dreadful and make Burnham’s climate policy look half-baked.
Banning barbecues and sending out alerts whilst approving Rosebank and Jackdaw is mopping up the floor without turning off the tap.
It’s treating the symptom whilst ignoring the disease. It’s painting over rust. It’s putting a plaster over a bullet hole.
It would send a message that despite everything that has happened this summer, and all the evidence from years gone by of the looming environmental catastrophe for the world, the climate crisis is still not being taken as seriously as it should.
Granting these licences would be irresponsible, unnecessary and wrong – and no amount of barbecue bans would fix it.