Prime Minister Andy Burnham is facing criticism over his government's stalled decisions on two major North Sea oil and gas developments, after officials were reported to expect 100,000 North Sea jobs to disappear by 2050.
The Daily Mail reported the forecast on 24 August, citing government officials. The newspaper said the figure had been met with grim resignation in Aberdeen and the surrounding North East of Scotland, the traditional centre of Britain's offshore oil and gas industry.
North East economic toll
More than 18,000 jobs, or one in every ten in the sector, have already been lost in the region over the past 15 years, according to the report. Average house prices in Aberdeen, known as the Granite City, have fallen by £7,500, the steepest drop recorded anywhere in Scotland.
Andy Burnham has continued his predecessor's distant approach to the fossil fuel industry, which has long underpinned the local economy.
By-election reflects voter anger
Voter frustration over the decline was reflected in June, when Conservative candidate Douglas Lumsden won the Aberdeen South by-election by a wide margin, a result widely read as a protest against the direction of energy policy in the region.
Field decisions delayed
At the centre of the row are two undeveloped North Sea sites: the Rosebank oil field, north-west of the Shetland Islands, and the Jackdaw gas field, off the coast of Aberdeen. Public consultations on both fields closed this month, but Burnham has not said whether the government will grant exploration licences.
Burnham is reportedly concerned about the political optics of approving new drilling during a summer marked by heatwaves and wildfires. Reports suggest he could approve production at one field while rejecting the other. Leaked documents indicate he intends to maintain the approach of his predecessor, Keir Starmer, who also held off approving the licences.
Unions warn on jobs and security
Energy unions have stepped up pressure on the government. Unite, which is running a "No Ban Without a Plan" campaign, warned in March that the government's stance on fossil fuels was "putting jobs and national security at risk."
The GMB union wrote an open letter to Labour MPs in July calling for "an all-energy approach" that "builds on our industrial strengths rather than overlooks them." The union said it wants a "stronger and fairer" transition to green energy rather than an abrupt shift away from oil and gas.
Government considers import infrastructure
Leaked documents suggest Burnham is instead considering a "huge investment" in new infrastructure to increase imports of oil and gas from abroad, rather than expanding domestic production.
Ministers are reportedly looking at acquiring a large vessel capable of cooling gas to reduce its volume for transport by tanker, which would allow imports from countries including the United States, Qatar and Norway.
The reported plan comes as Britain faces a cost-of-living crisis linked in part to rises in fuel prices, while conflict in the Middle East has added uncertainty over global access to fossil fuel supplies on which UK energy security still relies.
Burnham succeeded Starmer as Labour prime minister following a change of leadership within the party. The North Sea has supplied oil and gas to Britain for decades and remains central to the economies of Aberdeen and the wider North East of Scotland, even as the sector has contracted under successive governments' Net Zero commitments, the UK's legal target to eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
No date has been set for a government decision on the Rosebank and Jackdaw licences.
