𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Andy Burnham is “too chicken” to give the green light to more North Sea oil and gas drilling, the Tories have warned. The Prime Minister is said to be delaying the announcement of a decision on the Rosebank and Jackdaw projects due to concerns about how it would look after a summer of heatwaves.

But Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho accused Mr Burnham of “shirking decisions” at a press conference on Wednesday. She said: “I actually think this is worse than the Ed Miliband position because Andy Burnham knows that it’s right to sign off those two fields, he’s just too chicken to do it.

“And the truth is, the gas that you get from the North Sea has far fewer emissions than the gas that you import from overseas. So it’s actually better for the climate, for us, to use our own.”

The Tory frontbencher said the UK’s “hot and heavy pursuit” of net zero is giving other countries “the ick”.

She added: “The truth is that our problems in energy are a symptom of something wider in politics.

“We’ve handed more and more of our powers to unaccountable bodies who pay no price for being wrong. Too much of politics has become interested in the optics than doing the hard yards of working out the best route for the country and then seeking to persuade.

“That’s why we end up with Andy Burnham shirking decisions on the North Sea, even though he knows our homegrown gas is much cleaner than importing high-emission gas from abroad.”

The Rosebank oil field and Jackdaw gas field had been approved by the previous Tory government, but those decisions were quashed after a legal challenge by Greenpeace, which has left Labour to make the final call.

Mr Burnham has come under pressure from US president Donald Trump to push ahead, but the move is opposed by climate campaigners and some Labour backbenchers.

The PM has previously said he would “take a pragmatic approach when it comes to the North Sea” in a hint that he could back more drilling amid soaring energy bills.