President Donald Trump didn't wait for Andy Burnham to enter 10 Downing Street before celebrating. Trump praised Britain's incoming prime minister for plans to allow more North Sea drilling and predicted that the United Kingdom could rise from a “poverty-stricken disaster” into one of the world's richest countries.
Trump's enthusiasm outran Burnham's actual proposal. Burnham is expected to become prime minister on Monday after replacing outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer as Labour leader. His team has signaled faster drilling around existing fields, possible approval for the Rosebank and Jackdaw projects, and new “tiebacks” connected to current infrastructure. Labour still plans to ban new exploration licenses.
Even with those limits, Britain is beginning to turn away from Starmer's rigid energy policy. Labour's 2024 manifesto promised no new licenses, heavier taxes on producers, and a rapid push toward wind, solar, and state-backed clean energy. Starmer treated domestic oil and gas as an industry to manage toward decline while Britain continued consuming both fuels.
The numbers kept intruding; Britain's own energy production fell 3.9% during the first three months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025. The government's energy system still depends on North Sea production, pipelines from Norway, European connections, and imported liquefied natural gas.
Closing off future domestic supply doesn't end consumption; it moves more of the burden abroad.
Trump went too far by suggesting more drilling would quickly make Britain fabulously wealthy. Oil and gas trade at international prices, and Britain produces less than 1% of the world's supply. New North Sea output won't immediately slash every family's bill.
Domestic production still brings advantages Starmer's government often minimized. It supports skilled jobs, supplies tax revenue, preserves offshore infrastructure, and reduces exposure to foreign disruptions.
Britain will use oil and gas for decades, and producing a larger share at home is more secure than writing checks to other countries while British fields sit idle.
Voters appear to understand the problem. A recent Opinium survey found 71% preferred producing oil and gas in British waters rather than relying on imports. Only 8% said the source didn't matter.
The survey from Opinium found that 71% of people backed domestic production of oil and gas compared to just 8% who thought it did not matter where oil and gas comes from.
There was also strong support for the government to scrap its current ban on new North Sea exploration. Over twice as many people (49% to 24%) thought the UK should follow Norway’s Labour government in allowing new licences for exploration rather than continuing the current ban.
Labour voters also rejected the centrepiece of the UK government’s energy policy, with 42% saying Britain should follow Norway in allowing new licences compared with 35% of those who voted Labour at the 2024 general election, who said the UK should continue the ban on exploration.
Evidence from the new independent poll commissioned by Offshore Energies UK, comes just days before Andy Burnham moves into Downing Street, and ramps up the pressure on the government to perform a U-turn on current policy, boosting North Sea energy production and reducing import dependency.
The same survey found 49% favored allowing new exploration licenses, while 24% supported keeping the ban.
Rosebank and Jackdaw offer Burnham an immediate test. Both projects already hold licenses, although their development approvals were overturned after a court required fuller consideration of emissions from burning the fuel.
The licenses remain valid, leaving the new government room to approve revised plans without breaking Labour's manifesto promise.
Burnham remains a Labour left-winger with plans for more public control of utilities and major government spending. Nobody should mistake a modest energy adjustment for a full free-market conversion. Still, his willingness to expand production around existing North Sea fields recognizes a reality Starmer resisted.
Britain can build nuclear power, wind farms, and other energy sources while continuing to develop oil and gas. Energy security requires a reliable enough supply to keep homes warm, factories running, and transportation moving. From the Labour Party website:
The climate and nature crisis is the greatest long-term global challenge that we face. The clean energy transition represents a huge opportunity to generate growth, tackle the cost-of-living crisis and make Britain energy independent once again. That is why clean energy by 2030 is Labour’s second mission.
The Conservatives have failed to grasp opportunities in this area for two related reasons. First, because they simply do not accept that economic growth, energy security, lower bills, and addressing climate change can be complementary. Second, because they are ideologically opposed to using the role of the state, including public investment, to guarantee that they are.
The damage done by 14 years of chaotic ‘sticking plaster’ policies was exposed when Putin invaded Ukraine. The cost of fossil fuel energy on the international market rocketed. The Conservatives’ ban on new onshore wind, failure to build new nuclear power stations, and decision to scrap investment in home insulation landed British families with amongst the highest energy bills in Europe. That is just one way we are paying the price. While countries around the world are racing ahead to claim the jobs and wealth that the transition offers, Britain is losing out.
Ideological purity won't accomplish any of those jobs.
Trump welcomed Britain's first step away from Starmer's failure. Burnham now has to prove the shift is more than careful wording meant to calm workers in Aberdeen.
Britain has the resources, workforce, and infrastructure; its government needs the confidence to let them work.
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