A vow made under pressure

Andy Burnham has put his personal authority behind the uk net zero 2050 target, writing that he would not approve any new North Sea oil and gas licences and would not walk away from the duty to fight the climate crisis. In an article for the Guardian, he said: "I want to be clear that our determination is unwavering".

The statement carries political weight. According to the report, it is the prime minister's most forthright position on net zero to date, coming after many MPs had privately questioned how genuine his commitment to climate action really was.

It also lands after months of resistance. Burnham has been pressed by several quarters to soften Labour's manifesto promises:

• industry groups
• political opponents
• some Labour MPs

Despite that pressure, he held to both commitments - no new licences and the 2050 target.

Hottest summer on record as his case

Burnham grounded the pledge in what Britain has just lived through. The country, he wrote, has come out of its hottest summer on record, one in which nurses collapsed on hospital wards, bus drivers worked in intolerable conditions and families lost everything to wildfires.

More extreme weather is forecast in the months ahead, he said, and the danger is already at hand. "The climate crisis is no distant threat. It is here, on our doorstep".

Workers and the transition 'on our terms'

The vow sits alongside the reality that the newly approved Jackdaw field will be producing. Burnham said gas from the field will begin heating homes and powering businesses this winter.

He framed his approach as a transition "on our terms" - one that offers oil and gas workers a route into new jobs and relies on homegrown gas rather than imports. He said he was conscious of the "acute global instability" affecting energy security, and wanted to treat oil and gas workers with more dignity.

The Aberdeen workforce weighed on him, he said. He described an industry hollowed out by deindustrialisation, with too little thought given to the places left behind, and added: "I will not be so careless with people's lives".

On the money side, Burnham said the Energy Wealth Fund - which turns North Sea oil and gas tax revenues into clean energy programmes - was long overdue, something that "frankly, should have happened more than 40 years ago".

Fahnbulleh on Rosebank and the wealth fund

The next decision in the chain belongs to energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, who insisted that she alone will decide whether to approve the Rosebank oilfield. Sources say she is minded to block it. She stressed her legal position: "only I can make that decision", and that she carries the responsibility for ensuring the UK does not breach its climate commitments.

She gave a blunt warning about any attempt to route around her. "And if it is overturned by other colleagues, all that means is we're going to be overturned in the courts".

Her stance sets up a potential standoff with the Treasury. Chancellor John Healey has said he expects "oil and gas" revenues to contribute to a new energy wealth fund.

Fahnbulleh also pointed to the investment already flowing the other way. She said the private sector had put £100bn into clean energy over the last two years, which she called a huge opportunity for left-behind parts of the country. Investment, she argued, has to show up in people's lives: "When you say jobs are going to be created, don't say it. People need to see it".

The report's named next step is the Rosebank oilfield decision - which, on Fahnbulleh's account, only she can make.