There is growing concern among Labour MPs and climate experts that the new prime minister may support renewed drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea; since arriving in No 10, Burnham has remained largely tight-lipped on climate and environmental concerns despite speaking out<\/a> about them during his time as mayor of Greater Manchester.<\/p>\n Emergency services tackle a wildfire near Dunwich Heath in Suffolk last month. Photograph: Tolga Akmen\/EPA<\/p>\n Last month, Burnham said he would be \u201cpragmatic\u201d about oil and gas<\/a> and that decisions on new drilling would be made \u201cin due course\u201d. \u201cThe question isn\u2019t whether Britain will still be using oil and gas, the question is where does it come from,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Khan writes that, faced with the realities of a rapidly worsening climate crisis, which has amplified heatwaves and droughts sweeping across the UK and Europe, governments must redouble their efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cNational governments across the globe must step up and meet the gravity of this moment with renewed focus, funding, and resolve,\u201d said Khan.<\/p>\n A decision on whether to approve more drilling in the North Sea is expected in the coming weeks. The Labour manifesto committed the party to halting any new licences. Two projects \u2013 the Jackdaw gasfield and the Rosebank oilfield<\/a> \u2013 were granted permission under the Conservatives, but operations were paused after a court challenge by environmental groups.<\/p>\n The new energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh<\/a>, is expected to make decisions on Jackdaw and Rosebank after consultations regarding their emissions conclude in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n Climate activists protest outside the energy secretary\u2019s office in London last month. Photograph: Temilade Adelaja\/Reuters<\/p>\n Many Labour MPs are worried that support for expanded drilling will alarm voters enduring a summer of extreme weather supercharged by the burning of fossil fuels<\/a> \u2013 especially with a resurgent Green party attracting new support.<\/p>\n But pressure from the political right and industry has been intense. The Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, argues that new drilling<\/a> in the North Sea could be the answer to the UK\u2019s energy crisis. Senior economists, however, say it is not.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Down to Earth<\/p>\n The planet’s most important stories. Get all the week’s environment news – the good, the bad and the essential<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Nicholas Stern, a professor at the London School of Economics, has said<\/a>: \u201cNew drilling and decelerating climate action would be bad for growth and for energy security in the UK, and a damaging signal for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Burnham has said little about climate or environmental issues since becoming prime minister, though he has spoken out regularly in the past. In June last year, while mayor of Greater Manchester, he gave his support<\/a> to the fossil fuel treaty<\/a> \u2013 a proposed international pact on phasing out coal, oil and gas \u2013 calling it a \u201clifeline\u201d that \u201call governments\u201d should join. In November, he said: \u201cTackling climate change isn\u2019t just about protecting the planet \u2013 it\u2019s a powerful opportunity to build a fairer, greener future for our communities and businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n Khan said the \u201cterrifying scenes\u201d this summer showed the world was now in an \u201cera of extremes\u201d. He said the cross-party consensus on climate action in the UK had broken down with opposition politicians and rightwing populists veering \u201cwildly between denialism and fatalism\u201d, but argued progress was still possible.<\/p>\n \u201cMy fear is that \u2013 without urgent action \u2013 the worst is still to come,\u201d Khan said. \u201cIf we are to protect our planet and the people who call it home, we must turn the tide on climate denial by preparing for a hotter future and embracing net zero like never before.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sadiq Khan has called on the government to commit to revamped climate action and to reduce the UK\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,85,46],"class_list":["post-578424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/500.jpg\")
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