Helen Tandy, Founding Director, Eco Communities
A couple of weeks ago, on 3rd July, I wrote about the relay between generations of climate action — my own journey since my son was a baby, and Chloe Rowe’s, roughly twenty-five years behind me, with Parents for Future Cheshire. In that post I said something I want to come back to now: that I’d been a huge supporter of what Andy Burnham did for the green agenda in Greater Manchester, and that his Manchester Green Summit gave real, sustained backing to the climate agenda in a way I’ve rarely seen from political leadership.
I stand by every word of that. Which is exactly why this week has been such an odd one to sit with.
This isn’t a new argument for me, either. Back in 2019, I gave a talk at Chester Cathedral making exactly this case: that we couldn’t afford to keep drilling for more oil. That was six years before Rosebank became a household name in climate circles, and a good while before most of Nantwich had heard of it either, as Chloe found out on the doorstep. It’s a strange thing, watching an argument you made from so long ago still being fought.
Where things stand today
Andy Burnham becomes Prime Minister tomorrow, Monday. In the days running up to taking office, reporting — first from Bloomberg, then picked up widely, has said that one of his first acts is expected to be announcing fresh support for North Sea oil and gas, alongside taking Thames Water into public control.
The detail matters here, and it’s still being worked out in public. Energy correspondents covering the handover have been careful to note that Burnham won’t be confirming Rosebank’s approval on day one as such — Rosebank and the nearby Jackdaw field were already approved once, under the last government, before that approval was quashed by the Court of Session following a legal challenge from Greenpeace and Uplift.
See what the campaign group says – BREAKING: Andy Burnham could approve Rosebank. – #StopRosebank
What’s expected immediately is broader signalling of support for the North Sea, which could take several forms: new exploration licences, or movement on the Energy Profits Levy, the windfall tax the industry has long lobbied against.
But campaigners aren’t waiting for the fine print. The read from the climate side has been blunt — that this amounts to the new PM backing big oil within days of entering Downing Street. And the underlying arguments against Rosebank specifically haven’t moved: the oil produced would be sold on the world market, not used to lower bills at home; the UK taxpayer would carry the great majority of the development cost and risk; and part of the profit, through Ithaca Energy’s stake, could flow to Delek Group, a company the UN’s human rights commissioner has linked to Israeli settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Meanwhile, over 80 MPs and MSPs across parties have now signed the Stop Rosebank pledge , including, notably, Labour MPs among the cross-party group opposing it. None of these MPs are anywhere in Cheshire or Warrington.
So the pressure Chloe and Parents for Future Cheshire were building for in Nantwich Town Square on 11th July is landing at almost exactly the moment it matters most.
Holding both things at once
I don’t “do” politics, and I’m not about to start now. But I think it’s worth being honest about the discomfort rather than smoothing over it. Burnham earned real trust from people like me on climate, through years of visible, practical work in Greater Manchester. Trust like that doesn’t evaporate over one set of headlines, and I’m not going to pretend it does. But it also isn’t a blank cheque, and this is precisely the kind of moment where “the real question is how we come together, not politically, but for our children’s future,” as I put it a couple of weeks ago, gets tested for real.
I said then that I was less sure than I used to be that every party would get there on climate, long-term. I’m not writing that off. But I also can’t pretend a decision like this — if it lands the way it’s being reported — doesn’t sting more, coming from someone whose green record I’ve genuinely admired. And it’s hard not to think back to that evening in Chester Cathedral. The argument hasn’t changed in six years. What’s changed is how much less time we have to keep making it.
What I’m watching for
Nothing is confirmed yet. Whether “support for the North Sea” ends up meaning a formal green light for Rosebank, movement on licensing, or a change to the windfall tax will only become clear once Burnham has actually taken office and made the decision public. I’ll be watching closely, and I’ll write again once we know more concretely what’s been announced.
Eco Communities are supporting Parents for Future and The Climate Coalition (see message from them below) #StopRosebank.
In the meantime, the thing that hasn’t changed is what any of us can actually do about it locally, sign the Stop Rosebank pledge, write to your MP, or better still, join Chloe and Parents for Future Cheshire for the next action. Politicians move on their own timetable. The rest of us don’t have to wait for them to start the conversation.
I have ordered a batch of post cards as they find the personal touch works best.
Email via – Email your MP to #StopRosebank
Let me know how you get on.
Read more – Stop the Rosebank oil field
Message from The Climate Coalition
In the past year alone, we have clearly seen that people from all walks of life want tangible, fair action on climate and nature. Last summer, 5,000 of you signed up to meet your MPs at the Act Now, Change Forever Mass Lobby, speaking to 200 MPs face to face. This summer, you came Together for Good to organise Great Big Green Week events that showcase the work communities are already doing to create a greener, healthier world, with 1.6 million people getting involved.
It’s undeniable that people across the country, like you and those in your communities, want to see a serious plan for clean, affordable energy and a fair transition.
However, new reports suggest that one of Andy Burnham’s first acts as Prime Minister could be to back new North Sea oil and gas drilling – including approval of the Rosebank oil field. It would lock in more fossil fuel extraction at exactly the moment we should be scaling up renewables, insulating homes, and backing a real transition for oil and gas workers and communities.
We’ve joined Uplift, Green Alliance, Friends of the Earth, the Marine Conservation Society, Climate Outreach and more in letting Andy Burnham know that this would be a huge step back for the progress that’s been made by and for people and communities across the UK. Now we need MPs to get that same message.
Will you join us in sending that message? Here’s what you can do.
If you want some idea of what you could do locally, get in touch — office@sustainablecheshire.uk
