Burnham moves to ban new North Sea drilling by law

Prime Minister Andy Burnham is set to back legislation that would make new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea permanently illegal, the Independent reports. The Energy Independence Bill, introduced by Miatta Fahnbulleh, would remove the North Sea Transition Authority's ability to grant new licences and turn Ed Miliband's moratorium — until now a ministerial decision reversible by any successor — into a statute that itself requires a parliamentary majority to repeal.

The timing is delicate. Less than two weeks before the announcement, ministers approved drilling at the Jackdaw gas field, which the bill leaves untouched along with Rosebank, already licensed. The government says transitional energy certificates will allow continued production from existing fields, unlocking around 60 million barrels and, it claims, hundreds of jobs. Greenpeace counts 27 full-time jobs at Jackdaw. The energy secretary promises bills people will feel in their pockets; shadow energy secretary Andrew Bowie notes that closing domestic production makes Britain more dependent on oil and gas imports — the same imports now trading at record prices after the Hormuz blockade.

The contradiction is structural rather than accidental. A field that cannot be replaced stops attracting investment years before the legal ban arrives, while demand continues regardless of where the molecules are pumped. What remains of the North Sea will be produced under a government that has declared the industry's end date, and the difference will be made up by Qatari and American tankers. Fossil Free London protested Burnham's own Jackdaw approval; the Conservatives have hung a 'closed for business' sign over the waters; both factions agree on the arithmetic.

Burnham's promise of prosperity through reindustrialisation now shares a balance sheet with a bill designed to retire one of Britain's few remaining extractive industries. The measure fulfils a manifesto commitment, scraps household standing charges promised in John Healey's budget, and awaits only a Rosebank decision the energy secretary says will take 'a bit longer'.

The moratorium was easy to overturn when it was a policy. It will now take a majority vote in the House of Commons to bring it back.