Trump Causes Confusion By Insisting Burnham Will 'Open Up The North Sea' For Drilling

Donald Trump has insisted that Andy Burnham has told him the UK will expand North Sea oil and gas drilling.

The US president told a White House briefing on Wednesday that the new prime minister was going to ramp up fossil fuel operations in the North Sea.

But extracting and then burning more fossil fuels is a highly controversial issue in the UK because of the consequences for climate change.

Britain is also in the middle of its fourth heatwave of the year with a record number of days exceeding 35C.

The new prime minister has previously hinted he might give the green light to more oil and gas extraction in the North Sea.

But Burnham has insisted he will remain commit to Labour’s 2024 manifesto, which pledged not to issue any more licences for drilling in the North Sea.

But Trump claimed the PM said otherwise in their private phone call last Monday.

He told reporters: “He [Burnham] said he’s going to open up North Sea oil. If he does that, you’re going to be a wealthy country.”

Trump added that the UK has “windmills all over the place” which were made in China, and said Britain buys oil from Norway.

“Norway’s got trillions of dollars in the bank. Trillions. It sells its oil from the North Sea, and Scotland has a better part of the North Sea,” the US president said.

“And you have 500, 600, 700 years. You have areas of the North Sea that haven’t even been explored yet. You have one of the most valuable oil finds anywhere in the world, and if the United Kingdom would just … they’d be a wealthy country again.”

He continued: “I could not get [Keir] Starmer to use it. It was incredible. Every oil company that I meet, and these are all big giants, every person that I know in the oil business said, ‘Please, could you open up the North Sea? Could you get them to open it?’ They’re dying to do it.”

Starmer’s relationship with Trump collapsed shortly before he left office, in part because of their different approaches to fossil fuels.

The US president often slammed Burnham’s predecessor for not allowing new oil and gas fields in the North Sea to be explored as part of his government’s determination to achieve Net Zero by 2050.

Yet, Trump insisted Aberdeen has the “best oil anywhere on the planet”, adding: “The new gentleman, when I spoke to him, he said he’s going to open up the North Sea.”

When asked to respond to Trump’s claims, Downing Street directed HuffPost UK to the readout of the president’s call with Burnham last week.

The release does not mention oil.

It says: “Setting out his vision as Prime minister of the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister said he would be focused on ensuring re-industrialisation up and down the country to ensure good growth in every postcode.

“The prime minister also underlined his commitment to defence and security and said ensuring the security of the UK and its allies was at the top of his agenda.”

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