Andy Burnham looks set to shelve a decision on the Jackdaw gas field until well after polling day in Holborn and St Pancras, and the timing has, unsurprisingly, provoked fury from across the political spectrum.
The Prime Minister had been expected to give the green light to the North Sea project, which sits off the coast of Aberdeen, as soon as this week. Instead, Whitehall sources now say late autumn is the earliest realistic date, pushing any announcement safely beyond the October 8 by-election called to replace Sir Keir Starmer as MP for the seat.
That by-election is shaping up to be a straight fight between Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali, leader of Camden council, and the Green Party’s Zack Polanski, who has made opposition to North Sea drilling the centrepiece of his campaign. Given how badly this dividing line could split Labour’s vote, the suspicion that Number 10 is simply waiting for the ballots to be counted before making an unpopular call is, frankly, hard to resist.
Mr Polanski, naturally, has seized on the delay, accusing Labour of “running scared” and of an “act of dishonesty and betrayal.” He may be a strange bedfellow for anyone who values energy security, given his own opposition to Jackdaw altogether, but on this point he has inadvertently landed a blow: if ministers genuinely believed approval was the right call, why wait until the votes are safely banked?
The Conservatives have been quicker to make the practical case. Andrew Bowie, the shadow energy secretary, has written to Mr Burnham demanding he confirm or deny the reports, warning that delay would push essential offshore works deeper into the winter storm season, precisely when conditions are riskiest for workers on the rigs. Mr Bowie did not mince his words, telling the Prime Minister that stalling for electoral convenience would mean “placing the interests of the Labour Party before the interests of Great Britain.” It is difficult to argue with him.
The stakes could hardly be higher. Jackdaw is the largest untapped gas reserve in British waters, and most of the infrastructure needed to bring it online is already built. Approval now could see gas flowing into British homes within months, at exactly the moment the country needs it most. UK wholesale gas prices hit a four-year high this week as oil edged towards $110 a barrel, driven in part by the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, and industry figures have previously warned that Jackdaw may be needed to head off a genuine “gas supply emergency” this winter.
Adura, the Shell and Equinor joint venture behind the project, says Jackdaw and its sister field, Rosebank off Shetland, would together contribute more than £28 billion to the economy and support over 3,500 jobs at peak construction. These are not small numbers, and they come at a time when households are already braced for another punishing winter of energy bills.
Instead of grasping this opportunity, Labour appears more preoccupied with managing its own internal divisions. A significant bloc of Left-wing Labour MPs remains implacably opposed to both Jackdaw and Rosebank, and delaying the decision conveniently spares Mr Burnham an awkward confrontation with them at the party conference in Liverpool later this month. It is hard to see how postponing a decision that affects millions of homes, purely to avoid a difficult few days in a conference hall, serves anyone but the Labour Party itself.
For its part, the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero insists there is no fixed timetable and denies any deliberate delay, with the formal decision resting with Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh. Voters, however, are entitled to draw their own conclusions from the coincidence of dates.
Britain does not lack for gas beneath its own waters. What it appears to lack, under this Government, is the political will to bring it ashore without first checking the electoral weather. If Labour ministers truly put the country first, the Jackdaw decision would be made on the merits, and made now, not parked until it is safely out of reach of angry voters in Holborn and St Pancras.
