ANDY Burnham is set to give the green light to new North Sea gas drilling this month, it’s been claimed.
The PM is expected to give his backing to the Jackdaw project off the Aberdeen coast following hold-ups from environmental groups.
The scheme could provide 3,500 jobs while being constructed and then 880 when its up and running.
The approval could come in the middle of the month before Parliament heads into recess for the party conferences, the BBC said.
A formal decision is set to be made by Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh who is also considering the Rosebank oil field.
Both projects were approved by the Tories but a court challenge struck them down after a legal bid from green campaigners, with Ministers not considering their full environmental impact.
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Shadow Energy Secretary Andrew Bowie said approving the Jackdaw project is “just common sense”.
He said: “Approving the Jackdaw gas field is just common sense and should have been given the green light years ago.
“Labour’s ban on new oil and gas licences has been disastrous for the North East and cost thousands of workers their jobs as they continue to dither over a decision on these projects.”
The PM has previosuly said that using oil and gas could pay for the transition to Net Zero.
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He has said: “We won’t be able to stop using oil and gas for some time, that’s just a fact.
“ The question is whether we can accelerate use of it so that we pay for the transition, and one thing helps the other … whether that extraction can be the bridge to the clean energy future we need, and bring it forward. It’s about a pragmatic approach to both of those.”
Downing Street said they didn’t have an update insisting it was a “quasi-judicial decision”.
A government spokesman said: “We do not comment on speculation.”