Burnham says UK will be pragmatic on North Sea oil in Trump talks

Andy Burnham told Donald Trump directly that Britain can’t afford to turn its back on North Sea oil and gas while ordinary people are still struggling with energy bills, the Greater Manchester mayor confirmed on Tuesday.

What Burnham said to Trump

The Labour mayor, who met Trump during a visit to Washington, said he was blunt with the US president about the UK’s energy realities. He argued that a pragmatic approach to North Sea resources wasn’t a betrayal of climate commitments — it was common sense. Burnham told reporters he made clear that the people he represents in Greater Manchester simply can’t wait for a clean energy transition that doesn’t yet fully exist.

“I told him we couldn’t ignore what’s sitting under the North Sea when families are choosing between heating and eating,” Burnham said, adding that Trump appeared receptive to the argument.

The politics behind the message

But the comments put Burnham in a complicated spot. He’s long been seen as one of the more progressive voices inside Labour’s broader tent, and his willingness to frame North Sea extraction in pragmatic terms will raise eyebrows among green campaigners who have pushed hard for the UK to set a clear end date for new fossil fuel licences.

Still, it’s not the first time Burnham has broken with the more ideologically rigid wing of the debate. He’s consistently argued that the so-called just transition needs to actually be just — meaning workers and communities in energy-dependent regions can’t be left behind by policy decisions made in Westminster boardrooms.

The North Sea currently supports around 200,000 jobs across the UK, according to industry figures, and produces roughly 1.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. Those aren’t numbers any politician can easily dismiss.

Reaction from Westminster

A government spokesperson declined to comment directly on Burnham’s private conversation with Trump, but said the UK remains committed to its legally binding net zero targets while ensuring energy security for British households. That’s the careful line Downing Street has been walking for months.

Not everyone bought it.

Climate campaigners were quick to push back, arguing that framing continued North Sea development as pragmatism gives political cover to an industry that needs to be wound down, not propped up with reassuring language delivered in the Oval Office.

What comes next

Burnham’s trip to Washington was partly about trade, partly about building relationships ahead of what both sides expect to be a bumpy period in UK-US relations. He met with several senior administration figures over two days and is expected to brief Cabinet ministers on his conversations this week.

Whether his North Sea messaging ends up shaping official UK government policy is another question entirely. But it does signal that some senior Labour figures are willing to complicate the clean energy narrative when the political pressures demand it. And with energy costs still biting across the north of England, that pressure isn’t going away any time soon.