Martin McCluskey, Minister for Local Energy and Jobs, has refused to say when Burnham or his Energy Secretary will make a decision on whether to approve plans for the Jackdaw gas field. Burnham signalled early on that he would open up the North Sea…
McCluskey told Sky News:
“It’s obviously a quasi-judicial process. The Secretary of State is currently assessing all of the evidence and it’s a decision for her to make based on that evidence. She will do that in due course… The Secretary of State receives the evidence and then she makes a decision. We’re not going to rush into this without her making a proper judgment based on what she has in front of her. That’s the right thing to do, because we want a decision that stands up to any test. We don’t want it to end up in the same mess as the last government. So we will make that decision, and it’s one for the Secretary of State to make.”
Interestingly he stressed “it’s not a decision for the Prime Minister” but only for Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, who hasn’t yet made up her mind. The US president is under the impression that Burnham will approve the gas fields…
The issue may come up when the PM meets Trump at UNGA from 22 September. Labour has delayed making a decisive move – expected last week – until after the Holborn & St Pancras by-election to avoid giving the Greens an edge. That’s on 8 October…
Andy Haldane, Burnham’s recent adviser on the economy who has not taken up a No10 job, told Andrew Marr on LBC:
“The market now suspects that this is a traditional tax-and-spend socialist government with better TikTok videos…
imposing windfall taxes on oil & gas or on banks or upping capital gains tax would […] repeat the mistake that Rachel made […] The Achilles heel, the fiscal Achilles heel of this government thus far has been its unwillingness and/or inability to cut public spending.”