The speculation on what happens now inspired President Trump to post, external on his Truth Social platform that:
“The People of Aberdeen, in Scotland, are dancing in the streets because the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has stated that he will be opening up, all the way, the invaluable North Sea Oil!”.
He said it would be “a big day” for the UK and “very much appreciated by everybody”.
That may be a little premature. How all this is squared up will, hopefully, become clear in the coming days and weeks.
There is one thing we can be confident about now – the new prime minister won’t be confirming approval for the controversial Rosebank and Jackdaw fields on day one in the job.
The operators of those fields were given the go-ahead by the previous Conservative government but those decisions are having to be reconsidered because of a successful legal challenge.
Environmental groups Greenpeace and Uplift argued that ministers had not considered the full climate impact from burning fossil fuels which the fields would produce.
Despite both sites having production facilities in place, a lengthy process is still underway by the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (Opred).
That is now in its final stages.
Both applications are subject to consultations which close in August and jumping the gun on those would certainly land the government back in court.
