Drill Baby Drill!: Burnham gives green light to Jackdaw

In the midst of rising gas prices from the three-pronged attack of American threats, Russians cutting trade, and disruptions in the Gulf, Andy Burnham gave the green light to start drilling in the Jackdaw gas field.

Those who are in favour of this largely claim that the Jackdaw project will be a huge win in energy production. According to Adura, UK North Sea's largest independent oil and gas producer, Jackdaw can help provide 6% of UK gas production and 2% of total gas demand in the UK after imports. This will help power 1.4 million homes for an additional 11 years. Neil McCulloch, the CEO of Adura, emphasised that the Jackdaw would help fill in the domestic supply shortages caused by the war in the Middle East most recently, also implying that the prices may go down by extension. The Scottish National Party First Minister John Swinney expressed this hope as well, wishing that the drilling will bring the energy bills down.

The Jackdaw drilling has set itself up for high expectations but is likely to fulfil little. For once, despite the public’s hopes, Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh admitted that the drilling of Jackdaw won’t actually be much use in lowering the energy bills. Instead, the profit from the additional natural gas and the resource itself would “help minimise the UK's use of imported higher emission fuels as we continue our transition to renewables and nuclear.” £3.26 billion of the £4.1 billion carbon tax generated from the companies who profit off the Jackdaw project would directly fund, not the provision of energy itself, but an “Energy Wealth Fund” for “low carbon and renewable projects” in what seems like a desperate attempt to appease the environmentalists. It also doesn’t help that UK’s gas prices are set by international prices which have also skyrocketed due to shortages in the global supply, influenced by the same reasons. At its peak, Jackdaw is estimated to increase domestic gas supply by 6%, which would only be a drop in the ocean. These shortfalls will be difficult for Jackdaw drilling alone to cover. If Jackdaw’s goal was to lower energy bills or to cover shortages in the gas supply, then the project is only setting itself up for disappointment.

"This is not a good look for Burnham and his party"

That doesn’t mean that the Jackdaw drilling is without its merits, as it seems it will bring much wealth to the UK if all goes well. The UK government claims that Jackdaw would potentially add £2.9 billion to its economy and could, as President Trump put it, “make the UK a very rich country.” However, given that Trump had confused natural gas with oil, this comment could be taken with a pinch of salt. Additionally, given that much of the revenue generated would go into clean energy to compensate for the carbon emission used to produce natural gas at Jackdaw, it is debatable whether it would truly make the UK “a very rich country.”

In relation to carbon emissions, another criticism that the Jackdaw project faces is that it is reversing the effort the UK had spent on the Green project.

This is not the first time environmental issues were brought up in relation to the Jackdaw drilling and is the reason why the decision to approve it has gained so much traction. In 2025, the consent to drill was deemed unlawful by the Court of Session in Edinburgh as the developers failed to assess the environmental impact the project will have. To honour this decision, the Labour Party’s 2024 election manifesto stated that they would not issue any new gas licenses, including the Jackdaw site. On October 21, 2026, Burnham had approved it anyway, with promises of “homegrown gas” that would “help minimise the UK’s use of imported higher emission fuels.” This was met with immediate backlash from environmentalists including Greenpeace, Scottish Greens, etc....

The main environmental issue of the drilling of Jackdaw is the high carbon emissions. Natural gas produced from this project is estimated to release around 23.6 million to 35.8 million tonnes of CO₂ over the 11 years the government promised it would last. Although the Conservative Party often likes to argue that “UK gas is almost four times cleaner” and therefore produces less emission than imported gas, this is entirely misleading. Production of “homegrown gas” in the UK requires more emissions during production than imported gas from Norway, hence more CO₂. The only situation in which domestic gas would be environmentally ‘beneficial’ was if it replaces foreign liquefied gas that emits carbon during the liquefaction process. Even in that situation, the benefit of Jackdaw would only be slight. With this, the government has no grounds on which to defend themselves against environmentalists.

The overall consequence from the approval of the Jackdaw drilling is that this demeans the UK’s voice in any Green movement. This undermines the UK's standing as a leading force in climate change. As Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, put it: “The UK cannot expect developing countries to move away from fossil fuels while giving the green light to new drilling in its own back yard.” The UK's own decision to prioritise non-renewable resources over the environment sets an example for developing countries, deterring them from their own climate goals. All in all, this is not a good look for Burnham and his party.

By Theresa Lee

Image: Flickr