Andy Burnham vows to give people ‘hope back’ as he becomes Labour leader

Robert Palmer, deputy director of Uplift, said: “Burnham is right that Britain needs a different path from the one we’ve been on for decades.

“Nowhere is that clearer than our broken energy system. We’re trapped in a model where oil and gas companies make billions while families struggle with energy bills and the economy takes a hit every time global oil prices spike.

“The only way to break this cycle is to get off oil and gas for good by investing in homegrown renewables and helping households switch to clean energy.

“Approving new drilling, such as the Rosebank oil field, would lock us into an unfair, expensive energy system for longer than necessary. It would also signal that the UK is prepared to miss one of the biggest economic opportunities of this century: the transition to clean power.

“If Burnham is serious about standing up for workers, he should back the existing plans to re-industrialise communities that depend on oil and gas, creating good jobs in industries like wind manufacturing and supporting workers to make the transition.

“The North Sea is now an ultra-mature basin. New oil fields won’t reverse the decline in jobs, which have more than halved over the past decade despite hundreds of new licences and new developments.

“Places like North East Scotland need a Labour government with the ambition and courage to set us on a new path to re-industrialisation – and a Prime Minister that listens to workers and communities, not oil lobbyists determined to protect their profits.”