"Conservatives and Reform have their fingers in their ears" to Rosebank reality, Burnham mustn't join them - Heylings

EMBARGO: 2200 Sunday 25th October 2026

"Conservatives and Reform have their fingers in their ears" to Rosebank reality, Burnham mustn't join them - Heylings

Responding to calls from the Conservative Party and Reform UK to open up the Rosebank oil field, as well as rumours that Andy Burnham and John Healey are preparing to overrule Miatta Fahnbulleh to press ahead with the project, Liberal Democrat Energy Security and Net Zero Spokesperson Pippa Heylings MP said:

“Families are facing skyrocketing energy bills because gas and oil prices are soaring yet again - but approving Rosebank would do nothing to change that. The Conservatives and Reform have their fingers in their ears to that reality - and now Andy Burnham might be about to join them.

“Liberal Democrats recognise that we are going to need gas and oil for decades to come as part of the transition to cleaner energy, but this Government needs to learn from the Conservatives’ failure and genuinely move us away from our dependence on oil and gas. We cannot rely on a declining North Sea basin, and on increasingly unpredictable petrostates and despots to keep the lights on.

“The UK should follow the lead of European countries in the face of this energy crisis, and bring forward a national electrification plan.

“The Chancellor shouldn’t tinker at the edges of our broken energy system, but sever the link between gas and electricity prices, to give households the breathing space they desperately need, and allow people to feel the benefits of cheaper, cleaner energy in their pockets."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The original embargoed press story, to which this is a response, can be found on the PA Newswire.