Andy Burnham said there was “no change at all” to his commitment to tackling climate change.

It comes as pressure on the British prime minister over North Sea oil and gas drilling has intensified after a summer of wildfires and drought.

During his unsuccessful 2015 Labour leadership bid, Mr Burnham said the party under his leadership would “never turn our back on either our duty to tackle climate change or the prospects offered by the green economy”.

Ambition

Asked whether that was still the case, the Prime Minister told reporters during a visit to South Wales last week: “It completely stands.”

He said the transformation of Port Talbot, “one of the biggest green industrial transition projects in the UK”, was “amazing for Wales”.

The South Wales steelworks, where blast furnaces closed in 2024, is moving towards green steel production with new electric arc furnaces.

Mr Burnham continued: “This is where we’ve got to turn our thinking – to future industry that is clean powered, and it’s exciting when you start to think about things in those terms. So there’s no change at all.

“I led Greater Manchester with a carbon-neutral ambition of 2038… So, you know, people can look back at my record, and none of that changes.”

Consultations

Mr Burnham’s Wales visit came a day after regulator Ofgem raised its energy price cap by four per cent to a three-year high, taking effect from October.

The government is taking staps to weaken the link between electricity and gas prices to protect households and businesses from price spikes.

The prime minister told journalists: “I think if we’re going to get people’s energy bills down, we have to work towards the day when we can de-link gas and electricity pricing.

“That would be one of the biggest moves we could make to support people with the cost of living, and that is linked to renewables and building out renewables.”

Ministers are set to make a decision on the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields after consultations for both closed in recent weeks.

Untapped

Environmental activists have urged Mr Burnham to refuse consent for the developments due to concerns about the climate impact. But the oil and gas industry and opposition politicians have argued permission would create thousands of jobs and cut bills.

Production had been approved by the previous Conservative government, but those decisions were quashed after a legal challenge by Greenpeace, leaving Labour ministers to decide whether drilling should go ahead, with a decision expected in September.

Mr Burnham on Wednesday reiterated that he would take a “pragmatic” approach to the North Sea.

He told the Financial Times he had seen eco-tycoon Dale Vince take a pragmatic approach on BBC’s Newsnight, where Mr Vince argued that if the UK price controlled its own North Sea oil and gas, there would be a valid economic argument for permitting Rosebank and or Jackdaw because that would lead to cheaper energy.

Rosebank is the largest 'untapped' oil field in the North Sea which lies some 80 miles north-west of Shetland, while Jackdaw lies in waters about 150 miles east of Aberdeen.

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Sophie Wingate is the deputy political editor at Press Association.