Andy Burnham has been urged to back new oil and gas drilling when he visits Scotland later this week.
asserted
he → urge → Scotland
The Prime Minister is provisionally scheduled to be in central Scotland on Friday for a visit which coincides with the SNP’s conference in Aberdeen.
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which → schedule → Aberdeen
He is expected to promote his plan for deeper devolution from Westminster to local communities of Scotland – but is set to steer clear of the North East amid mounting concern about the impact of job losses caused by his government’s approach to North Sea licensing and taxation.
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He → expect → licensing
It is understood the scheduling of the event for the middle of the SNP conference is partly down to diaries and logistics and partly down to ‘optics’ as he attempts to demonstrate what he is delivering for Scotland as John Swinney continues to focus on calls for another independence referendum.
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Swinney → understand → referendum
The Prime Minister previously held talks with the First Minister when he visited Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games but the visit later this week is expected to be his first official trip promoting government business.
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visit → hold → business
Tory MP Andrew Bowie, the Shadow Energy Secretary, urged him to use the visit to finally confirm consent for the Jackdaw gas field and Rosebank oil development in the North Sea.
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Bowie → urge → Sea
He said: ‘Andy Burnham must use his first major trip to Scotland to finally give the green light to new drilling in the North Sea.
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Burnham → say → Sea
His dithering over granting approval for Jackdaw and Rosebank is having a devastating effect on investment in the sector.
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dithering → grant → sector
While he continues to sit on the fence, 1,000 workers a month are losing their jobs because of Labour and the SNP’s ban on new North Sea projects.
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workers → continue → projects
‘What more does the Prime Minister need to wait for?
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Minister → need → What
It is absolute madness that our energy security is becoming ever more reliant on imports when we could be maximising our own resources in the North Sea.
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we → become → Sea
Andy Burnham is provisionally scheduled to be in central Scotland on Friday
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Burnham → schedule → Friday
Mr Burnham has been urged to back new oil and gas drilling when he visits
‘
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he → urge → drilling
Voters in Aberdeen South sent the loudest possible message to both of Scotland’s governments when they elected Douglas Lumsden as their new Scottish Conservative MP with half of votes cast, because he was unequivocal in his support for new drilling.
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he → send → drilling
‘If Andy Burnham wants to show he’s serious about protecting jobs and standing up for one of Scotland’s most important industries, then he will mark this trip by giving approval so these projects can get under way as soon as possible.’
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projects → want → way
An analysis published by Public First, which was commissioned by Adura, the company behind Rosebank and Jackdaw, said failing to give the green light to the projects would cost the UK economy £10.8billion in economic value over the next decade and mean 3,300 fewer jobs are supported every year.
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jobs → publish → decade
Neil McCulloch, chief executive of Adura, said: ‘This report puts a clear price on leaving viable North Sea resources from existing licensed fields in the ground.’
Reform UK Scotland's energy spokesman Duncan Massey said: 'Four weeks on from Andy Burnham’s expected decision on Jackdaw, all we have had from the Prime Minister is stony silence, holding up thousands of jobs and a projected energy supply for more than one million households.
'
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we → say → households
Every day of dither adds to the bill, with new analysis published today warning that leaving these fields undeveloped could cost the UK economy £10.8 billion.
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leaving → add → billion
If the Prime Minister’s forthcoming visit to Scotland is focused on more talk of independence and closer ties with Europe, it will only underline his muddled priorities when the clear need is domestic energy production that can ease the pressure on household bills.'
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that → focus → bills
In his speech to Labour conference last month, Mr Burnham insisted he is ‘utterly determined’ to prove Mr Swinney was wrong to claim he would be the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
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he → insist → Kingdom
Tory MP Andrew Bowie urged the Prime Minister to finally confirm consent for the Jackdaw gas field and Rosebank oil development in the North Sea
He gave an emotional tribute to his late father Roy Burnham as he vowed to stand up for the Union and support ‘solidarity not separation’.
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he → urge → solidarity
He previously came under fire for suggesting at Prime Minister’s Questions that there could be another independence referendum if a majority supported it – although he subsequently insisted another vote on Scotland's future is 'off limits'.
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vote → come → limits
The SNP issued an invitation for Mr Burnham to attend the SNP conference during his visit.
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Burnham → issue → visit
SNP deputy leader Keith Brown said: ‘The British Prime Minister has agreed it is for the people of Scotland to decide our own future and there is no better time for the leader of Unionism and the leader of Scottish independence to further that basic democratic principle.
‘Andy Burnham made Scottish independence the focus of his conference speech with his time in Downing Street fast becoming defined by the UK's constitutional future - it is the central question on these islands.
‘SNP conference is the perfect and natural place for Andy Burnham to set out the logical extension of his words - an agreed legal process.’
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Burnham → say → words
Responding to the comments in an interview with Bauer Media yesterday, Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said: ‘Well I think if he did come to the conference he’d probably make the best speech given the extraordinarily impressive delivery that was given by Andy just a few days ago in Liverpool.’
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that → respond → Liverpool
He said the defence of the Union in Mr Burnham’s conference speech was the ‘emotional high point’ of his address in Liverpool, and added: ‘I’m not sure that would go down quite as well at an SNP conference, so I think they should be careful what they wish for.’
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they → say → what
The Aporia
