London, UK – Andy Burnham’s first Prime Minister’s Questions were marked by the resurgence of direct action group Just Stop Oil, who staged a protest outside Westminster calling on the government to oppose new oil and gas licences.
Sixty members of the climate action group blocked the road outside Parliament on September 3 to call on Burnham not to approve new oil and gas licences in the North Sea, particularly the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil fields currently under consideration. Some glued their hands to the street to delay their removal by police.
“We’re taking action because we need to try to counter some of the pressure that’s being put on the Prime Minister and the government by the fossil fuel industry,” said 84-year-old Reverend Sue Parfitt, a participant who was arrested in Parliament Square.
The Metropolitan Police said that in total, 59 people were arrested for a range of offences, including disrupting key national infrastructure, “locking on” to cause serious disruption, and conspiring to cause a public nuisance.
Just Stop Oil claimed that when released from custody, some people were given bail conditions which banned them from participating in events connected to Just Stop Oil or entering the area surrounding Westminster.
The group described oil and gas projects as a “death sentence” and called for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty.
“Almost 3,000 people died as a result of the heatwaves in the UK this summer. 1.5°C is dead. There’s a possibility of 3°C warming by 2050, with the potential for billions of deaths globally by the end of the century,” they wrote in a statement on their social media.
Started in 2022, Just Stop Oil is known for staging major public-facing protests in high-visibility orange vests to protest what they consider government inaction in tackling the climate crisis.
Their last major action took place in April 2025, when they announced that they were ending their street campaign as the Labour government had promised not to approve new oil and gas licences. They continued to support members of the group facing trials or prison sentences.
The UK government is currently considering whether to approve the controversial Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields in the North Sea. Rosebank, owned by the Equinor-Shell merger Adura and Ithaca Energy, is the largest undeveloped oil field in the basin.
Read more: Public consultation closes for controversial Rosebank oil field in UK’s North Sea
Environmental critics say that approving Rosebank and Jackdaw would have a catastrophic impact on global warming, with Rosebank estimated to produce over 200 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Parfitt pointed to the recent flooding in Nepal and Tibet, where at least 675 people are confirmed dead and 2500 missing, as an example of the devastating consequences of climate change. Following the disaster, Nepal’s foreign minister called on the global community to “come together” in tackling climate change.
While neither Burnham nor his Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh has given a definitive answer on new oil and gas licences, Burnham has indicated that he intends to take a “pragmatic approach” to the North Sea.
“We are going to have to find a way to make a transition from oil and gas to a renewable future, and that does not mean that it is all one or the other,” he told Parliament on September 1.
“There has to be a process where we can make a transition and do it as effectively and affordably as possible.”
Featured image: Just Stop Oil via X
