Donald Trump has said “Andy is getting it done” as the US president again claimed the UK is “opening up North Sea oil” after the government this week approved plans to begin drilling in the Jackdaw field.
Welcoming the scheme at the time, Mr Trump appeared to confuse fossil fuels and suggest it was oil which would be tapped by the project.
A decision has yet to be made on the Rosebank oil and gas field, west of Shetland in Scotland’s north.
Mr Trump said he had spoken to the prime minister as he left the White House on Friday (23 October) to head for a campaign rally in Florida.
He told reporters: “We discussed the fact that they’re opening up the North Sea oil, and that’s going to make the UK a very rich country.
“They’re opening up the North Sea oil. I’ve been after them to do that for two years.
“The other prime minister, the previous man, Starmer. He’s a very nice man, but he never got it done, and this one is getting it.
“Andy is getting it done, and I guess it’s against the liberal principle, but he knows what’s right. It’s going to make UK a very wealthy country.”
Energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh gave approval for Jackdaw on Wednesday, in a move she said will “support the country’s energy security with homegrown gas this winter”.
But the government is facing backlash from environmental campaigners, who have called the decision “deeply disappointing” and warned it would result in “supercharging the climate chaos hitting families here and abroad”.
Mr Burnham has said the decision on the Rosebank oil field will be “done properly” in the face of almost certain legal challenges if approved.
Ms Fahnbulleh has said there is a “tight” framework for making the decision to avoid courts overturning it and that she would have the final say.
The approval of Jackdaw is expected to increase domestic gas production by around 6 per cent at its peak, safeguard hundreds of jobs and provide an estimated £2.9bn economic boost.
Although environmental campaigners have strongly criticised the move, ministers argue that while UK households and businesses are still using gas, it makes more economic and environmental sense to increase domestic production rather than rely on imports shipped from around the world.
Gas from Jackdaw, around 150 miles east of Aberdeen, will start to supply homes and businesses from the end of the month after getting the green light.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump said the project was “great news for the wealth and prosperity of the United Kingdom, and the wonderful region of Aberdeen”.
He urged ministers to “go full blast”, while also calling on them to “take down the costly and ridiculous windmills”.
The president has consistently pressed for the UK to exploit its natural resources in the North Sea, previously claiming that Britain was “a bankrupt country” and that the nation was “sitting on top of gold”.
Mr Trump, a vocal supporter of fossil fuels, has also long railed against “windmills”.
He lost a legal battle with the Scottish government to stop a wind turbine development visible from his Aberdeenshire golf course.
