Donald Trump tells Andy Burnham the UK will become 'very rich' by drilling in the North Sea

Donald Trump has said he told Andy Burnham the UK is set to become "a very rich country" after the prime minister decided to allow drilling in the North Sea.

The US president said he spoke to the prime minister on Friday and discussed this week's move by Mr Burnham's Cabinet to give the go-ahead to gas drilling in the Jackdaw field.

Mr Trump, who was speaking to reporters as he left Washington for a campaign rally in Florida, said he told his British counterpart that by "opening up the North Sea oil... that's going to make the UK a very rich country".

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It's the second time Mr Trump has appeared to confuse fossil fuels, as he implied the project would seek to exploit untapped oil reserves.

But Jackdaw is a large offshore natural gas field in the central North Sea, around 150 miles (240km) east of Aberdeen.

He may have meant the Rosebank field, west of Shetland in Scotland's north, where there is both oil and gas. Ministers have yet to decide whether to allow drilling there.

Mr Trump said he had spoken to the prime minister as he left the White House earlier, telling 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."

He had "been after them [the UK] to do that for two years," he said.

Mr Burnham's predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer "never got it done", but "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".

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.

There is a "tight" framework for making the decision to avoid courts overturning it, according to the Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, who has said she would have the final say.

The approval of Jackdaw is expected to increase domestic gas production by around 6% 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.

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Gas from Jackdaw will start to supply homes and businesses from the end of the month after getting the green light.

A Downing Street spokeswoman confirmed the two leaders "agreed on the significant benefits this [Jackdaw] will bring to the UK, boosting the economy and supporting jobs for British workers".

Mr Burnham also "underlined the importance for Ukraine to have full access to Starlink so they can continue to defend themselves against Russia's full-scale invasion".

The Falklands Islands and the situation in the Middle East were also brought up by the pair, she said.

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