How green is Andy Burnham? Britain’s next PM faces tough climate decisions

Heatwaves, high energy prices, calls for reindustrialisation and North Sea drilling are all high on the to-do list Wildfires cast a pall of smoke this week over Greater Manchester, whose former mayor Andy Burnham stands on the threshold of No 10. Amid three UK heatwaves so far this year, which have killed thousands of people in England and Wales, damaged harvests and left children crying in classrooms, the new prime minister’s plans for the climate crisis remain as shrouded as his city. “Burnham has been very quiet about the climate [crisis] so far,” says Chris Venables, an environmental campaigner and fellow at the Green Alliance thinktank. “I don’t think [it] is at the forefront of his mind, but that does not mean he will water down this agenda.” Ed Miliband, the UK’s champion of climate action as energy secretary, is the target of vitriol from rightwing media and politicians. Burnham has been considering him for chancellor of the exchequer, which would signal a major boost for policies to achieve low-carbon economic growth. Rivals have been briefing that Miliband has lost out to the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, which could be a setback to climate policy. But wh