Donald Trump has said “Andy is getting it done” as he again claimed the UK was “opening up North Sea oil”.
The US president’s comments come after Andy Burnham’s Government this week gave the go-ahead to gas drilling in the Jackdaw field.
In 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 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.”
Donald Trump speaking to reporters outside the White House (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/PA)
AP
Meanwhile, 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.
Energy Secretary Miatta 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% at its peak, safeguard hundreds of jobs and provide an estimated £2.9 billion 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.
(PA Graphics)
PA Graphics
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.