Incoming British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is weighing approval of North Sea oil and gas drilling ahead of his Monday move into Downing Street, a potential departure from Labour's 2024 manifesto pledge that drew immediate praise from President Donald Trump.

In a Truth Social post Sunday, Trump said the people of Aberdeen were "dancing in the streets" and predicted the reversal would transform Britain "from a Poverty Stricken Disaster, to one of the Richest Countries anywhere in the World."

Burnham, the former Greater Manchester mayor, will take over from Keir Starmer on Monday after being declared Labour leader Friday with nominations from 379 of 403 Labour MPs.

British media have reported he is "open-minded" about greenlighting the already licensed Jackdaw and Rosebank fields, allowing him to expand output without formally issuing new licenses and breaking the manifesto pledge outright.

On the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Deputy Labour Leader Lucy Powell said Burnham was "talking about taking a more pragmatic approach and working with the industry to make sure it can contribute to that transition and to the mix that is needed over the long term."

Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband, an architect of the licensing ban, has stayed quiet on any expansion.

The industry data underscore what Trump has argued for months: U.K. drilling has collapsed.

No exploration wells were drilled on the U.K. Continental Shelf in 2025, the first such year since the basin opened in the 1960s, according to Wood Mackenzie analysis reported by Oilfield Technology.

Offshore Energies UK has argued that several billion barrels of oil and gas remain producible through 2050 and that domestic production would cut reliance on imports.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who has launched a "Get Britain Drilling" campaign calling for an end to the moratorium, scrapping the windfall tax, and new support for producers, has pressed the same case.

Green MP Adrian Ramsay urged Burnham not to break "one of Labour's flagship manifesto commitments."

Trump's Sunday post marked a sharp turn from his earlier read on the incoming prime minister, when he said, "I hear he's extremely liberal, extremely, so that means he probably won't open up the North Sea."

Trump also revived a long-running grievance, saying "word is" the U.K. plans to remove wind turbines near Aberdeen. No such plan has been announced.

Trump fought the 11-turbine European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre in Aberdeen Bay for years before the U.K. Supreme Court unanimously dismissed his final appeal in 2015.

Burnham's Downing Street speech Monday is expected to lay out cost-of-living and regional growth plans.

Whether he crosses Labour's manifesto line on drilling will be one of the first tests of his premiership.