Andy Burnham's climate policy is under growing scrutiny after chancellor John Healey announced cuts to green schemes such as heat pump subsidies, with two further decisions - on the Rosebank oilfield and electric vehicle targets - expected within weeks. The questions come despite the prime minister writing in September that Britain had just emerged from its hottest summer on record.

Cuts to green schemes deepen the record

Healey cut more than £3bn from the energy department in order to raise defence spending. The cuts fall principally on the £15bn warm homes plan, which covers heat pumps, rooftop solar panels, batteries and home insulation. Funding for hydrogen and carbon capture technologies has been reduced by £700m.

• •The warm homes plan, worth £15bn, absorbs the principal share of the reductions
• •Hydrogen and carbon capture funding is down by £700m
• •The energy department lost more than £3bn to fund higher defence spending

The budget also allowed hyperscale datacentres to build on-site fossil fuel power generation, and did not increase the windfall tax on energy companies. Alongside the cuts, energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh approved the Jackdaw gasfield.

Defenders of the government say the decisions rest on national security grounds, pointing to European dependence on Russian gas having proved a big problem at the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. They also argue the cuts to green schemes were originally agreed by Keir Starmer's government, and that cutting VAT from electricity bills would incentivise moving away from gas.

Targets in doubt at home

Experts say the UK is now unlikely to meet its heat pump targets and may even miss its emissions reductions target, the next carbon budget. Andrew Sissons, a director at Nesta, said the boiler upgrade scheme is the key mechanism for removing emissions from home heating, and that cutting it sends a damaging signal to the heat pump industry.

The warnings from campaigners are blunter. Ami McCarthy, head of politics at Greenpeace, said: "there's still a real danger of them sleepwalking into reversing the progress made so far".

Two decisions pending

Two choices expected in the coming weeks will test the direction of Burnham's government: whether Fahnbulleh is pushed to approve the larger Rosebank oilfield, and whether ministers cut electric vehicle targets.

• •Fahnbulleh's allies say she wants to block Rosebank, while those close to Healey say he wants it to go ahead; No 10 insists the prime minister is happy for her to decide, with the outcome due before the end of the year
• •Ministers will meet this week to finalise the 2030 EV target, which is understood to be cut by about a quarter
• •Burnham recused himself from the EV decision because of his wife's role at an EV charging company

Labour backbenchers have taken positions on both. Catherine Fookes said: "I believe the ZEV [zero emissions vehicle] mandate should stay, and Rosebank should be rejected.". Andrew Lewin warned that approving Rosebank would risk undermining the government's record on renewables, saying: "Approving Rosebank would risk undermining our record. It is not worth it."

Warnings from within and without

Criticism has come from inside the party as well as outside it. One Labour MP, speaking anonymously, said that if every decision Burnham makes ends up damaging the climate, his intentions do not really matter. Burnham was criticised over the summer for responding to wildfires by urging people not to use barbecues rather than talking about the climate emergency.

Environmental groups have echoed the concerns. James Dyson, senior researcher at E3G, said reliance on gas means the UK will remain vulnerable to economic shocks and military threats. Danny Gross, a climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, criticised the government for failing to remove the remaining levies that keep electricity so expensive, arguing they should move to general taxation.

Ministers are working on plans to remove more levies from electricity bills and to fund environmental schemes through taxation instead. Any shift comes against a backdrop of rising oil company earnings: BP profits hit $8.5bn (£6.4bn) in the three months to September, an 18-year high, while Shell doubled its profits to $10.8bn.

The next tests are close at hand. The Rosebank decision is due before the end of the year, and ministers meet this week to finalise the 2030 electric vehicle target.