LONDON — On the fourth day of Andy Burnham's premiership, 120 wealthy Britons wrote to the new prime minister asking him to tax them more, an unusual opening bid to a constituency Labour has historically approached warily. The letter, signed by former England footballer Gary Lineker, musician Brian Eno and "Notting Hill" director Richard Curtis, urges Burnham to adopt a 2 percent annual levy on wealth above £10 million.

The pressure comes as Burnham, who took office Monday and has not ruled out a wealth tax, prepares for a permitting decision on Rosebank, the United Kingdom's largest unexploited oil and gas field, that opponents inside his own coalition describe as the defining early test of his climate posture.

The letter

The signatories, organized by the campaign group Patriotic Millionaires, told Burnham: "We can afford it. We're not talking about higher taxes on those who get up and go to work for their income every day, but on the very richest whose income is derived from the wealth they hold." Other names include Val McDermid, the Scottish crime writer, and Ian Gregg, former managing director of the bakery chain Greggs. Lineker, formerly the BBC's highest-paid presenter at about £1.3 million a year, is worth a reported £30 million.

Burnham told Lineker before entering Downing Street that he might have "to ask for a little more" tax. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds said she welcomed the letter but that any change would be announced in a Budget, pointing to the Treasury's existing voluntary donation channel. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Lineker is "very welcome to pay more tax he can write a cheque to the Treasury, no one is stopping him."

The oilfield

Rosebank, developed jointly by Norway's Equinor and Shell through the venture Adura, is awaiting a fresh government decision after a January 2025 court ruling voided the original consent for excluding downstream emissions. A public notice period closes Aug. 17, after which Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh will rule. Reports Sunday that Burnham might back North Sea drilling — which his office has not confirmed — drew public praise from President Trump.

Environmental group Uplift, which brought the successful legal challenge, calls Rosebank "the key climate test for this government." A 20 percent stake in the project is held by Aberdeen-based Ithaca Energy, a subsidiary of Israel's Delek Group, which the United Nations has placed on a database of companies tied to West Bank settlements. Ithaca said it is "governed by the highest standards of corporate governance" and among the largest investors in Scotland's offshore sector.

The counter case

Reynolds and Badenoch push back on the letter's premise from different directions, the government pointing to the existing voluntary channel, the opposition casting the ask as theatrical. Adura Chief Executive Neil McCulloch has been urging Burnham to back Rosebank on jobs and energy-security grounds; energy researcher Greg Muttitt counters that most existing North Sea crude is exported, undercutting the domestic-supply case. Today's reporting draws on center and lean-left outlets, with no right-leaning industry source in the mix.

The Rosebank consultation closes Aug. 17. Burnham has not scheduled the Budget at which any wealth-tax move would appear.