Thom Yorke, Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway sign letter against Rosebank

Thom Yorke, Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway have signed a musicians' open letter asking the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, to reject the Rosebank oilfield in the North Sea, about 80 miles off Shetland. More than 200 musicians put their names to it, among them Robert Smith, Massive Attack, Bobby Gillespie and Brian Eno. Colin and Jonny Greenwood are not on the list. EarthPercent, a climate charity for the music industry, published it and organised the letter with the campaign group Uplift.

It was made public on 17 August, the day the government's consultation on Rosebank closed. The musicians write that the climate crisis is no longer a worry for later generations, with heatwaves already disrupting schools, hospitals and transport as well as festivals and concerts. They say most of Rosebank's oil would be sold abroad, and that the field would neither bring down household bills nor make the country's energy supply more secure.

Eno, one of EarthPercent's founders, told Burnham he could stand with the fossil fuel industry or with the people who will live with the consequences of approving Rosebank.