Former Scottish Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes has urged First Minister John Swinney to unequivocally back new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, stating that opposition to the practice is ‘irrational.’
Forbes, who stepped down from frontline politics earlier this year, told the Sunday Times that outside of government, she has come to see the refusal to exploit domestic energy reserves as illogical, especially when the UK relies on imports that can have a greater environmental impact and offer no economic benefit.
“By its very nature, a transition requires you to have both [oil and gas and renewables] in play at the same time,” Forbes said. “I contend that there is a grave risk that we are heading for a neither-nor.”
Swinney, however, has continued to adopt a more cautious approach. When asked about the potential approval of the Jackdaw gas field project, he stated that the decision rests with the UK Government and will depend on its assessment of the project’s climate impact relative to legal obligations.
“We are already importing oil and gas into Scotland,” Swinney said in an interview with the BBC’s The Sunday Show. “If a justification can be made for the development of these resources to be made in a fashion that delivers less of an impact on the climate then that is a process that enables the UK Government to take its decisions, but it is fundamentally a legal judgement that the UK Government has to come to.”
He added that the question of whether it is better to use oil and gas extracted from domestic waters versus imports with potentially higher carbon emissions is a crucial legal test.
The Scottish Government previously implemented a ‘presumption against’ new oil and gas licenses under former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. While Swinney’s comments suggest a slight shift, they stop short of explicit support for new drilling projects like Jackdaw or Rosebank.
Scottish Conservative MP Douglas Lumsden criticized Swinney’s stance, suggesting that while Forbes has adopted a common-sense approach, the First Minister remains indecisive. “It’s past time John Swinney grew a backbone and unequivocally backed vital new drilling in the north sea,” Lumsden stated.