Hands off! Dithering Swinney's North Sea cash grab is rejected

John Swinney has been accused of trying to manufacture grievances over North Sea drilling as his demands for an energy wealth fund to be restricted to Scotland were rejected. The First Minister wrote to Prime Minister Andy Burnham within hours of the Jackdaw gas project east of Aberdeen getting the go-ahead, demanding that the new wealth fund be ring-fenced for projects north of the Border. But the demand was yesterday turned down by Labour ministers, who will make investments across the UK – with any money spent in England in areas devolved to Holyrood likely to result in a funding boost for SNP ministers through the Barnett Formula. It comes as Mr Swinney continues to avoid saying whether he backs new drilling, including at the giant Rosebank oil field site off Shetland. Despite the SNP conference last week backing a motion supporting domestic production over foreign imports of oil and gas, Mr Swinney has refused to give a clear answer on whether he supports Jackdaw, Rosebank and other new drilling projects. The Scottish Government is not expected to formalise any new position until it finally releases its long-delayed energy strategy next year. Scotland Office Minister Melanie Ward said: ‘Rather than trying to manufacture fresh grievances, it would be better if the Scottish Government could simply answer the question workers across the North-East are asking: what is the SNP’s actual position on the Jackdaw decision and the North Sea more generally? ‘Families across Scotland who depend on the industry deserve clarity and a credible plan for the transition, not an SNP-led Government seemingly content simply to play politics to hide their own divisions and incoherence.’ First Minister John Swinney’s North Sea policy is unclear Jackdaw field was approved while the SNP still decides its energy strategy Scottish Labour energy spokesman Daniel Johnson also said it is ‘ludicrous’ that the SNP Government may not produce its new energy strategy – originally expected to be published in 2024 – until late next year. The Chancellor, John Healey, announced the creation of the new energy wealth fund shortly after it was confirmed that Jackdaw had been approved. The fund will use revenues from North Sea oil and gas to invest in renewables and other low-carbon energy projects across the UK. An initial £2billion of funding has been earmarked for the fund, to be topped up by future revenues from the North Sea. In his letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Swinney said Jackdaw’s approval should ‘prompt a broader discussion about how long-term public benefit can be secured from the revenues which remain to be generated from the revenues that flow from North Sea oil and gas’. He claimed that the failure to set up a sovereign wealth fund before now meant ‘the people of Scotland have not fully benefited from the wealth generated by our vast energy resources’. Mr Swinney added: ‘Any such fund should be prioritised for offshore renewable opportunities and be ring-fenced to be focused on the North-East of Scotland.’ Rejecting the request yesterday, Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said: ‘On the transition to clean energy, we benefit in Scotland because bill payers across the whole UK are contributing to subsidies that support renewables, so there was a certain dreary predictability about what John Swinney said yesterday because he couldn’t answer the more fundamental question of whether he and his government supported the drilling.’ He added: ‘No human being has yet been able to discern what the SNP’s position actually is. Did they want Jackdaw approved or did they not?’ SNP Westminster leader Dave Doogan said: ‘All this talk of a new energy wealth fund is meaningless unless every single penny invested in it from Scotland’s waters is reinvested back into our nation.’