John Swinney repeatedly challenged on whether he supports Rosebank, 'yes or no'

John Swinney has been told to “show a bit of backbone” after he was repeatedly challenged over his position on the Rosebank oil field in the North Sea. Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay asked the First Minister five times to provide a “yes or no” answer on whether he supports the controversial project. It comes after UK ministers approved gas production at the Jackdaw field around 150 miles east of Aberdeen. However, a decision has yet to be made on Rosebank, the largest untapped oil field in the North Sea.

Decisions over North Sea licensing are reserved to the UK government, but SNP ministers have previously taken strong positions. In 2023, Nicola Sturgeon said she agreed with former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas that Rosebank was “the greatest act of environmental vandalism in my lifetime”. The SNP’s attitude towards oil and gas has since softened under John Swinney, and the party backed a motion at its recent conference stating domestic production was “clearly preferable to importation”.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra said he supports Rosebank, and asked what Mr Swinney’s view is. The First Minister said: “The process of consideration of the Rosebank application has got to be applied, but it’s got to to be applied by the quasi-judicial process that the Prime Minister talks about, where the implications of the consenting of that development has got to be compared with the importation of oil and gas.”

Mr Swinney was later challenged over the issue by Mr Findlay, who said it was “torture” attempting to get an answer from the First Minister, adding: “He’s got opinions on Gaza, Israel, Russia, Iran, Europe, but not on the North Sea.” Pressed again, the First Minister said: “In the interest of explaining to Mr Findlay what I said to Mr Marra, there is a legal responsibility for every application to be considered and the carbon emissions that come out of the development of an individual site have to be assessed… as to whether it is compatible with our journey to net zero.

“That is the legal obligation and that is the test and the assessment the United Kingdom government has got to go through.” The Scottish Tory leader urged Mr Swinney to “get off the fence” and “show a bit of backbone”. Scottish Green co-leader Ross Greer said the UK government seemed “intent” on approving Rosebank. He added: “Is the First Minister genuinely suggesting that a monumental oil field could pass a climate test worth the paper it was written on?”

Mr Swinney replied: “The first thing I want to say is that the government is committed to its agenda on climate action and on the legally binding targets that we have set, which is why I answered Mr Marra’s questions in the way that I did. “It is essential that any application that is taken forward for the development of oil and gas resources is able to be done in a fashion that is compatible with the legal obligations that we carry. “Now, the issues that Mr Greer raises are issues that must be assessed as part of that process and must be done comprehensively, because we live in a context just now – and all our energy plans accept this – that for some time to come, we will still be using oil and gas.

“The question for us is whether we utilise resources in our own waters or we import those from other jurisdictions. “That is the purpose of the climate compatibility test.”