John Swinney softened his position on North Sea oil & gas during another raucous exchange in parliament in which he was forced to state that drilling in the North Sea should not be banned.
More calls for him to clarify his position, came after Conservative leader Russell Findlay revealed the contents of a letter from SNP MSP Jack Middleton, a former adviser to Mr Swinney, who said the SNP backed the Rosebank field.
During First Minister’s Questions, Mr Findlay also challenged Mr Swinney to state his view on the Labour government’s Energy Independence Bill which will ban new licences
The bill is already causing dismay among Labour MPs who accuse Prime Minister Andy Burnham of hypocrisy for allowing Britain to become increasingly reliant on imported energy.
Backbenchers said the government’s decision to outlaw new exploration licences amounted to an “act of self-harm”, which would put jobs at risk and deprive the Treasury of billions in potential tax revenues.
While Downing Street faces a potential rebellion over the bill, the SNP came under fire for not making its position clear.
Earlier this month, delegates at the SNP conference backed a motion brought by energy minister Stephen Gethins, which supported domestic energy production as “clearly preferable to importation”.
Mr Findlay, reminding the SNP benches that the party once championed “Scotland’s oil”, challenged the First Minister to tell his MPs to vote against the bill.
Mr Swinney replied: “The Energy Independence Bill that was introduced by the UK government brings together a number of measures that the Scottish government supports, but we do not support the provisions of that Bill in relation to the position on the granting of new licences for the exploration of new oil and gas fields.”
He will argue that his position is consistent with earlier statements that any new applications “need to be considered in relation to their impact on our carbon reduction targets and given the fact that we’re going to be using oil and gas for some years to come”.
Mr Findlay said Jack Middleton, the member for Aberdeen Central, had written to him last week saying: “We agree that the Rosebank oil field should be given the green light.”
Mr Findlay added: “So will John Swinney take this chance to put on the record his unequivocal support?”
Just as last week when he declined seven times to give a yes or no answer, he said: “I have set out the government’s position on oil and gas developments.”
However, he is now stating that he opposes an outright ban on new licences, indicating that the ‘presumption against’ oil & gas has now been ditched.
A spokesman laster said the SNP backed other measures in the bill on fuel poverty and renewables, but that the licensing provisions amounted to “a complete ban” which “goes against” the case-by-case approach the First Minister has set out.
In a statement afterwards, the Scottish Greens called his change of position “a shameful retreat and a slap in the face for future generations”.
She added: “This is a shocking U-turn and another extremely disappointing step from John Swinney. He is further shredding what remains of his party’s climate credentials.
“It is a huge departure from only a few years ago when the Scottish government was committed to a presumption against oil and gas.
“When even the UK government is taking a stronger position, it shows how far the SNP has drifted. It is a shameful retreat and a slap in the face for future generations.
“The Scottish government should be putting people and planet first, not falling into line behind big polluters who are destroying our planet.”
Earlier in the parliamentary debate, Reform UK Scotland leader Malcolm Offord, said it was “time to re-industrialise our country again, to re-energise our country again, to get our people back to work and loud and proud again.
“We cannot do that with the most expensive energy in the western world. We are floating on a sea of affordable and secure oil and gas – it is madness to shut down the North Sea.”
It came as new polling showed almost two-thirds of Labour supporters want to see UK ministers approve Rosebank.
Research by Opinium for Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) found 65 per cent of those who backed Labour in the 2024 general election want to see the project – which is the largest undeveloped oil field in UK waters – get the green light.
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