Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra is wading into the political battle which is intensifying over the Rosebank oil field. He is making a direct appeal to Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh to approve the plans to allow production to begin in the North Atlantic. Environmentalists have long campaigned against the proposals for drilling in the UK's largest untapped oil field, 80 miles north-west of Shetland.
That the debate is now taking place within the Labour Party is a sign of the UK's recent journey on the politics of energy. When Labour came to power in 2024, it was with a manifesto pledge not to allow any new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea. A legal challenge thrust the future of the Jackdaw and Rosebank developments into the hands of the then-Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband.
At that point, senior offshore industry figures didn't hold out much hope of getting the go-ahead, given Miliband's deep commitment to renewable energy and his close political ties to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. All that was before the outbreak of the war between the US, Israel and Iran, which closed the Strait of Hormuz and made an ongoing cost of living crisis even worse. A new government under Andy Burnham entered 10 Downing Street with greater political freedom on the issue - and a new energy secretary to make the decisions.
Strictly speaking, Jackdaw and Rosebank aren't applications for new drilling licences, just the adjudication of existing ones. But in political terms, the change of tone within Labour has been clear. What had been an article of faith on energy has become something much more flexible.
It's a shift that's also plain to see within the SNP, with the Scottish government that once favoured a presumption against new oil and gas drilling now issuing a careful welcome to the Jackdaw announcement. Last week, Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh announced that production could begin on the Jackdaw gas field. She said that over its expected 11-year lifespan, the project would support the UK's gas supply, protect hundreds of jobs and add £2.9bn to the economy.
Environmentalists said the decision would hamper efforts to tackle climate change and make "no meaningful difference" to UK energy security. The UK government has always insisted that these decisions are part of a quasi-judicial process, judged on strict environmental criteria, not politics. But as attention turns to Rosebank, the politics are seeping in.
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