JOHN SWINNEY has renewed his faith in North Sea oil and gas assessments branded a “sham” by climate campaigners today.

Scotland’s First Minister made the remarks after UK Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh travelled to Aberdeen on Thursday to meet representatives of the offshore industry amid an ongoing consultation on whether to grant licences to exploit the enormous Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields.

Speaking after the meeting, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) chief executive David Whitehouse said Ms Fahnbulleh had told him she would take a “pragmatic approach” to the decision, fuelling speculation that Mr Burnham’s administration may abandon Labour’s manifesto commitment to no new drilling and grant the licences.

Despite newly elected Aberdeen South MSP Jack Middleton breaking ranks to call for Jackdaw and Rosebank to be approved by the UK government — after the Tories won a Westminster by-election in the city running on a pro-drilling ticket — Mr Swinney has remained non-committal.

Repeating his “case by case” position, he told BBC Radio 4: “We’ve obviously got an absolutely critical transition to be made to fulfil our obligations in climate change and it’s one of the considerations that has got to go into decisions made by the UK government.”

Asked for his view on licensing Rosebank and Jackdaw, he said: “I think the issues have got to be weighed up. The assessment has got to be undertaken.

“I don’t know the answer to that question, because we’re not the decision makers on this.”

Friends of the Earth Scotland’s oil and gas campaigns manager Rosie Hampton however was unequivocal.

“It would set a terrifying precedent for one of the first acts of Andy Burnham to be caving in to oil and gas lobbyists by approving new drilling in the North Sea,” she said.

“Any climate assessment that approves new oil would be a complete sham. New fossil fuels can never be compatible with our climate commitments, no matter how desperately politicians try to spin it.”

Ms Hampton added: “When you realise it is the same companies who are causing record breaking heatwaves, laying off oil workers, and soaring bills, it is infuriating that we are not moving faster to transition to renewable energy.  

“We need to build an energy system that brings down bills, is based on renewables and run in the public interest.”

Scottish Greens spokesman for energy, Kristopher Leask MSP said: “Approving new oil and gas production through the likes of Rosebank and Jackdaw would expose Andy Burnham’s promise of a new politics as nothing more than the same old Westminster commitment to fossil fuel giants and climate-wrecking profiteering.

“We already know there is no climate-compatible way to open enormous new oil and gas fields. John Swinney’s position also leaves a lot to be desired, providing only excuses to sit on the fence when Scotland needs clear opposition to developments that would lock us into decades more extraction.

“Workers and communities deserve a properly funded transition to secure green jobs, not more false promises from oil companies.

“Both governments must finally put Scotland’s workers and climate first, ahead of padding the pockets of the super-rich and reject backwards-steps such as Rosebank and Jackdaw, investing instead in the renewable industries that can deliver a just transition of lasting jobs and a liveable future.”