Voters last night tore into the SNP for flip-flopping on North Sea drilling and adopting a ‘wishy-washy’ position during a televised election debate. In a special edition of the BBC’s Question Time programme filmed in Aberdeen, SNP Housing Secretary Mairi McAllan faced the wrath of the audience after she failed to give a clear answer on whether there should be more oil and gas drilling.
She said any decisions must be led by evidence – then claimed she hasn’t seen the evidence. Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay accused the SNP of trying to ‘dupe’ voters in the North East despite having the same ideological opposition to new drilling as Labour. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also made another public appeal to Sir Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband to give the Rosebank and Jackdaw projects the green light.
Ms McAllan, a former Net Zero Secretary, represented the SNP in the debate after it was snubbed by John Swinney – leading to him being accused of ‘cowardice’ for hiding from voters in the north east. She said that energy security and climate compatibility need to be considered for decisions on any new fields, and said that ‘I accept that energy security and the picture around energy security has changed significantly’.
When pressed by presenter Fiona Bruce for a clear answer on whether there should be any more drilling in the North Sea, Ms McAllan said: ‘Well, it has to be led by evidence.’ Ms Bruce said: ‘You must have seen a lot of the evidence, you’ve been in power more than 20 years.’ Ms McAllan said: ‘That’s the exact point, I have not seen the evidence, I do not get to make those decisions.’ Pressed again on her opinion on whether there should be more drilling or not, she said: ‘If it can be demonstrated that it is both climate compatible and required for energy security then yes it should.’
An oil and gas worker in the audience told the panel that mass job losses are ‘self-inflicted’ and condemned the decision to import oil and gas from abroad. Addressing Ms McAllan's comments, he said: ‘What I’m disappointed at, I know it’s a reserved matter, but the SNP is not fighting our corner. You’ve not fought our corner, you’ve flip-flopped and now you’re this wishy-washy half in half out. It’s nonsense. There’s jobs, there’s livelihoods, there’s a whole north east economy built on this.’ His contribution was met by loud applause from the audience.
Another woman in the audience said: ‘As long as we are still using oil and gas as a country, and we are, we shouldn’t be going to Africa, allowing drilling in Africa. How can that be cleaner? It is certainly not cheaper, it is no more environmentally friendly. And the irony that any organisation that is going to get taxed at almost 80 per cent is going to go to other countries, your BPs, your Shells. Why are we allowing this to come in from Norway, the same fields. We are not taking the tax revenue, we are losing the jobs. Jobs are going out of Aberdeen in the thousands at the moment and people are employed in Norway are taking all the revenue.’
Mr Sarwar added more pressure on the Labour government to change approach on the issue of new fields. He said: ‘A commitment was made on Rosebank and Jackdaw in the previous round that we would honour licences. We should commit to that promise and grant the licences that were granted by the previous government.’ He said he has made his views clear to Mr Miliband, and added: ‘I say what I think in private and in public, as you can see from the comments I made about Keir Starmer back in February, so I have made that clear here as well.’
Mr Findlay said: ‘The SNP of course used to famously shout “it’s Scotland’s oil” and now they want to keep it in the ground.’ He said Ms McAllan previously said she does not agree with the UK Government issuing new licences. He said: ‘That was unambiguous, that was clear. What she said tonight wasn’t because she is following the John Swinney playbook two weeks out from an election, trying to dupe people in the north east into thinking somehow the SNP are on your side. They are not, they ideologically oppose oil and gas, as do Labour, as does Ed Miliband.’ Ms McAllan claimed that ‘the SNP has long supported the oil and gas industry and that remains the case’.
In other exchanges last night, Mr Sarwar again denied claims by Reform UK’s Scottish leader Lord Malcolm Offord that he had offered to work with him to oust the SNP, saying it is ‘utter nonsense’, and added: ‘I want Reform to get absolutely pumped in this election’. Lord Offord also defended having pro-independence candidates. He said: ‘We are a broad church and we have a number of people who come to us who no longer support the idea of independence, people are allowed to change their mind.’ Pressed on the three candidates who support independence, Lord Offord said: ‘Out of 73, what’s the problem with three out of 73?’ Mr Findlay said: ‘Reform UK are not a Unionist party, Nigel Farage cannot be trusted on the Union. He said as much recently – he thinks another referendum could be reasonable, and fielding pro-independence candidates is a bit of a giveaway.’
Speaking before last night’s programme, Mr Findlay said Mr Swinney ‘has gone into hiding because he can't show either of his two faces in the North East of Scotland’ and claimed his TV no-show was ‘an act of cowardice’. Asked yesterday if he was scared of facing voters in the north east on issues like oil and gas, Mr Swinney said: ‘Not in the slightest. I’ve done several debates already, I will do more during the election campaign. But another example of six blokes sitting round a table at a debate doesn’t strike me as a great way forward, so I’ve created the opportunity for Mairi McAllan to represent the SNP and to represent me and she will do it really well.’
