ALBA urge SNP to distance themselves from Green Opposition to Rosebank Oilfield

The field West of Shetland contains an estimated 500 Million Barrels of Oil

Pro-independence ALBA Party have urged the Scottish Government not to sacrifice highly skilled North Sea Oil and Gas jobs by backing Green calls to oppose oil extraction from the Rosebank Oil Field. 

Under questioning, today, at First Minister’s Questions Humza Yousaf agreed with Green Party MSP Maggie Chapman Chapman that there needs to be a presumption against new oil and gas and that a just transition depends on a firm commitment to a fossil fuel-free future.

ALBA Party have now called on the Scottish Government to distance themselves from the Green Party’s “economic sabotage” of the future of the North Sea Oil and Gas Sector. 

ALBA Party’s position is backed by SNP MSP Fergus Ewing, who is a vocal critic of the Green Party’s influence over the Scottish Government. Today Ewing said that Scotland will need gas for decades to come - much of which is currently being imported from the USA which results in four times as many emissions as Rosebank would. Ewing hit out at what he called "economic machoism advocated by wine bar revolutionaries in the Green party"

Commenting ALBA Party Westminster Leader Neale Hanvey MP said: 

“The SNP keep kicking oil workers and the North Sea in the teeth by allowing the economic vandals in their Green coalition to dictate every Scottish Government policy. By setting out a position that rules out future oil and gas exploration, the First Minister has once again been dragged into their shouty inflexible brand of student politics. But this is not just the student politics of blue hair dye and controversial slogans, it’s student politics that jeopardises the livelihoods of tens of thousands of highly skilled and highly paid workers. 

"With Westminster currently pocketing £80 Billion of extra tax revenues from North Sea oil and gas and the Labour Party planning to use Scotland’s huge energy bounty to fund an England only Council Tax Freeze, it would be an unforgivable act of economic sabotage for any Scottish First Minister to cave into the Green’s unnecessary demands and fail to utilise our huge energy resources for the benefit of our people. 

“The SNP must distance themselves from the Green Party’s opposition to North Sea Oil and Gas jobs or they will continue to hold back the cause of Scottish independence.”