Jackdaw Gasfield

Euan Stainbank Excerpts

Wednesday 21st October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Michael Shanks]

I said in my statement that in the transition to clean energy, we will continue to need oil and gas. The UK continental shelf continues to be an important source of that, but we have been a net importer for more than two decades and no amount of consenting decisions will change that fact. It is important, however, and I have said that that 6% of production matters. That is why we have made the decision we have made today.

The important thing about pragmatism—I have said this a number of times—is that it has to work both ways. We previously had a consensus that oil and gas and renewables went hand in hand, in the transition to what comes next. The Conservatives built lots of renewables and now dismiss the fact that they are important to the system. I welcome the investment the previous Government made in renewables; it is just a shame that they have lost their way so much that they do not support it now.

[Euan Stainbank (Falkirk) (Lab)]

The previous Tory Government blundered through an unlawful consent process, which required this decision to be reconsidered, unless we adopted the licence revocation policies of the Greens, which would have accelerated significant job losses and irrecoverably deindustrialised the north-east. Although I have previously opposed this project, the energy security situation has changed radically this year due to the significant consequences of the US and Israel’s illegal war in Iran. Will the Minister explain how that direct impact on our short-term energy security in the UK influenced the decision, and will he clarify exactly how many direct and supply chain jobs the decision supports?

[Michael Shanks]

My hon. Friend is a great champion for making sure that the transition has workers at its heart, both in his constituency and across Scotland. The developer estimates that there will be 27 direct jobs on the project, which is all that we are able to take into account with regard to the decision that I can talk about today. Of course, a significant number of jobs in oil and gas come from the wider impacts on the supply chain—things such as travel to and from offshore rigs and wider jobs in the north-east of Scotland—and jobs that might otherwise have been lost are also safeguarded. It is important to look at both sides.

On the question of jobs, I have always been really clear that we cannot just look at one side of a balance sheet and the jobs being lost. Energy transition means people moving from one part of an industry to another. We should not just look at jobs being lost in one area without following through to where those jobs end up, whether it is in other parts of the energy industry, in nuclear, in defence or in advanced manufacturing. One of the things we will launch soon is the future jobs service, which will support workers all the way through that process, giving them the necessary retraining so they can take up the opportunities in the future. That is how we will keep the workforce delivering in energy in Scotland.