SNP leader John Swinney finally agrees with Westminster on something. The Holyrood first minister has welcomed Downing Street’s decision to press ahead with drilling at the Jackdaw natural gas field in the North Sea, a year and a half after production was blocked by the Court of Session at the behest of the green lobby.
John Swinney is an AI girlfriend for the politically inclined. Need him to be green? He’ll be green. Want him to be pro-drilling? He’ll be that instead
Swinney posted on X: ‘I hope today’s announcement on Jackdaw will provide some certainty for the North East after many years of difficulty thanks to UK Government policy.’
After some throat-clearing about ‘long-standing clean energy ambitions’ Swinney told his followers: ‘Climate compatibility tests must have formed the basis of the UK Government’s decision, alongside a recognition that carbon emissions from this field would have been lower than imports.’
This might be the first recorded instance of Swinney giving the British government the benefit of the doubt. He also chucked in a few pre-grievances about the necessity of income generated being invested in Scotland.
Anyone reading Swinney’s posts could be forgiving for assuming that he has been a great champion of Jackdaw, browbeating Sir Keir Starmer and then Andy Burnham to get a move on and drill, baby, drill.
Not so much. As has been pointed out by think tanker Sam Taylor, the receipt-keeping tormentor of tune-changing SNP politicians, Swinney took a very different view in February 2025. Asked to respond to recent court rulings that held up Jackdaw and other planned explorations, Swinney called them ‘the only sustainable judgment you can arrive at’ and said ‘they essentially reflect the thinking that we’ve put into this’.
Here’s the quote in full:
‘The court judgments essentially hinge on the whole question of whole-life carbon impact, and that is the key point. That is the key point. If you actually look at what the Scottish Government has marshalled as our input into this debate, we’ve essentially said exactly that. We’ve been saying that for years, that you have to look at the whole-life carbon impact of propositions if you are going to consent them.
So in that sense I’m not surprised by the court judgments because they essentially reflect the thinking that we’ve put into this. If you are going to take forward propositions of this type, or if you’re going to consider them, these are the issues that have to be mindful. I suppose that’s my contribution to the discussion.
I would encourage the UK Government to consider deeply the implications of those rulings and the whole question of whole-life carbon impact because that is the only sustainable judgment you can arrive at .’
John Swinney is an AI girlfriend for the politically inclined. Need him to be green? He’ll be green. Want him to be pro-drilling? He’ll be that instead. Yearning for someone who tells you what you want to hear when you want to hear it? He is happy to fulfil that request. There’s nothing he won’t whisper in your ear, no position he won’t adopt. When you believe in nothing, you can be anything.
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