Duped over drilling! SNP accused of delaying position on North Sea oil until AFTER by-election

By TOM GORDON, SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 20:42, 1 June 2026 | Updated: 20:47, 1 June 2026 The SNP is accused of trying to ‘dupe voters’ by delaying their official position on new North Sea drilling until after the Aberdeen South by-election. Energy Minister Stephen Gethins refused to commit to publishing the Scottish Government’s long-awaited energy strategy before 2027. The document has been repeatedly delayed by the Nationalists, leaving its draft ‘presumption against’ new oil and gas fields in place. With the June 18 by-election becoming a referendum on whether to reopen the North Sea, the Scottish Conservatives blasted the latest delay as part of a ‘cynical ruse’. Tory candidate Douglas Lumsden also accused Mr Gethins of a ‘fresh betrayal’ of oil and gas workers by refusing to give the sector his unambiguous backing. In an interview with the Press & Journal, the minister was asked if he was ‘all-in on further oil and gas exploration’ given around 1,000 job losses every month. Energy Minister Stephen Gethins refused to commit to publishing the Scottish Government’s long-awaited energy strategy before 2027 ‘Not for the sake of it,’ Mr Gethins replied. ‘I see the value of the oil and gas sector in terms of skills and how it’s delivered. But we’re also moving into a period whereby renewables are becoming exceptionally important.’ He said any new licensing should depend on climate and energy security tests. Mr Lumsden said: ‘Stephen Gethins’s comments are a fresh betrayal of oil and gas workers. ‘The industry is on life support, with 1,000 jobs per month being lost, yet he’s kicking the can down the road on the SNP energy strategy and banging on about climate compatibility tests. ‘This is an emergency. We need to see Labour ditch the windfall tax now, and both them and the SNP give their unequivocal backing to fresh drilling.’ He added: ‘John Swinney’s apparent softening of his opposition to new projects was just a cynical ruse to dupe voters. ‘The reality is their reckless “presumption against” policy remains in place because Swinney is too weak to stand up to the Net Zero zealots inside and outside the SNP. This by-election is a chance for voters to send a message to Labour and the SNP that their war on oil and gas must end.’ Published in January 2023, the Scottish Government’s draft energy strategy included a consultation on ‘a presumption against new exploration for oil and gas’. Industry body Offshore Energies UK last month urged SNP ministers to publish the finalised strategy in the first 100 days of the SNP’s fifth term. But asked if he would do so, Mr Gethins, who switched from Westminster to Holyrood at the election, gave no guarantees. He told the P&J: ‘I’ve come in, I just got started, I went straight to Aberdeen to meet with a range of stakeholders. I think me just turning around and saying, I’m going to put together a strategy tomorrow, would not be the right thing to do.’ Pressed on it appearing before the end of the year, he said: ‘I just think that when you come into a new job, you should take a wee bit of time to take a breath, listen and learn.’ The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.