IS it a coincidence that less than a week after Donald Trump urged the UK to “drill baby drill” in the North Sea, ministers are reportedly looking to water down a ban on oil and gas exploration?

The cynics among us will easily tie the link between the US president using the Chequers press conference with the Prime Minister to urge Starmer to exploit the “great asset” in Scotland’s seas. 

This is not the first time Trump has urged the UK Government to exploit the natural resources in the North Sea, and he’s made it pretty clear he has a burning hatred for wind power. So really, it isn’t unexpected.

But there has been a definite shift over the summer in regards to the North Sea, with calls to drain every last drop of resource becoming a common talking point. 

Both Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage have railed against the UK Government’s licensing ban over the summer.

While consensus amongst scientists is to stop all drilling and exploration for oil and gas, in light of rising global temperatures, this call has been repeatedly ignored and dismissed. And this call is not coming from your typical climate deniers.

It looks as if now Ed Miliband, the UK Energy Secretary, may be set to bow to pressure over the licensing ban brought in after the General Election.

As is procedure with the UK Government, the policy was touted in the newspapers first.

The Times reported that Miliband is expected to approve “tie-backs”, allowing new fields to be explored via adjacent existing sites.

This would lead to the extraction of new reserves of fossil fuels and extend the oil and gas sector in the North Sea.

Aberdeen South SNP MP Stephen Flynn responded to the news by calling for Miliband to change Westminster’s oil and gas regime. 

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Flynn urged Westminster to consider an independent report by John Underhill from Aberdeen University. Last month, Underhill argued that there was “real uncertainty” in the oil and gas sector due to the ban and the Energy Profits Levy, also known as the windfall tax.

He called for permits to be allowed for “near-field or infrastructure-led exploration is a practical and pragmatic way”, to stop the UK from becoming dependent on imports. 

Flynn said: “For too long, Westminster has treated Scotland’s energy wealth as a cash cow to be drained rather than an asset to be protected to deliver a sustainable, clean energy future that will mean jobs not just for the next decade, but for the next 100 years, reaping the rewards of energy security and lower bills in the process.”

While Labour’s manifesto committed to a ban on new exploratory licences in the North Sea, Keir Starmer’s Government is quick to bow to pressure.

You only have to look at their myriad U-turns, or their Reform-lite approach to immigration to see that. 

But climate campaigners will also not back down. They can be credited for blocking Rosebank and Cambo, huge oil fields off the coast of Shetland, from being given the go-ahead. 

Friends of the Earth (FoE) Scotland accused Flynn of “going to bat for oil industry bosses” and criticised the SNP’s “vague promises” to assess the climate compatibility of new oil fields before approval. 

The Scottish Government has previously come under fire for its draft Climate Change Plan being delayed, rumoured to be over a reluctance to fully commit to banning all oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. 

Under Nicola Sturgeon the party was much more vocally opposed to oil and gas drilling.

She stated that Cambo should not go ahead while first minister, but the party’s position has shifted in recent years. 

Rosie Hampton, FoE Scotland oil and gas campaigns manager, was heavily critical of Flynn’s comments. 

“Any oil drilled from the North Sea will be sold by the companies to the highest bidder and do absolutely nothing to provide security for the households who have watched their energy bills rise for years now,” she said. 

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“These energy companies have made obscene profits whilst one third of homes in Scotland are in fuel poverty – why is Stephen Flynn trying to further lock in an energy system rigged against ordinary people?”

Hampton argued that politicians are “abandoning their responsibility to protect the public from the extreme weather and disasters” by backing more oil drilling. 

The issue of North Sea oil and gas certainly isn’t going away, with the transition to renewable energy a key policy of the Scottish Government, and hundreds of jobs on the line.

But, as always, Westminster is likely to have the final say on the future of Scotland’s resources, whether we like it or not.