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John Swinney has refused to say whether the SNP would back new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.
The First Minister said climate compatibility tests should be conducted before any new oil and gas licences were issued, but he declined four times to say whether he personally wanted to see further exploration.
Under Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP backed a presumption against new drilling.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader has hinted that he was lobbying Mr Swinney to abandon the policy.
Mr Swinney said: “I want to make sure that every decision we take has got a climate compatibility test attached to it. That’s the crucial issue we’ve got to take.”
Asked again, the First Minister gave the same answer but Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, responded: “That’s a no. John Swinney and the SNP are against new oil and gas licences. Just say it. Be honest, John.”
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, also came under pressure during the STV debate over his party’s plan to end new exploration if Sir Keir Starmer becomes Prime Minister, and for a windfall tax on the industry.
Rishi Sunak has previously granted new oil and gas licences in Scotland, saying last year it was “the right thing to do”.
Mr Sarwar told voters that a vote for Scottish Labour is a vote to “maximise Scotland’s influence” in the UK and claimed his party was “the change Scotland needs”.
Meanwhile, the First Minister came under fire from all sides over the SNP’s record, with the Scottish Conservatives’ leader Douglas Ross claiming Mr Swinney was “at the centre of every scandal the SNP has been involved in for the last 17 years.”
Mr Swinney faced questions over the expenses scandal surrounding SNP MSP Michael Matheson, as well as the deletion of WhatsApp messages during the Covid pandemic.
Mr Sarwar accused the SNP government of being “mired in sleaze and scandal” and also took aim at Mr Ross, who he said should be “begging for forgiveness from the Scottish people” after 14 years of a Conservative Government in Westminster.
The TV debate featured the Scottish leaders of the four parties that won Westminster seats in the last election. The 90-minute showdown, broadcast from STV’s Glasgow studios, was the first TV debate of the election campaign.
It was staged shortly after a detailed poll by YouGov became the latest survey to predict a Labour surge in Scotland, with the SNP being routed on July 4 and wiped out in Glasgow.
The survey of 5,541 Scots – more than five times the normal sample – predicted Labour would win 34 out of the 57 seats being contested following boundary changes. This is up from only one in the 2019 election.
In contrast, the SNP tally would tumble from 48 to only 17. After winning all Glasgow’s seats in the 2015 and 2019 elections, the Nationalists would be ejected from Scotland’s largest city.
Labour would take all six Glasgow constituencies on its way to its best general election performance in Scotland since 2010, when Gordon Brown was Prime Minister and it won 41 seats.
The Tories were predicted to drop from six to five seats and the Liberal Democrats from four to just one. YouGov predicted that 61 per cent of Scottish seats will change hands compared to 41 per cent in England.
However, 20 seats – more than a third of the total – are deemed to be “toss ups” as a small swing in votes would change the victor. The SNP is one of the two parties in all 20 of these marginal contests, with Labour involved in 17.
Asked about the poll, Mr Swinney admitted that the SNP had faced “tough times” and he intended to use the campaign to try and regain the electorate’s trust.
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