Supporting drilling at Rosebank places Rishi Sunak on the wrong side of history - Robbie MacPherson

Rosebank’s oil will largely belong to Norway and be sold to the highest bidder. Rosebank’s owner, the Norwegian state-backed oil giant Equinor, has itself admitted to Parliament that the oil extracted from Rosebank will be “sold on the open market” with the “continent of Europe” being the most likely destination for that sale, proving it is extremely unlikely that this field will provide any relief at all for hardworking households in Yorkshire or across Britain.

Approving Rosebank is a financially reckless decision. Despite Equinor making enormous profits of £62bn during the energy crisis, billions of pounds in tax breaks will be handed to them to develop this field. Not to mention that the Exchequer stands to lose more than £750m over Rosebank's lifetime.

On top of this, Rosebank is a disaster for the planet. After a record scorching summer, fires raging across Europe and ocean heat waves in the North Sea, the government should be bringing the fossil fuel era to an end. But allowing this field to go ahead, which would create over 200 million tonnes of CO2, the combined annual emissions of 28 lowest income countries in the world, pours more unnecessary fuel on the climate fire.

No wonder opposition to Rosebank is so strong. After all, in what universe does it make sense for UK taxpayers to lose out to a foreign oil company in a cost of living crisis, when the project won’t even provide us with affordable power but will contribute to a heating world.

A coalition which includes more than 50 cross-party MPs, including Conservatives, the Women’s Institute, RSPB, fuel poverty campaigners, scientists, Gary Lineaker, Ellie Goulding, Frankie Boyle and countless others have all criticised Rosebank.

New polling suggests that the government isn’t listening to the wider country either, with only 8 per cent of the public thinking increasing fossil fuel production is the best way to increase energy security compared to over half who chose more renewables, and only one in ten Britions believing more oil and gas and coal is the best way to reduce energy bills.

We will need some oil and gas while we make the shift to clean energy, and it won’t happen overnight.

But by endlessly obsessing over industries of the past, the government risks leaving Britain behind. Already this month, the UK missed out on the opportunity to secure any new offshore wind farms, with the potential to provide clean cheap energy to millions of homes, and the Prime Minister’s announcements rowing back on climate commitments are predicted to cost the country up to £8bn over the next decade.

Rosebank can still be stopped. Sunak can say no to Equinor and bring the development to a halt. The question is: does he care enough to do it?

Robbie MacPherson is political adviser at Uplift, a campaigning and research organisation helping to move the UK towards a fossil fuel-free future and a just transition.