Today Nicola Sturgeon has told Scots to be “sensible” with their energy usage, and warned of a “real concern […] about energy supplies” as the UK faces blackouts over Christmas. So surely she’d back any means possible to help keep the lights on this winter?

Not exactly. As Whitehall gives the go-ahead for a new oil and gas licensing round to shore up long-term supplies, Sturgeon used her appearance on the Today Programme as an opportunity to attack Jacob Rees-Mogg, and insist the process be bogged down by yet more bureaucracy:

“I don’t support a haphazard ‘just give the go-ahead’ without stringent climate compatibility checks […] I’d rather we had a proper, planned [transition]…”

Pushed by Mishal Husain on whether an independent Scotland would even support the licensing round, Sturgeon hesitated, again saying

“…Not without stringent climate compatibility checks. Not with Jacob Rees-Mogg just waking up one morning and deciding it’s the right thing to do. We have vast renewable potential. What we’ve got to do is have a careful, planned transition. The point I was trying to make before you interrupted me was to say we’ve […] given the potential go-ahead to 20 gigawatts of offshore wind…” 

Obviously pushing for renewables should be part of the package, although spending years trying to block North Sea drilling only to then warn everyone they might go cold this winter is something else…

Want to see more SNP fails? – Health Matters