Is oil extraction a form of environmental vandalism which threatens life on the planet, or a source of revenue which could propel Scotland and its people to new levels of wealth? It is little use asking Nicola Sturgeon: she appears to believe it is both.

Three years ago, when striking schoolchildren and Extinction Rebellion were telling us that the world must become carbon-neutral by 2025 or face massive loss of life, she told the SNP spring conference:

‘I met some of the young climate change campaigners who’ve gone on strike from school to raise awareness of their cause. They want governments around the world to declare a climate emergency. They say that’s what the science tells us. And they are right. So today, as First Minister of Scotland, I am declaring that there is a climate emergency.  And Scotland will live up to our responsibility to tackle it.’

Well, no-one can say she did nothing. Last year, she came out against the development of the Cambo oil field off the coast of Shetland, calling on the UK government to deny the developers a licence, and thereby forgoing the chance to extract 170 million barrels of oil over 25 years. But hang on, what’s this? Last month, the SNP published its plans for ‘Building a New Scotland Fund’, something which would apparently inject £20 billion into the Scottish economy in the first decade of independence, growing the economy by an extra 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent by the end of the period. And how is it going to be funded? You’ve guessed it: oil money. In the document’s foreword, Sturgeon says she plans to extract her £20 billion from ‘windfall proceeds from oil prices that are likely to remain relatively high in the period ahead’.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Health Matters