Climate groups rally outside UK Government offices as Jackdaw field approved

Climate protesters have rallied outside the UK Government’s offices in Edinburgh after the Jackdaw gas field was given final regulatory approval.

The Government announced the North Sea field in the waters east of Aberdeen would go ahead on Wednesday evening.

On Thursday, “stop Jackdaw” demonstrators unfurled a banner reading “clean gas is a dirty lie” outside Queen Elizabeth House near Waverley Station.

Several dozen chanted and listened to speeches during the protest, calling for the new field to be stopped.

The campaign hopes to continue activism around the Cambo Oil field to the west of Shetland, after the companies behind the development put it on pause earlier this year.

Announcing the decision on Wednesday, Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the Government was “turbocharging” renewables, adding: “Let’s source more of the gas we need from British waters to protect energy security”.

Stop Jackdaw spokesman Maciej Walczuk, 19, said claims the new field would help with the energy crisis were a “lie”.

The engineering student told the PA news agency: “The international agencies, the United Nations and basically all scientists agree that we cannot allow for new oil and gas investment.”

New fields such as Jackdaw would not bring down gas bills, he said.

He continued: “What the Stop Cambo campaign really showed us is organising in people’s communities and creating public pressure can work.

“It worked with Cambo, we managed to get the UK Government and the companies to move away from that project.

“So what we’re really trying to do is not to see today as a day of failure but really get ourselves even more excited to fight against the UK Government.”