OPPOSITION MSPs have demanded Nicola Sturgeon stand up to the Tory government at Westminster and oppose a proposed oil field development in the North Sea. 

Scottish Labour’s net zero spokeswoman Monica Lennon said the First Minister must “loudly oppose” the Cambo oil field proposal near Shetland, adding that the SNP is hiding behind Boris Johnson. 

The development could see an estimated 135 million tonnes of carbon during its proposed 25-year lifetime.

Ms Lennon said: “If we start meeting our own climate targets in Scotland, we’ll be in a better position to demand quicker progress from other governments.”

Friends of the Earth Scotland said warnings from international bodies about the acceleration of climate catastrophe means rejecting new oil and gas developments like the Cambo field, calling for governments to sit down with workers and communities to plan a fair transition.

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie pointed out that the UK government continues to plough millions into the causes of this crisis, while cutting aid to the countries who are most impacted.

He said: “It’s a disgusting gap between rhetoric and reality, compounded by the apparent willingness to open a vast new oil field off the coast of Shetland.

“It’s also time for the Scottish government to finally recognise that business as usual for the oil and gas industry can’t go on.”

A Scottish government spokesman said it is wholly committed to becoming a net-zero economy by 2045 but did not say it was committed to opposing the project, and claimed that the oil and gas sector can play a positive role in Scotland’s energy transition.

The calls come as plans for a major oil and gas field in East Yorkshire plough on, which would see fossil fuels produced for decades to come. 

A planning application has just been submitted to drill six more wells and start producing oil at an exploratory site. 

Cllr Andy Walker of the Yorkshire Party said continuing with the plans amid the climate emergency was “insane.”