Kate Forbes piles pressure on John Swinney to back Rosebank oil field after he repeatedly refused to say where he stands

Kate Forbes, who served as Swinney's deputy first minister, argued in the Sunday Times that greenlighting Rosebank was "the right decision," warning that up to 18,000 offshore energy jobs could be lost by 2035 if North Sea development is halted. The article followed Swinney's failure to give a straight answer on four separate occasions at First Minister's Questions about whether he backs the project, leading opposition MSPs to charge him with a "lack of backbone."

At last month's SNP conference in Aberdeen, delegates formally dropped Nicola Sturgeon's 'presumption against' new drilling, opening up political space for Swinney to take a position.

Westminster is also moving forward, with Budget documents already accounting for revenues from Rosebank, although Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh is said to be in disagreement with fellow Cabinet members over the development.