Celebs including Frankie Boyle have signed an open letter to Rishi Sunak urging him to ditch controversial plans for a massive new oil field off the Scottish coast.
The comic joined Aisling Bea, popstar Aurora, climate activist Vanessa Nakate and some 200 charities and organisations in warning the PM not to approve drilling at Rosebank, 80 miles off Shetland.
Tory energy minister Grant Shapps is expected to decide whether to green-light the North Sea scheme shortly ahead of plans to strike “first oil” in 2026.
But the open letter to No10, signed by groups ranging from the RSPB to the Women’s Institute, warned the oil field going live would be devastating for the climate.
And they claimed the development would “not help energy security” - with supplies “most likely to be exported” and therefore not lowering UK energy costs.
Glaswegian stand-up Boyle, 50, said: “Approving Rosebank makes no sense.
“We’re in a climate emergency, renewable energy is so much cheaper, and anyway this is oil for export.
“The only winners would be the oil and gas companies that own these reserves off the Shetland coast.
“Why we’re subsidising its development to the tune of half a billion pounds, when they clearly don't need the cash and there are plenty more worthy causes, is a mystery.”
Campaigners claim North Sea firms are exploiting tax breaks for investment to evade the UK Government’s windfall tax on bumper oil and gas profits.
It comes as a new YouGovDirect poll found more than two thirds of Brits oppose taxpayers subsidising oil and gas firms to develop new fields in the North Sea.
The survey spoke to 2,193 people between February 1 and 2 and was conducted for campaign group Uplift, which coordinates the Stop Rosebank and Stop Cambo campaigns.
The planned Rosebank project is the largest undeveloped oil field in the North Sea - and could yield more than 300 million barrels.
Located west of Shetland, the site - operated by Norwegian energy giant Equinor - is twice as large as the Cambo oil field paused in 2021 after a storm of protest.
Ugandan climate activist Ms Nakate said: "The need to end our global addiction to fossil fuels is crystal clear, yet if the UK government approves Rosebank it will keep pumping out oil until 2051. The UK needs to take responsibility.”
Uplift executive director Tessa Khan said: “The last thing this industry needs is more public handouts.”
We told last year how the UK’s North Sea regulator had demanded further answers from Equinor on how the Rosebank proposals would fit with the country’s climate goals.
Equinor said it was “working to address these questions” with the watchdog.
Sunak has previously stated the UK will still need fossil fuels for “decades” to come.
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