The decision to give the go-ahead to the Rosebank oil field development off Shetland dominates several of the front pages. The Scotsman leads with First Minister Humza Yousaf accusing UK government ministers of “climate denial”. The paper says environmental campaigners have threatened legal action, claiming the approval decision by the North Sea Transition Authority is unlawful.
On the other side of the argument, the Daily Telegraph says UK ministers, industry leaders and trade unions have welcomed the approval to develop the UK’s largest untapped oil field, which is estimated to contain up to 300 million barrels of oil. The Scottish Conservatives say the first minister’s objections “make it abundantly clear that Humza Yousaf is happy to abandon Scotland’s oil and gas sector”.
Mr Yousaf has said the decision to go ahead with Rosebank is not the right one for Scotland and the north east’s future, reports the Metro. The FM says the granting of new oil and gas licences will slow down Scotland’s transition to becoming the net zero capital of Europe.
The i says the UK government has been accused of “taking a flame-thrower” to the country’s green credibility. However, the paper says UK Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho insists climate “zealots” are at fault for turning the public away from the government’s net zero cause.
The Press and Journal says the Rosebank development will spark a new oil boom in the north east of Scotland. It reports that the billions of pounds invested in the project will bring hundreds of jobs to the region.
The National leads with the Rosebank plan being branded “ecocide”. The paper also focuses on the Scottish government accusing its UK counterparts of climate denial in giving the green light to the controversial development.
Elsewhere, the Scottish Daily Mail leads on the SNP suspending MSP Fergus Ewing from the party. The paper says the former government minister, who has been an outspoken critic of the party leadership, believes his suspension shows the SNP no longer represents the people of Scotland.
The Herald also features Mr Ewing’s suspension. But it leads with a warning from the auditor general that the Scottish government will fail to deliver on its plan to invest £26bn in infrastructure projects because of budget cuts and rising costs.
The Daily Record focuses on approval being given for the UK’s first drug consumption room in Glasgow. The Scottish government has backed the opening of the facility, where users will be able to inject drugs under medical supervision, as a way to tackle the country’s drugs deaths crisis.
The Glasgow Times leads with the same story. The city councillor who is in charge of addictions policy tells the paper Glasgow must get the drug consumption room project right in a bid to tackle spiralling drugs deaths.
A woman from Dundee tells the Scottish Sun how she was attacked by her XL Bully dog, which bit off her thumb and ate it before mauling her husband.
The Times reports that Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been authorised by Downing Street to float the prospect of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights. The paper says the move would be intended to serve as a “warning shot” to the European Court of Human Rights not to block government plans to deport asylum seekers in the UK to Rwanda.
The Edinburgh Evening News leads with fears that the city council will have to cut more health and care services as it looks to fill a £16.7m hole in its budget funding.
The Courier leads with tributes from the golfing world after the death of Sir Michael Bonallak at the age of 88. Sir Michael was a former secretary of The R&A in St Andrews and Britain’s most decorated post-war amateur golfer.
The Evening Telegraph reports on the Dundee firm Logie Glazing and Building Services going into administration. All 16 staff have been made redundant, with the company blaming inflationary cost pressures.
Tributes to a father-of-four who died after an alleged disturbance on an industrial estate in Stonehaven is the main front page story in the Evening Express. David McGuinness, from Inverurie, was rushed to hospital after the incident on Tuesday morning but was pronounced dead a short time later.
