Image source, UK Parliament

Energy minister Michael Shanks is now giving a statement to the Commons about today's Jackdaw decision - you can watch live above.

Just before he begins his remarks, he gets an angry telling-off from Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, saying today's announcement should have been made in the Commons first rather than in the media.

Shanks has already been speaking in Parliament today - he told the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee this morning that Jackdaw's impact on energy security will be "relatively marginal" in the long-term "in terms of the overall picture".

He argued it's nonetheless an important part of strengthening the UK's resilience in an "uncertain world" and "does provide benefits".

"It’s important for me to say we have a diverse range of supplies of gas at the moment from the continental shelf from our own side, from Norway and from other imports. But undoubtedly a project like this helps strengthen that energy security," he said.

We'll bring you any key lines from that statement and the subsequent questions from MPs.

Burnham and Badenoch's Jackdaw disagreement is about pace not directionpublished at 12:29 BST

12:29 BST

Chris Mason
Political editor

“Faff about” and “mess up” were the two punchy quotes that summed up the exchanges between the prime minister and the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch about the approval of drilling at the Jackdaw gas field.

For Badenoch, the argument is one grounded in accusing the government of taking too long to come to this decision, with other decisions, not least the Rosebank oil field, still to be taken. In other words, as she put it, faffing about.

For Burnham, he responded that it was the Conservatives who had messed up, as he argued — by approving the licences in question but then finding out they didn’t stand up to legal scrutiny, which led to a delay.

The intriguing element of this debate today between Badenoch and Burnham is they are on the same side — the difference is about pace rather than direction.

Image source, UK Parliament

At Prime Minister's Questions, Badenoch uses her first question to thank the PM for "finally" approving Jackdaw.

But she accuses the government of dithering over the decision, saying the Conservative government first approved it in 2022.

She asks Burnham whether he'll overturn Labour's ban on new oil and gas licences.

Burnham responds by saying the government has made a decision "that her government messed up", saying this is why there was a delay to Jackdaw being approved.

He accuses the Tories of not carrying out the process "properly", saying his party had made a "pragmatic decision".

For context: The site was approved by the Conservative government in 2022, but faced legal challenges from Greenpeace and other environmental campaigners. Last year, a judge ruled the development had been unlawfully approved, putting its future in doubt.

We'll bring you more updates relevant to Jackdaw from the Commons here - you can find our full PMQs coverage here.

Not an explicit thumbs up or thumbs down from the SNPpublished at 12:09 BST

12:09 BST

Glenn Campbell
BBC Scotland political editor

In its official statement on Jackdaw, the Scottish government does not explicitly give the UK government decision the thumbs up or down.

It welcomes the stability and certainty the announcement could provide and criticises the previous Conservative government for decisions that were successfully challenged in court.

When Nicola Sturgeon was Scotland's first minister, she articulated a policy of a presumption against new oil and gas extraction in the North Sea.

That made it into a draft energy strategy which has yet to be finalised.

The Scottish government under John Swinney has appeared to be shifting position.

After the Jackdaw approval was announced this morning, the first minister said he hoped it would "provide some certainty" for the north east of Scotland, after "many years of difficulty thanks to UK government policy".

Swinney also said it is "vital that the economic benefits of our energy are felt here in Scotland and used to bring energy bills down, rather than flowing to the Treasury to plug more short-term spending gaps".

That’s perhaps as close to endorsing Jackdaw as the SNP go, in the knowledge that this is a divisive issue within the party.

Image source, Pool image

Chancellor John Healey has been speaking to broadcasters from Aberdeen, where the owner of Jackdaw is headquartered.

He addresses the new Energy Wealth Fund announced today, which will invest the tax revenue from Jackdaw into the "green transition".

"The proceeds of this oil and gas coming ashore now can be invested for the future generations," Healey says.

But it's "too early to tell" how much revenue the fund will generate.

"If we had done this when North Sea oil was first discovered in the 1980s, we'd have a British Sovereign Wealth Fund now that would be worth probably a trillion pounds."

He adds that now is the time to "make the most of our own homegrown energy," in light of the war in Iran.

Image source, Getty Images

We're now getting some reaction from the US, as Warren Stephens, the American ambassador to the UK says he welcomes the UK "moving forward" with Jackdaw.

He says: “Energy security means taking charge of your own energy."

President Donald Trump previously urged the UK to increase drilling in the North Sea, hailing Aberdeen as the "oil capital of Europe", adding that compared to Norway, "Scotland has a better part of the North Sea".

Stephens says he hopes the British government will now approve drilling at Rosebank, a contentious oil field near Shetland that was barred from production by a judge last year subject to further environmental assessments.

“Developing Britain’s own North Sea resources supports UK businesses and its people. A stronger, more secure UK energy sector benefits us all,” Stephens adds.

Image source, Reuters

Over in the House of Commons, Andy Burnham is about to face MPs for Prime Minister's Questions.

We don't know what Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch or the backbench MPs who will be granted questions will ask, but we'll bring you any updates that may arise on today's Jackdaw decision.

We have a separate live page for our comprehensive PMQs coverage here.

James Cook
Scotland editor

When I visited the Jackdaw platform this summer, workers were racing towards a deadline of 1 October for production to begin.

There are now a few final procedures to be carried out which had to wait until consent was granted, but production should be under way within weeks.

Jackdaw is a complex and challenging project, operating at high temperature and high pressure.

That’s not a bad description of the political debate which has surrounded the development.

But the really big test for the UK government is not Jackdaw but Rosebank, the UK’s largest-known untapped oil field, off the coast of Shetland in the North Atlantic.

The two fields are by no means the same.

While gas from Jackdaw will be piped ashore to Aberdeenshire via the neighbouring Shearwater platform and is likely to be largely consumed in the UK, oil from Rosebank will be taken off by tanker and sold on the international market.

Rosebank could last a quarter of a century or more as opposed to an estimated life of 11 years for Jackdaw and would produce far more planet-warming greenhouse gases.

And so the pressure and temperature of the debate is likely to rise even higher as regulators and the UK government make their final assessments about Rosebank.

Image source, Getty Images

The Liberal Democrats say the decision to move forward with oil and gas extraction at Jackdaw "during a climate crisis" is "proof that Britain hasn’t moved anywhere near fast enough” to reduce its reliance on oil and gas.

The party’s energy security and net zero spokesperson, Pippa Heylings, says the government must put forward a national electrification strategy.

“Until then, we will need North Sea gas and oil for decades to come,” she adds.

Will the approval of Jackdaw mean lower gas bills?published at 11:25 BST

11:25 BST

By Ben Chu, policy and analysis correspondent, and Tom Edgington

Jackdaw is one of the largest unexploited gas fields in the North Sea. However, most experts don’t expect the extra gas produced from it to translate into significantly cheaper bills for consumers.

That’s because it will be sold at European market prices rather than “reserved for British consumers at a discount”, Karl Matikonis, professor of taxation at University College Dublin, tells BBC Verify.

The additional gas extracted from Jackdaw won’t be enough to meaningfully reduce those prices, as it is a relatively small volume compared to the total amount used and produced by Europe.

However, it could result in more corporation tax revenues for the UK government, because any profits made by the owner of the gas field would be taxable.

The government has acknowledged the decision won't affect bills for this winter. Asked by BBC Radio Scotland if people would see reduced costs this year, energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said "no, it won't", adding it is "important to say that upfront".

The government says it will use tax revenues from North Sea gas and oil to invest in green energy projects to “help get bills down for good in the long term”.

Harry Farley
Political correspondent

So far - and we should stress it is still early in the day - there is little pushback from Labour MPs about this decision.

Plenty are supportive. Henry Tufnell from the Industry First Group of MPs said the government "has seen sense."

"Opening up Jackdaw will protect British jobs, enhance energy security and boost tax revenue," he adds.

"The next logical step: approve Rosebank and cut carbon taxes on UK industry."

That call - to now approve the oil field Rosebank - will be much more controversial with Labour MPs than the one to approve the Jackdaw gas field has been.

A Labour MP who doesn’t much like the Jackdaw decision but admitted it "can make sense", told me "Rosebank is another story. That can’t happen," they said.

Charities have been reacting to the government’s decision to allow new gas to be extracted from Jackdaw in the North Sea.

Conservation group Oceana UK accuses the government of undermining “UK climate leadership for gas that won’t even lower our bills”.

Oxfam, meanwhile, says the government has “drilled straight through the UK’s climate commitments” and accuses Burnham of sending “the wrong signal as the impacts of climate change intensify”.

The charity says the government must commit to not approving any new oil and gas licences, including at Rosebank off the coast of Shetland.

ActionAid UK calls the move “appalling and indefensible” and says the government must reverse its decision and “act on its historic responsibility, not add to the problem".

• You can see reactions from business leaders here who are welcoming an energy security "boost", and from unions who celebrate the commitment to jobs

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor

Image source, AFP

The timing is uncomfortable for the government.

Jackdaw was approved on the same day the UN Environment Programme (Unep) warned that the world will now breach the 1.5C (34.7F) global warming limit, at least temporarily, after "decades of insufficient climate action".

Unep’s annual Emissions Gap report measures how far off course the world is from cutting the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change.

This year’s report says that even in the best case, warming will peak at about 1.7 to 1.8C, by around mid-century.

The risks from climate change, such as intense heatwaves, rising sea-levels and loss of wildlife, would be much higher at 2C of warming than at 1.5C, according to scientists.

Bringing it back below 1.5C by 2100 would require global emissions to fall 18% by 2030, compared with 2025 levels.

Unep has said the pledges governments have made so far would deliver less than half the cut needed.

Image source, EPA

Protesters have gathered outside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in Westminster this morning to condemn the government's decision to approve gas extraction from the Jackdaw field in the North Sea.

Fossil Free London organised the demonstration. People could be seen holding placards that read "new oil is a death sentence" and "stop Jackdaw".

The group's founder says the approval "is an outrage and it's basically climate denial".

Robin Wells says governments make "promise after promise, it's been blah blah blah since the first COP".

Image source, EPA

Image source, Bloomberg via Getty Images

Unions are among those reacting to the Jackdaw decision.

Unite argued for the Jackdaw approval, and this morning general secretary Sharon Graham reiterates that the UK cannot have a "jobless transition" to renewable energy.

She also says that although the union supports net zero, it cannot "abandon its energy security or offshore our carbon responsibilities".

"This gives us a bit more time to create and fund a concrete plan for commensurate jobs for workers currently working in the North Sea," Graham adds.

GMB general secretary Gary Smith also welcomes the Jackdaw announcement, describing it as "great news". Vital decisions on gas supply have been put off "for too long", he says, which has risked the UK’s energy security "at a time of worrying international volatility".

Smith says GMB will now press for the government to grant permission for Rosebank, a contentious oil field that the government is yet to make its decision on.

Image source, Morgan Spence / BBC News

Business leaders in Aberdeen are describing the Jackdaw approval as "a major boost for energy security, jobs and investment in the North Sea".

Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, says the "hugely welcome decision" is "exactly the sort of pragmatic call the North Sea has been crying out for".

"Every molecule of gas we produce in the North Sea, under some of the world's highest environmental standards, is a molecule we don't have to import on a tanker from overseas. That's good for jobs, good for the supply chain, and good for the climate."

Shiona McCallum
Senior technology reporter, reporting from Aberdeen

Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh is here in Aberdeen.

Speaking at a very wet and windy Port of Aberdeen earlier, she delivered a clear message: homegrown gas still has a role to play as the government pursues its climate ambitions and its drive towards net zero.

Image source, POOL

She acknowledged that the government has been grappling with the transition to cleaner energy, but said that, after careful consideration, Jackdaw can be part of that picture.

Today's decision is significant because it signals the government's wider approach to Britain's energy future. That will be one that seeks to balance continued domestic oil and gas production with the transition to cleaner energy.

And that balancing act is reflected in the reaction from the wider energy industry.

Greg Jackson, the chief executive of Octopus Energy, tells the BBC: "Of course, this will help maintain jobs here for longer, and it will pay taxes here.

"But in the long run, we need to get off gas, which is why electrification, moving to heat pumps are so important to escape this dependence on prices set in geopolitically unstable regions and by dictators for good."

And that perhaps sums up the challenge facing the government, balancing the need to protect jobs and maintain energy security today, while moving towards a future where Britain is less reliant on fossil fuels.

Image source, Getty Images

Scotland's First Minister John Swinney has now also weighed in, saying that he hopes the announcement on Jackdaw will provide some certainty for the north east of Scotland, after "many years of difficulty thanks to UK Government policy".

"It must also kickstart a renewed drive to deliver our long-standing clean energy ambitions," he writes on X.

He says any income from oil and gas must be protected and used to support Scottish communities.

"It is vital that the economic benefits of our energy are felt here in Scotland and used to bring energy bills down, rather than flowing to the Treasury to plug more short term spending gaps," he adds.

Swinney adds that the climate compatibility tests ordered for the project must've formed the basis for the approval, "alongside a recognition that carbon emissions from this field would have been lower than imports".

Political reaction continues to pour in after the UK government's announcement on the Jackdaw gas field.

Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra says approving Jackdaw"is the right decision for Scotland’s energy security, our industrial base and the skilled workers who have powered our economy for generations".

He adds: "This is about putting industry and pragmatism before narrow ideology - the next step for Scotland should be new nuclear and renewable projects built by Scottish workers."

Douglas Lumsden, Tory MP for Aberdeen South where the owner of Jackdaw is headquartered, says today's decision is a "victory" for locals.

"But the ridiculous wait for a decision has crippled the industry, and we must never forget the damage caused by Labour’s reluctance to support this project," he adds.

The Scottish Greens say the PM has "continued to devastate our climate".

The party's co-leader Ross Greer says Andy Burnham's government could have focused instead on lowering bills and investing in clean, green renewable energy.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats say the announcement will be a relief for North Sea workers but insist promises of a just transition to renewables continue to fall short.

Party energy spokesperson Sanne Dijkstra-Downie says receiving approval during a climate crisis proves the Scottish and UK governments "haven't moved nearly fast enough" to reduce the need and demand for oil and gas.

Image source, EPA

Shell, energy giant and one of the joint owners of Jackdaw operator Adura, has welcomed the government's approval.

"This is an important step in ensuring the UK North Sea can continue to contribute to the country’s energy security and economy," Shell UK chief of staff Tony Nunan says.

“We will continue to work constructively with government and Adura to support secure energy, investment and growth in the UK," Nunan adds.