Few believe decision will bring back city’s boom years, but workers hope it will keep as many North Sea jobs for now

• UK approves Jackdaw gasfield in North Sea

• What does the UK’s approval of the Jackdaw gasfield mean?

As recently as 2012, Aberdeen boasted the highest concentration of millionaires in the UK. An ATM reportedly had the highest withdrawal rate in Europe in the 90s, as oil and gas wealth flowed through the city. House prices skyrocketed in the scramble for space as fossil fuel firms transformed the city’s grand granite houses into company offices. But that was then.

Today, “for sale” and “to let” signs punctuate the city’s main thoroughfares. Disposable income in Aberdeen has fallen by nearly 20% between 2013 and 2023 – more than any other large UK city – after a 2014 oil price shock sparked a brutal reversal in Aberdeen’s fortunes.

Zia Yusuf claims undercover investigation broke the law as broadcaster stands by its journalism

Here is an explainer by Jill Ambrose about the Jackdaw decision.

But environmental groups have condemned the decision. Ami McCarthy, head of politics for Greenpeace UK, said:

Approving Jackdaw shows the toxic grip fossil fuel lobbyists still hold over our energy policy. Andy Burnham promised pragmatism [see 8.40am], but there is nothing pragmatic about rubber-stamping a project that won’t lower energy bills, won’t boost energy security and will create just 27 full-time jobs …

True pragmatism means severing our reliance on expensive oil and gas that leaves British households broke, supercharges extreme weather, and leaves our energy security at the mercy of petrostates.

Is the prime minister living in a parallel universe? One where we haven’t just endured our hottest summer on record, with droughts, wildfires and, in all likelihood, the most heat-related deaths on record? And where the UN hasn’t warned that we’re on the brink of breaching the all-important 1.5 degree warming limit?

Shell will be cheering this decision but it won’t knock a penny off our energy bills, which is what’s keeping people up at night, or make a meaningful difference to our gas supply.

Jackdaw will provide around just 2% of our gas demand for roughly ten years. It has been oversold and won’t stop the decline in North Sea jobs, as it will be largely unmanned and operated remotely.

Critics say move will jeopardise climate targets, fail to cut cost of living and distract from need to decarbonise energy

• UK politics live – latest updates

Climate campaigners and green experts have condemned the government’s decision to allow the drilling of the Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea.

They said approval for the site would jeopardise the UK’s climate targets, fail to reduce the cost of living, and distract from the need to decarbonise the UK’s energy sector.

Decision was widely expected after lobbying by Shell but will dismay environmental campaigners

• What does the UK’s approval of the Jackdaw gasfield mean?

• UK politics live – latest updates

• Business live – latest updates

The UK government has approved the controversial Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea, a widely expected move that will nonetheless dismay environmental campaigners and a number of Labour MPs.

While Labour’s 2024 election manifesto committed to a ban on new drilling licences in the North Sea, the companies behind Jackdaw and the Rosebank oilfield project, which is being decided on separately, have sought environmental approval for existing licences.

Jackdaw gasfield announcement signals UK’s commitment to North Sea industry but undermines green credentials

• What does the approval of the Jackdaw gasfield mean?

The Jackdaw gasfield will be given the go-ahead on Wednesday, signalling Andy Burnham’s commitment to the North Sea fossil fuel industry and threatening to trigger a row with climate campaigners and Labour MPs.

Miatta Fahnbulleh and John Healey, the energy secretary and chancellor respectively, will make the announcement from Aberdeen on Wednesday morning after more than a year of deliberations over whether doing so would violate the UK’s climate commitments.

Exclusive: Utility seen as ‘litmus test’ of PM’s promise to bring ‘essentials of life’ under public control

Andy Burnham has told officials to rip up their plans for how to fix Thames Water and present him with more radical options for what to do with the stricken company.

In an early test of his promise to bring “the essentials of life” under public control, the prime minister is urging his advisers to go back to the drawing board and create a new list of policies for the utility.