SCOTTISH Green co-leader Gillian Mackay has vowed her party will expose the lies of big polluters, branding plans to open up the Rosebank oil and gas field “pure climate vandalism.”

She addressed the Scottish Greens’ autumn conference in Edinburgh on Saturday as demonstrators opposed to drilling the site were joined by her English counterpart Zack Polanski outside the Department for Energy in London.

Ms Mackay insisted: “We have to be the party that calls out the lies of big polluters. Drilling for new oil and gas in fields like Rosebank will do nothing to lower energy bills or protect our planet.

“It is pure climate vandalism, and we have to stop Rosebank.”

Her comments came days after Norwegian oil giant Equinor resubmitted its bid to exploit the 300-million-barrel field north-west of Shetland in the face of opposition not only from climate groups but from Palestine solidarity campaigners, who have warned that the British based, Israeli-owned firm that is a partner in the field, Ithaca, could generate as much as a quarter of a billion pounds for its majority owner: supplier to the Israeli military the Delek Group.

Mr Polanski, leader of the Green Party of England & Wales, told protesters in London that rejecting the licence is “the very least this government need to do is to stop making things worse.”

Fossil Free London spokesman Robin Wells, who helped organise the protest, warned: “The climate crisis is no longer a future threat: we are feeling the effects of it every day as the cost of living soars and extreme weather dominates. 

“Whole towns in the UK will soon need to be abandoned as extreme flooding will make millions of homes uninsurable. 

“Whole marine ecosystems are collapsing right now: this week it was announced that our Earth has surpassed its first irreversible tipping point, which means a substantial number of warm-water coral reefs are now simply unsaveable. 

“History will judge our leaders on how they act now. And their choices are stark. The UK government can take immediate action to safeguard our futures and scrap Rosebank: or lock in a future where billions of lives are at risk. 

“Keir Starmer, history is watching you: stop Rosebank.”

Previously the energy department has claimed: “We are unable to comment on individual projects.”