Energy giant Shell is due to install a multi-billion pound gas platform in the North Sea this spring despite being blocked from drilling, Sky News understands.
The Jackdaw field, which it is claimed could eventually power more than a million UK homes, has to get fresh approval from Downing Street to extract gas after a ruling this week by a Scottish court.
A judge in Edinburgh decided the previous Conservative government acted “unlawfully” when it gave consent to Shell’s Jackdaw and Rosebank, the UK’s largest untapped oilfield containing around 350 million barrels of oil.
The pair could eventually still proceed. But the court said the original assessments failed to acknowledge the impact of burning the oil and gas, rather than just from getting them out of the ground.
A ban on drilling is in place until new permissions are given.
Shell, which says it welcomes the decision, is continuing to prepare its platform which is currently in the final stages of construction in Norway.
The company has not confirmed its next steps, but it is understood the structure is due to be towed into British waters in the coming months by barge.
A Shell spokesman said: “The ruling rightly allows work to progress on this nationally important energy project while new consents are sought.
“We have spent more than £800m since the regulator approved Jackdaw in 2022.
“Swift action is needed from the government so that we and other North Sea operators can make decisions about vital UK energy infrastructure.”
Rosebank is operated by Equinor and Ithaca Energy.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government says it will work “at speed” to reassess permissions.
The case creates a possible political quandary for the prime minister who pledged during the general election campaign not to issue new oil and gas licences.
Image: Just Stop Oil campaigners in Edinburgh protest against Jackdaw in 2022. Pic: PA
Downing Street is currently on a well-publicised mission to improve economic growth in the UK and the oil giants, who have already invested hundreds of millions of pounds in these projects, will be hoping the political fallout of rejecting these licences would be too excruciating for Labour to bear.
There is still a way Labour could sign them off while still sticking to its election promise, as these projects already have licences, but just need final government consent.
The court ruling is being seen as a victory among climate campaigners.
Commenting on the decisions the prime minister now faces, Tessa Khan, executive director of the campaign group Uplift, said: “The government must reject it.
“To do otherwise would undermine its ambitious clean growth plans by sending a signal to investors that the UK isn’t serious about transitioning away from expensive oil and gas.”
A child has died and another has been injured after a car was driven on to a sports pitch in Cumbria.
Police say they were called at 4.58pm to reports of a collision involving a BMW i40 and two children on a pitch at Kendal Rugby Union Football Club on Shap Road, in Kendal.
Cumbria Police say one child died, while the second is being treated by paramedics.
A man aged in his 40s has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
A spokesperson for Cumbria Police said: “Specialist investigators are at the scene and the area has been cordoned off as initial investigation enquiries take place.”
The force said the incident was not believed to be terror-related. Immediate family members of both children have been informed, it added.
In a post on its Facebook page, the club said it was “deeply saddened to confirm that an incident occurred today at Kendal Rugby Club.”
The post, attributed to club chairman Dr Stephen Green, continued: “Our thoughts are with their family and friends and we kindly ask for privacy for all involved at this difficult time.”
The club and its facilities are now temporarily closed while it cooperates “fully” with authorities, it added.
Tim Farron MP, whose constituency includes Kendal, posted on X: “This is devastating, utterly heartbreaking news. I’m praying for the children and for their families and friends.
“Our community in Kendal is stunned and in mourning.”
A man has been convicted of drugging and raping 10 women in London and China between 2019 and 2023.
Chinese PhD student Zhenhao Zou, 28, filmed nine of the attacks as “souvenirs”, and kept a trophy box of women’s belongings, jurors in his trial were told.
Warning: This article contains details of sexual offences
He was accused in court of drugging and raping three women in London and seven in China between 2019 and 2023.
Jurors at Inner London Crown Court found him guilty of 11 charges of rape against 10 women, including two who have been identified and another eight who have yet to be traced.
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Moment police arrest student guilty of rape
The mechanical engineering student was also convicted of three counts of voyeurism, 10 of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one of false imprisonment and three of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.
He was cleared of two further counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image and one of possession of MDMA with intent to commit a sexual offence.
Image: The trial heard Zou kept a ‘lost property box’ full of women’s belongings. Pic: Met Police
The jury has not reached verdicts on four counts of possession of drugs with intent to commit a sexual offence.
Zou – who first moved to Belfast in 2017 to study mechanical engineering at Queen’s University before moving to London in 2019 – showed no visible reaction as the verdicts were read out in court.
Catherine Farrelly KC, prosecuting, told jurors during the trial that Zou “presents as a smart and charming young man” but is “also a persistent sexual predator; a voyeur and a rapist”.
Image: A discreet camera belonging to Zou. Pic: Met Police
Zou, who also used the name Pakho online, befriended fellow Chinese students on WeChat and dating apps, before inviting them for drinks and drugging them at his flats in London or an unknown location in China, the court heard.
The jury heard how he would secretly film his attacks using a mobile device and hidden cameras, and was shown evidence found on SD cards at his accommodation of him raping unconscious women in London and in China.
Senior Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor Saira Pike thanked the “incredibly strong and brave” women who came forward to report his “heinous” crimes.
“Zou is a serial rapist and a danger to women,” she said.
“In some instances, we have not been able to identify Zou’s victims. Without knowing who these women are, we have not been able to support them through a deeply distressing period of time.
“We have always been determined to seek justice for both the unidentified and identified victims in this case.”
A British man has been jailed for 19 years after a Russian court found him guilty of fighting for Ukraine in the country’s Kursk region.
James Scott Rhys Anderson, 22, had been charged with terrorist and mercenary offences and was found guilty after a closed trial.
The court said he was to serve the first five years of his sentence in prison and the remainder in a penal colony.
In the trial, a Ukrainian soldier from the same unit was questioned as a witness.
Ukrainian troops broke across the border into Kursk region on 6 August last year.
They still hold some territory there seven months later, despite attempts by Russian forces to force them out.
Investigators accused Anderson of illegally crossing into Kursk in November as part of an armed group that committed unspecified “criminal acts against civilians”.
Russian state media published video showing him being led in handcuffs and locked in a cage of the kind where defendants in Russian court cases are placed.
It apparently showed Anderson saying he had served in the British army from 2019-2023 before deciding to join the foreign legion of Ukraine’s armed forces.
Early on in the war, Ukraine’s authorities said more than 20,000 people from 52 countries came to Ukraine’s aid.
Since then, the number of foreign fighters in Ukraine’s military has been classified.