Reports indicate that the Prime Minister will approve the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea.

It will be one of the first tests of the incoming leader as he faces having to balance the immediate with the long-term and the practical with the idealistic, a tricky balance that his predecessor singularly failed to do.

Any final decision will, in theory, rest with the DESNZ under the Energy Secretary, and serve as a lighting rod for legal challenges from those opposed and a declaration of intent.

Neil McCulloch, the chief executive of Adura and interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, called for approval, arguing that domestic production would be under some of the strictest global controls on carbon, it would create tax revenue for the UK and would actually help speed a transition by these two factors.

McCulloch also added that energy security would benefit.

The decision will be as much, if not more, political than practical. It will be a defining decision for this administration.

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