The UK government has admitted in court that the country’s largest untapped oilfield, Rosebank off Shetland, was approved unlawfully.

The move came during a case brought by climate campaigners against both Rosebank and the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea.

At the Court of Session in Edinburgh Chris Pirie KC, for the government, accepted that assessments did not include “the effects on climate of the combustion of oil and gas to be extracted from the fields.”