MINISTERS have faced a fresh protest against their possible renewal of permission for the Rosebank oil field, after the original decision was found to be unlawful in a landmark Supreme Court ruling last year.

Fossil Free London activists dressed as robbers emblazoned with the Norwegian flag staged a “heist” at the Bank of England on Monday evening to highlight the “daylight robbery” that approval of of the application for exploitation of the oil field would entail.

Rosebank is the largest undeveloped oil field in the North Sea. If its development goes ahead, this would lead to the release of carbon emissions equal to those produced by all of the world’s 28 low-income countries, the activists said.

Chanting “Rosebank Oil is a scam. Labour, do you give a damn?” the campaigners carried sacks labelled “UK taxpayer money” filled with fake cash from a makeshift vault and held placards reading “£1.5 billion for Norway, net loss for UK.”

Fossil Free London director Robin Wells said: “It’s plain and simple, Rosebank is daylight robbery.

“If allowed, Equinor, a Norwegian oil giant, will rob us blind, hoarding massive profits for themselves and leaving behind nothing but a trail of climate chaos and a net loss for us.

“The UK government needs to stop this carbon bomb and act in the interests of the general public — scrap Rosebank and invest in a just transition.”

In January, the Court of Session in Edinburgh found that a Supreme Court ruling that planning authorities should consider the full climate impact of burning oil from new wells should apply retrospectively to the former Tory government’s decision to approve the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields.

The environmental assessments for these projects did not count the greenhouse gases that would be released when the fossil fuels produced by them were eventually burned.

The January ruling said that work on both fields could continue while the new information was gathered, but no oil and gas could be extracted unless fresh approval was granted.

Ministers later confirmed that they would consider the significance of a project’s environmental impact, “while taking into account and balancing relevant factors on a case-by-case basis, such as the potential economic impact and other implications of the project.”

No decisions are expected until the autumn.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero was contacted for comment.