Labour leader Keir Starmer has said he supports a “hard edged” timetable for phasing out North Sea oil and gas exploration. He also said that Labour will not support the proposed Cambo oilfield development 77 miles north-west of Shetland as party lays out £30bn green jobs plan.

The Cambo field could produce up to 255 million barrels of oil during its lifetime, but would release an estimated 132 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

During a visit to Glasgow, Starmer refused to be drawn on the specific timing. He said: “We’ll have to sit down and agree but we’ve got to have a hard-edged timetable.”

The Labour leader was speaking on the first day of his visit to Scotland, where he is stressing the need for leadership ahead of the Cop26 climate conference in November – a visit which coincides with the Prime Minister’s trip north of the border.

Sir Keir attacked Boris Johnson as being “missing in action” in the lead up to the conference, and told journalists on Wednesday there needed to be a firm timetable laid out to end the extraction and exploration of oil and gas in the North Sea.