While polls suggest Trump is deeply unpopular in the UK, external, he may actually find some sympathy in Aberdeen, a city which he and many others call “the oil capital of Europe”.
He has stirred the heated debate about the nature and pace of the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, telling BBC News last week that Aberdeen, which has prospered for decades from North Sea drilling, “should get rid of the windmills and bring back the oil.”
The environmental campaign group Uplift says Trump’s claim that the North Sea can still provide the UK with a secure energy supply “runs counter to reality.”
Trump’s pro-oil message echoes the rhetoric of Reform UK, the right-wing party led by Trump fan Nigel Farage which made progress in a recent Scottish by-election and hopes to go one step further by winning seats for the first time in next year’s Scottish parliamentary election.
The Scottish Parliament, known as Holyrood after its location at the foot of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, runs much of Scotland’s domestic affairs, such as health, education and some taxation and benefits, while the UK parliament in London retains control of defence, foreign affairs and wider economic policy.
