Labour was cautioned there was a “genuine and present risk” its policies on oil and gas might be “disastrous” for the market ahead of in 2015’s basic election, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has actually stated.
Mr Flynn, likewise the MP for Aberdeen South, was speaking after managers at Harbour Energy blamed “punitive” Federal government procedures for the choice to axe 250 tasks in Scotland.
The task losses begin top of 350 functions that were cut by the company in 2023.
Mr Flynn stated the current cuts total up to a quarter of the business’s labor force in Aberdeen, where much of the UK oil and gas market is based.
The MP stated he and “lots of others”, consisting of the Unite trade union, are now “really afraid” the task losses at Harbour Energy might be “the start of something that might be rather ravaging for Aberdeen and the north east”.
Mr Flynn informed BBC Radio Scotland’s Great Early morning Scotland program: “Harbour is among lots of business that run out of Aberdeen, among lots of big business that work out of Aberdeen and there is a genuine and present risk, it was something that the Labour Celebration was cautioned about prior to the election, that the choices they were looking for to take in relation to policy both for licensing and tax in relation to the North Sea sector would result in disastrous task losses.”
Scott Barr, handling director of Harbour Energy’s UK service, stated on Wednesday the task losses were “due generally to the Federal government’s continuous punitive financial position and a difficult regulative environment”.
Mr Flynn pushed Sir Keir Starmer on the concern at Prime Minister’s Concerns today, and he informed the program on Thursday: “If 250 tasks were being lost somewhere else in the UK, maybe in Keir Starmer’s constituency, he would be more interested than he seemed the other day when I asked him about it.”
Mr Flynn, who is because of fulfill senior directors at the company on Friday, stated in addition to the boost the Energy Profits Levy– likewise referred to as the windfall tax– modifications had actually been made to the licensing program when Sir Keir’s celebration pertained to power.
Labour has actually been clear on its opposition to brand-new advancements in the North Sea, with Mr Flynn stating there has actually been a “direct effect upon financial investment choices”.
The SNP MP stated: “Everybody understands the North Sea is a diminishing possession however the argument is how rapidly you look for to close down the market and what we are looking for is a clear pattern of instructions from the Labour Federal government because regard, which is looking for to speed up that.”
Speaking throughout a see to Scotland on Wednesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves stated the task losses at Harbour Energy were a “business choice by the service”.
She worried “the Energy Profits Levy is being utilized to effectively money civil services”, and she firmly insisted oil and gas will have an “essential function” in the UK economy “for several years to come”.
Ms Reeves included: “It’s an industrial choice by one business … however there are lots of other business that aren’t laying off employees.
It is essential that, with energy business making record revenues after Russia’s intrusion of Ukraine, that we ask those business to pay their reasonable share of tax, particularly when regular working individuals saw their energy costs skyrocket.