Rachel Reeves has firmly denied as many as 1,000 jobs were being lost across Scotland’s offshore energy sector each month – a figure regularly repeated by Nationalists.
An Aberdeen MSP has sent a P45 to Keir Starmer after he blamed the Prime Minister for thousands of job losses in the North Sea oil and gas sector.
Veteran Nationalist Kevin Stewart – who will retire from Holyrood at May’s election – said the UK Government’s refusal to scrap a windfall tax on profits earned by energy giants was causing 1,000 lay-offs each month.
But that figure prompted a political row between Holyrood and Westminster last week after it was firmly denied by Rachel Reeves on a visit to Scotland.
Stewart said: “This Christmas thousands of folk across the North East will be worried about their livelihoods because Labour’s tax on Scotland’s energy is costing 1,000 jobs a month.
“In spite of this reality the Labour Leader has refused to back down and is ignoring pleas from industry and workers alike. So on behalf of the people of the North East, and those who work in Scotland’s energy industry, I’m sending Keir Starmer his P45.
“There will be a long line of folk in Scotland who would love to give this lame duck Prime Minister his jotters – but they’ll be behind some of his own Labour MPs.
“If Labour won’t get rid of their tax on Scotland’s energy, then we need to get rid of Starmer from Number 10. This P45 will land on his doorstep today.”
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Speaking on a visit to Grangemouth last week, the Chancellor insisted the vast majority of energy roles which have disappeared from the north east of Scotland happened under the previous Tory government at Westminster.
Reeves said. “There have been job losses for a number of years including before the previous Conservative government introduced the energy profits levy (EPL).
“What we’re trying to do as a government is to bring new jobs into Scotland and also to support industries, like we see here in Grangemouth by stepping in, not just carping from the sidelines.
“The previous government introduced the energy profits levy because of the huge windfall profits the sector was making after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
But the GMB union has claimed Labour is abandoning offshore workers in a similar manner to how the Tories treated coal miners in the 1980s.
Estimates by the Aberdeen-based Robert Gordon University suggest 400 jobs are being lost across the North Sea industries every fortnight.
Industry lobby group Offshore Energies UK has also repeatedly blamed the windfall tax or causing the thousands of lay-offs.
The EPL was introduced by the Tories but has been kept in place by Labour, although it is due to end by 2030.
A UK Government spokesman said: “Oil and gas production will be with us for decades to come, and we will manage existing fields for the entirety of their lifespan while delivering the next generation of good jobs for North Sea workers in a fair and orderly transition.”
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour deputy leader, said: “It’s a sad state of affairs when backbench SNP MSPs such as Kevin Stewart would prefer to spend their time on desperate and embarrassing stunts, rather than getting on with delivering for the Scottish people.
“Since Labour came into power, there has been over £10 billion in additional funding for the Scottish Government, with £300 off energy bills for those most in need, and just last week, over £120 million was set out which will protect jobs at Grangemouth.
“In stark contrast, SNP ministers have sat on their hands and failed to come up with any credible industrial strategy, including being incapable of producing a Mossmorran transition plan despite having promised to do so.”
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