Bowie: Windfall tax has North East residents “watching, waiting and worried”

24/09/2024
Andrew Bowie

North East MP Andrew Bowie has spoken out on the UK Energy Price Levy (EPL) during the third annual Sir David Amess debate.

The late MP for Southend West was murdered during a constituency surgery in October 2021, and the debate in his name is now a yearly tribute during which members can broach local topics which are important to their area.

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Scottish Conservative Mr Bowie backed long-term annual funding arrangements for farmers and crofters, urged Labour to reverse cuts to winter fuel allowances, and called for a duty freeze on whisky.

However it was the extension and increase to the EPL on which he focused his attention.

He spoke following warnings from industry source Offshore Energies UK that adding to the tax burden on the North Sea energy will make up to 42,000 people redundant and push carbon net zero targets farther into the future.

Earlier this month, Neo Energy, responsible for one of the biggest North Sea oil and gas projects, announced it had slowed down investment due to the tax rises and Labour’s response to a recent Supreme Court ruling.

Mr Bowie said:

“I take this opportunity to beg Ministers in charge of the new taxation and licensing policy in the North Sea to remember that people in my communities are very worried about their future in the oil and gas industry.

“As these changes are made, Ministers should remember that local people — because of their livelihoods — and indeed those in communities in many parts of this country, are watching and waiting, and they are worried.”

On the need for ring-fence farming subsidies to support the food supply chain through extreme weather, he added:

“West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, as well as being the most beautiful constituency, the energy powerhouse of the UK and the home of the finest whiskies, is also the breadbasket of the country. From Cambus o’May cheese to the Aberdeenshire highland beef farmed near Banchory, and the farming of potatoes, cereals and malting barley across Laurencekirk and the Mearns, many of my constituents are directly or indirectly employed in the agriculture sector.

“It is the lifeblood that not only sustains our local rural economy but provides so much security in the national food supply chain, feeding our nation.

“My constituents are immensely proud of this, but it is not without its challenges. There is the challenge of persevering with producing and delivering food for this country, despite unpredictable weather and rising costs of energy and fertiliser.

“I echo the calls of the National Farmers Union Scotland for annual ring fenced funding to support Scottish farmers as they continue to deliver for our nation.”

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