The Scottish Conservatives have written to new energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh MP calling on her to urgently change Labour’s North Sea oil and gas policy after outlining her desire to make the UK fully net zero by 2034.
North East MPs and MSPs expressed “deep concerns” after it emerged Labour’s newly appointed energy secretary also wants another windfall tax, stating it would be “strategically mad” not to phase out fossil fuels.
Fahnbulleh’s appointment comes just two months after she said former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair was “wrong” about the need for the UK to deprioritise its net zero commitments.
The letter, signed by the Conservatives’ three MPs and three MSPs based across the region, lists more than 20 oil and gas companies that have made job cuts, left the North Sea, or collapsed entirely since Labour came into power.
Within it, the Scottish Conservatives have urged Fahnbulleh to immediately visit Aberdeen and to “take a different path” from her predecessor, Ed Miliband.
The letter to the new energy secretary goes on to say Labour’s anti-oil and gas approach is “sabotaging our country”.
Signed by Andrew Bowie MP, Harriet Cross MP, Douglas Lumsden MP, Liam Kerr MSP, Alexander Burnett MSP and James Adams MSP, the letter states: “We are in no doubt that this government’s absurd North Sea energy policy risks bringing a premature end to the oil and gas sector as we know it.
“Getting oil and gas out of the ground requires business confidence.
“That is why we are calling on you to make your first policy change by supporting new oil and gas licences, and to scrap the energy profits levy in its entirety.”
The letter goes on to say: “It’s crucial for our energy security that you take a different path to your predecessor, Ed Miliband, who for the last two years, has sought to shut down our vital oil and gas industry.
“However, we are deeply concerned by your intentions for another windfall tax and to make the UK fully net zero by 2034, stating it would be ‘strategically mad’ not to phase out fossil fuels.
“We are calling on you to stop this hostility towards oil and gas. The industry is part of the solution, not the problem.
“We are importing oil and gas from abroad while banned from extracting it at home – this approach is sabotaging our country.”
The letter concludes: “We hope you take on board our concerns and encourage you to visit Aberdeen to speak to oil and gas workers to hear their concerns first-hand.
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“The decisions you take as energy secretary will ultimately shape our financial security, our energy security and above all our national security.
“Therefore, we must keep drilling, not just for the essential products it provides the country but because thousands of skilled jobs depend on it.”
