Chancellor Rachel Reeves has rejected claims that 1,000 jobs are being lost in the North Sea every month, a move described as a “new low” by SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.
During a visit to Grangemouth on Wednesday, Ms Reeves was questioned about the figures, which stem from analysis by Robert Gordon University expert Professor Paul de Leeuw. Asked if she believed that level of job loss was the reality, the Chancellor replied: “No, I don’t.”
Mr Flynn, who is also the MP for Aberdeen South, said: “The sight of a Labour Chancellor denying expert evidence to justify Labour’s destruction of Scottish jobs is a new low. The so-called party of working people has unions, experts and workers pleading with them to end Labour’s tax on Scotland’s energy, but instead they’re ploughing ahead with job losses on an industrial scale.”
Scottish Conservative energy spokesman Douglas Lumsden also criticised the Chancellor, claiming she is “in total denial” over the scale of the issue. “Workers will be furious that she is so detached from reality that she cannot accept the damage that is being done by her reckless decision to keep the windfall tax in place,” he said.
Mr Lumsden added: “Alongside the SNP, both of Scotland’s governments are killing 1,000 oil and gas jobs every month with their hostile policies and failure to support new projects in the North Sea. She should have used this visit to apologise for her recent Budget instead of rejecting figures out of hand.”
