Chancellor Rachel Reeves 'doesn't believe' 1,000 North Sea jobs are being axed each month

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she does not believe 1,000 jobs are being lost in the North Sea every month as a result of UK Government policy.

Representatives of the oil and gas sector, including Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), have raised the alarm over the sector’s prospects in recent years, pointing to the windfall tax on profits as one of the key measures discouraging investment and endangering jobs.

While Reeves touted the key role of the oil and gas sector in the coming years for the UK’s energy security, she rejected the claims of the equivalent of 1,000 jobs a month being lost.

Asked by journalists during a visit to Grangemouth on Wednesday if she accepts the claims, the chancellor said: “No I don’t.”

She added: “There have been job losses for a number of years, including before the previous Conservative government introduced the energy profits levy.

“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.”

Scottish secretary Douglas Alexander, speaking alongside the chancellor, said the figure is from Robert Gordon University – and produced based on analysis from offshore expert Professor Paul de Leeuw – and not one produced by the Government.

“Of course we recognise that we’ve got a responsibility to manage what is a declining basin effectively,” the Scottish secretary said.

“The reality is I was in Aberdeen announcing new money for the energy transition zone a couple of months back – we’re backing Scottish industry, as we’re doing with Grangemouth today.

“Rachel is absolutely right, 70,000 jobs – about a third of the jobs in the North Sea – were lost in the ten years preceding the election of the Labour Government.

“We do face challenges with what is a mature basin, and we’re determined to put in place a plan that simply wasn’t there under our predecessors.”

Responding to the comments, OEUK chief executive David Whitehouse said: “The job losses are real – just ask my neighbours, friends and colleagues – but they are not inevitable.

“Let’s be clear, the North Sea’s decline is policy-driven and reversing this trend is within the Government’s control.

“Yet they rejected our comprehensive proposals to unlock £50bn of investment, back energy jobs, strengthen energy security, and deliver a homegrown energy transition.

“I urge the chancellor to meet with me on behalf of industry – back UK jobs and please don’t dismiss real concerns.”