Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s rejection of claims 1,000 jobs are being lost in the North Sea every month has been described as a “new low”.
Ms Reeves was quizzed on the claims – which were made as a result of analysis from Robert Gordon University expert Professor Paul de Leeuw – by journalists during a visit to Grangemouth on Wednesday.
Asked if she believes that level of job loss is the reality in the North Sea, the Chancellor said: “No, I don’t.”
The comments angered SNP Westminster leader – and Aberdeen South MP – Stephen Flynn, who 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.
“One thousand jobs are being lost every month and if the Chancellor had any substance she would look the families of workers made redundant in Aberdeen in the eye and explain the actions of her Labour Government.”
Scottish Conservative energy spokesman Douglas Lumsden also criticised the Chancellor’s response, claiming she is “in total denial” over the scale of the issue in the north east of Scotland.
“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.
“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.”
