THE SNP have said Rachel Reeves must change the fiscal regime that has cost thousands of Scottish energy jobs as the Chancellor visits the North East on Friday.
According to reports, Reeves is set to discuss clean energy just a few miles from the long delayed Scottish Acorn Carbon Capture project at St Fergus despite billions continuing to be poured into English industries and energy projects. In May, Harbour Energy in Aberdeen cut 250 onshore jobs, citing the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) as the reason.
The firm, which has been a vocal critic of the EPL since its introduction in 2022, blamed “the Government’s ongoing punitive fiscal position and a challenging regulatory environment”. Following the nationalisation of Scunthorpe Steel, billions spent thus far on English nuclear power plants and the saved Prax refinery in Lincolnshire, SNP Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn has warned Rachel Reeves must protect Scottish jobs and change the damaging fiscal regime.
Commenting, Flynn said: "The Labour Party appear to have an ideological desire to sink the North Sea with a fiscal regime that is clearly costing jobs and investment, while putting at risk both energy security and the ability to actually deliver a meaningful energy transition.
