Fri, 13 Jun 2025

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 Badenoch calls for end to oil and gas windfall tax

The Conservative leader said the windfall tax on the oil and gas sector should end and new drilling licenses are needed.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch calls for end to windfall tax on oil and gas companies, saying it should be scrapped before 2030. She also advocates for issuing new licenses for drilling in the North Sea. Badenoch claims the tax is holding back investment and that Scotland has "declined" under left-wing parties. The Energy Profits Levy was introduced by a previous Conservative government to tax oil and gas companies' high profits due to rising energy prices. Badenoch argues that with no windfall to tax, the levy is unfair and that Labour's extension of the tax will "kill the oil and gas industry". She claims a Tory government would scrap the ban on new licenses. Scottish Conservatives leader Russell Findlay agrees, saying it would be an "act of national self-harm" not to continue drilling for oil and gas. However, opposition politicians criticize Badenoch's comments as "out of touch", with the End Fuel Poverty Coalition pointing out that energy companies made over £115bn in profits last year despite the windfall tax. SNP MSP Kevin Stewart says the Tories have a history of wrecking Scotland's economy and that they are on the side of oil and gas companies rather than working Scots.
  >>