Strathspey MP and MSP at loggerheads over oil industry crisis
Inverness and Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing said crisis talks with oil and gas chiefs in his role as Scotland’s minister for business, energy and tourism were "pretty grim".
The MSP has been meeting with key industry figures amid alarm at falling prices.
Concerns have been raised locally that future oil exploration could slump in the west of Shetland where about a fifth of the oil and gas thought to still be found off Britain’s coast is believed to lie.
And there are fears for oil industry jobs as the low oil prices have already cost the industry billions of pounds.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, who is the MP for Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch, has said the price drop was a big issue for the 375,000 people across the UK but insisted the storm could be weathered with the government’s support package.
The comments have prompted a backlash from Mr Ewing who accused Mr Alexander of failing to understand the gravity of the situation facing the Highlands.
Mr Ewing said he had been in talks with energy chiefs in London this week, adding: "I can tell you it was a pretty grim atmosphere".
He added: "Tens of thousands of jobs are now at risk through the combination of the falling oil price and the extremely high levels of tax. I am very concerned about the future of the workforce in the Highlands and a very large number of people in the Highlands and Islands work in Aberdeen and across the world. I’m not sure that he [Danny Alexander] is aware of the severity of the consequences here."
Mr Alexander insisted this was not the case.
"I take the responsibility to ensure that the UK Government does all it can to support our North Sea Oil and gas sector very seriously," he said.
"That’s why I am ensuring that the support measures that I announced at Autumn Statement are in place by the budget. And I can assure people that if we need to go further in that budget, we will.
"The SNP talk about the ‘consequences’ for the Highlands. Perhaps they could acknowledge that if their obsession to create a separate Scotland had come to pass, this current oil price fall would have had dire consequences for the whole country."
Mr Ewing said he did not want to talk about the referendum.
"Nobody, including the experts, forecast what would happen," he said.
"The focus has to be on what is required right now. It’s beyond despair that the UK government have mismanaged the oil and gas industry so far as tax and licensing is concerned and that has contributed to the problems that the industry now face."
The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced this week that a taskforce is being set up and the UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey was due in Aberdeen for talks with key industry figures yesterday."
Ms Sturgeon has called on David Cameron to make immediate tax changes to protect Scotland’s vital oil and gas sector.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Ms Sturgeon urged him to take urgent action to support investment and exploration in the sector.
Ms Sturgeon re-iterated to the Prime Minister the three fiscal measures which the Scottish Government has consistently called for to be implemented without delay.
These are an investment allowance to provide support for fields that incur higher costs to develop, a reversal of the increase in the Supplementary Charge implemented by the UK Government in 2011 and the introduction of an exploration tax credit to help increase levels of exploration and sustain future production.
