Meeting of the Parliament 06 March 2024 [Draft]
I will gladly respond to Kevin Stewart. Yes, I am disappointed that the windfall tax has been extended, but let us have a think about what the other parties would do. The Scottish National Party is in favour of a windfall tax but, more than that, it has a presumption against oil and gas exploration, which would devastate the oil and gas industry. Labour, with Red Ed, would have no new licences, would have a windfall tax on steroids, would ramp up the rate and would scrap the reinvestment allowance. At least the Greens are consistent—they would shut down the industry tomorrow.
I go back to the point that I was making. What I said does not mean that our green credentials are any less or that we are turning our backs on our ambition to reach net zero—far from it. We believe that the oil and gas sector has a huge role to play in our energy transition. We are committed to working with our workers, communities and businesses to ensure that, as we move forward towards our net zero targets and as we transition away from oil and gas and towards greener technologies, we do so in a way that protects jobs and livelihoods across Scotland, particularly in the north-east.
We are the only party that is committed to continuing to support oil and gas exploration while we still have demand in this country. Seventy-eight per cent of Scotland’s current energy needs are met by oil and gas. That figure rises to 92 per cent when we are talking about the percentage of heat demand that is provided by hydrocarbons. While we still have demand for oil and gas, it is better for the environment, for our economy and for our jobs that we use our own resource, as opposed to relying on imports from elsewhere. Cutting off that supply, under the SNP’s presumption against new oil and gas exploration, would leave us all worse off and throw thousands of livelihoods on the scrap heap.