Conservatives lay down gauntlet to Labour and SNP on Oil and Gas

• Conservatives force critical vote in Parliament on new oil and gas fields

• Vote comes day after reveal of by-election date for Aberdeen South

• Badenoch: “Labour and SNP MPs can either stand up for workers in Aberdeen… or continue to follow Miliband and Starmer as they cause untold damage to one of our critical national industries”

The Conservatives will today [Tuesday 19 May] force a vote in Parliament calling on the Government to approve the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields, in a direct challenge to policies that threaten Scotland's offshore energy industry and the 128,400 jobs it supports.

24,000 people are directly employed in oil and gas in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, where the impact of declining investment is being felt most sharply.

The amendment to the King's Speech calls on the Government to drop its opposition to new oil and gas licences and instead support a presumption in favour of approval.

Scotland's offshore energy sector supports 128,400 jobs, including 111,800 in oil and gas alone, and contributed more than £24 billion to the Scottish economy in 2024.

Today's vote will test whether Labour and SNP MPs are prepared to back the workers and communities that rely on the North Sea industry.

The Government's proposed Energy Independence Bill would ban new oil and gas licences. The Conservatives say this policy has already accelerated the decline in investment, with no exploration wells drilled in the UK in 2025 for the first time since 1964.

They contrast this with Norway, which awarded 57 new licences to 19 companies in January 2026 under a Labour Prime Minister.

Aberdeen and the North East of Scotland have been particularly affected. The offshore energy industry supports local supply chains, engineering firms, ports and fabrication yards across the region. Without further exploration and investment, millions of pounds of economic activity could be lost.

Today's vote gives Labour and SNP MPs the opportunity to back Scottish workers and support continued oil and gas exploration in the North Sea and comes ahead of the Aberdeen South by-election which is set to be a straight fight between the Conservatives, who have a plan to Get Britain Drilling and the SNP who have a presumption against new licenses.

Kemi Badenoch MP, Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party, said:

"Labour and Ed Miliband are killing our oil and gas industry for no good reason. Drilling our own oil and gas is good for energy security, it's good for economic security, it's good for our national security. Today, Labour and SNP MPs can choose to stand up for workers in Aberdeen and across the North East of Scotland and protect the jobs and livelihoods of tens of thousands, or they can continue to blindly follow Miliband and Starmer as they cause untold damage to one of our critical national industries."

Claire Coutinho MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, said:

“Ed Miliband is deluded if he thinks shutting down the North Sea gives us energy independence. We are losing thousands of jobs across Scotland, hammering the local economies in Aberdeen and the North East, and sending billions of pounds to Norway for the same gas we could drill ourselves. It is the ultimate hairshirt climate policy which isn't helping the environment or the economy.

“Today we are forcing a vote so that Labour and SNP MPs have the chance to back Scottish workers, a common-sense approach to energy and to send Ed Miliband and his dangerous ideology packing.”

Andrew Bowie MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, said:

“Aberdeen and the North East of Scotland have built their prosperity on the North Sea, but under Labour and the SNP that legacy is being undermined.

“The Conservatives know Scotland's energy future is not a choice between prosperity and sustainability. That is why we must get Britain drilling, supporting jobs and investment in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and across the North East.

“Only Kemi Badenoch and Russell Findlay are serious about getting Britain drilling.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Labour will ban new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea:

• At the King's Speech, Labour announced that the Energy Independence Act will be used to block new oil and gas licences. ‘Manage existing oil and gas fields for their lifetime through legislation to introduce Transitional Energy Certificates, and show climate leadership by meeting the manifesto commitment not to issue new licences to explore new fields, including delivering the commitment to ban fracking' (PMO, The King's Speech 2026: Briefing, 13 May 2026, link).

Labour's new oil and gas ban will devastate Scotland's economy:

• 24,000 people are employed in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire directly in the oil and gas sector. Analysis of the Business Register and Employment Survey for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire shows that 9,000 people are employed in ‘extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas' and 15,000 are employed in ‘mining support service activities' (Nomis, Business Register and Employment Survey/Annual Business Inquiry, accessed 18 May 2026, link).

• 128,400 people are employed in Scotland's offshore energy sector which contributes £24 billion a year to the Scottish economy. ‘Scotland's offshore energy sector remains a cornerstone of the Scottish economy, supporting 128,400 jobs and contributing £24 billion in economic value each year. Over 110,000 of those jobs are in oil and gas – sustaining supply chains, ports, manufacturers, engineering firms and regional communities across Scotland' (OEUK, News, 5 May 2026, link).

• One in seven people in Aberdeen are directly employed in oil and gas. Between 13 and 17 per cent of people in Aberdeen City are employed directly in oil and gas (Hansard, Vol 765 Col 404WH, 23 April 2025, link). 

• Britain issued did not drill any new exploration wells for the first time in 60 years, meanwhile Norway issued 57 new licences. In 2025, Britain no new exploration wells were drilled in the UK for the first time since 1964. In comparison, Norway awarded 57 new licences to 19 companies in its annual licensing round in January 2026 (Reuters, 13 January 2026, link; The Daily Telegraph, 2 November 2025, link).

• David Whitehouse, CEO of Offshore Energy UK, has warned that 1,000 jobs will be lost every month in the oil and gas industry between now and 2030. WHITEHOUSE: ‘Today, we are seeing skilled jobs being lost on a scale that would be unacceptable in any other sector. Almost 1,000 direct and indirect jobs in the UK oil and gas sector are set to be lost every month between now and 2030. But with supportive government policies, it doesn't have to be this way' (OEUK, Press Release, 18 August 2025, link). 

• Analysis by Offshore Energy UK (OEUK) and Westwood Global Energy Group found that 7.5 billion barrels of oil and gas could still be produced from UK waters, around half of our oil and gas need. The analysis found the UK could meet half of its oil and gas needs from the North Sea with potentially 7.5 billion barrels of oil and gas able to be produced from UK waters – 3.2 billion more than current estimates. This could add £165 billion in economic value (OEUK, Press Release, 23 June 2025, link). 

• Offshore Energy UK (OEUK) has warned that without further investment, Britain will be reliant on imports for 80 per cent of its oil and gas needs by 2030. Oil and gas production has fallen to a record low of 40 per cent of consumption for the third quarter in 2024. OEUK has warned this could fall to 20 per cent by 2030 without further investment (OEUK, Press Release, 24 February 2025, link). 

• Labour hiked taxes on the oil and gas industry leading to a £25 billion fall in revenue for the Exchequer by 2035. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor increased the rate of the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) by 3 per cent and extended it to 2030. Stifel, an investment bank, predicted that tapering down the EPL by 2027 would raise an additional £1-2 billion per year in tax revenue, rising to a total of £25 billion cumulatively across 2030-35 (Stifel, Written Evidence, January 2026, link).

• Jackdaw and Rosebank fields have been delayed – they would have provided enough fuel to heat 1.6 million homes. Rosebank is the largest known undeveloped oil and gas field in UK waters and is estimated to contain between 300 million and 500 million barrels of oil. Jackdaw was expected to produce 6.5 per cent of the UK's gas production and provide enough fuel to heat 1.6 million homes (The Sun, 19 March 2026, link).

The Conservatives will back Scotland's North Sea oil and gas industry:

• Repeal the ban on new oil and gas licences to unlock 2.9 billion barrels. Labour's ban on new oil and gas licences called time on Britain's oil and gas industry leaving 2.9 billion barrels in the ground and risking 200,000 jobs. We will extract this oil and gas, creating £165 billion in economic value (OEUK, Key facts, accessed 31 August 2025, link; OEUK, Press Release, 23 June 2025, link).

• Repeal the Energy Profits Levy to maximise investment in British oil and gas production. The Energy Profits Levy, an additional 38 per cent levy on the upstream production of oil and gas, is set to expire on 31 March 2030. The Conservatives have pledged to remove it once elected and called on the government to remove it immediately (HMRC, Policy Paper, 30 October 2024, link).

• Replace the North Sea Transition Authorities (NSTA) mandate to ‘maximise the extraction of our oil and gas'. The NSTA requires oil and gas companies to fulfil a range of net zero obligations such as connecting oil rigs to the grid and reducing flaring, venting, and emissions. We will change this to one sole mandate of maximising oil and gas extraction and rename the NSTA to the North Sea Authority (The Daily Telegraph, 30 August 2025, link).

• Reverse the ban on government support for the export of oil and gas technology to unlock billions in oil and gas technology exports. UK Export Finance (UKEF) supported on average £5 billion of oil and gas technology exports annually before government support for it was banned. We will reverse this ban to create jobs and unlock billions of exports (PMO, Press Release, 12 December 2020, link; UKEF, Guidance, 17 August 2021, link).