Spring Budget 2017: Greenpeace UK response to the Chancellor’s announcement on North Sea oil and gas

Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK Policy Director, said: 

“It’s outrageous that Hammond’s Budget is looking to benefit the North Sea oil and gas industry to encourage them to pollute for longer, and taxpayers will have to pay to clean up the oil industry’s mess. Today could have been a turning point for the government’s strategy to invest in the north east. They should be moving away from dirty, old fossil fuels towards backing the thriving offshore wind and smart technology, which could deliver thousands of new skilled jobs. Instead of support for modern clean, renewable energy, the Chancellor is  seeking to prop up the oil and gas industry of the past. Workers in Scotland and the East of England may be be bought off with promises of short term gain, but the oil industry is inevitably declining and the government needs a long-term game plan that looks to support the industries of the future, not the past.”