Jeremy Hunt’s windfall tax on oil and gas spells trouble for Scottish Tories

The extension of oil and gas windfall taxes has provided much-needed ammunition for the Scottish National party to target Conservative seats in north-east Scotland, where 100,000 workers rely on the hydrocarbons industry.

The UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s pledge to extend a levy on fossil fuel profits threatens to undermine Tory fortunes in the north-east of Scotland, where many fear the transition to green energy will result in job losses.

“The Tories have shot themselves in the foot on the windfall tax,” said one SNP figure. “It is less clear that they are champions of the oil and gas sector.”

In his Budget on Wednesday, Hunt announced an extension of the Energy Profits Levy on oil and gas companies by 12 months despite opposition from Scottish Conservatives.

Soon afterwards the chancellor admitted that Scottish oil and gas had lost out, allowing nationalists to characterise it as a raid on Scottish resources ahead of the general election expected this year.

The comments made in an interview with the BBC on Thursday drew ire from the SNP leader at Westminster Stephen Flynn, who took his Aberdeen South seat from the Tories in 2019.

“Westminster has once again sold out the north-east of Scotland to fill the pockets of the UK Treasury,” Flynn said in a statement.

Scottish Conservatives had recently positioned themselves as the friend of the fossil fuel industry, given their opponents in the SNP and Labour have been gravitating around opposition to new production licences in mature North Sea fields. Labour has also promised to extend the windfall duty on oil and gas profits if it wins the election.

A furious Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, has pledged not to vote on the measure. But UK secretary of state for Scotland Alister Jack did not oppose the extension, saying it was a “tough decision” needed to…