The UK’s offshore energy industry has lambasted Labour and its leader Keir Starmer after the party said it will extend the windfall tax on UK oil and gas producers.
The body said if the party follows through with its intention to extend the levy until 2029, up to 42,000 jobs will be lost and £26bn of economic value will be wiped out.
The comments come after the party revealed late last week that it would be abandoning its plan to backdate the tax to cover oil and gas profits from January 2022, but a Labour spokesperson told the Financial Times on Friday: “This is no longer policy.”
Labour set out new proposals for the tax, saying that the new rate would raise £10.8bn over the next five years, starting in 2024-25.
A “floor” safeguard would be introduced by the government which would cease the levy if oil and gas prices fall below a certain level.
Offshore Energies UK have called for an urgent meeting with Labour to go over the proposals and its chief executive David Whitehouse said the effects of the extension could be seen “as early as this year.”
“Labour either can’t do the maths or haven’t considered the alarming jobs impact that will be felt up and down the country,” he said.
“These are not faceless numbers but decent, hardworking people working across the UK to provide the energy we will need today and in the future.
“It will undermine the very industry which can and must play a critical role in delivering a homegrown energy transition.”
Offshore Energies UK said that Labour’s decision was made without industry engagement.
National Grid tracking website iamkate shows that fossil fuels accounted for 35 per cent of the UK’s electric power needs in the last 12 months, while renewables provided 36 per cent and other sources such as biomass and nuclear accounted for just over 19 per cent.