Party leaders clash over North Sea industry in election debate – BBC News

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross interjected, saying: “That’s a no, John Swinney and the SNP are against new oil and gas licences.”

He also accused Labour of having “dangerous plans” for the industry.

The Scottish Tory leader, who is standing down as an MP at the election, referenced a report from the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce.

It criticised SNP and Conservative energy policies but said Labour could make the situation “even worse” by extending the Tories’ windfall tax on oil and gas profits and removing some tax breaks for investment.

Mr Sarwar said his party’s energy strategy would create 69,000 jobs in Scotland, including 53,000 roles supported by GB Energy – a publicly-owned energy generation company he said would be headquartered in Scotland.

“This is good for Aberdeen, good for the North East, good for Scotland and good for the UK,” he said.

He accused both the SNP and Tory government of “broken promises” on energy.

The Scottish Labour leader also pledged his party would “step and put our money where our mouth is” at Grangemouth, where the oil refinery is to be scheduled to be closed, by creating an energy transition hub at the site.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said the SNP and Conservative governments had been in power for “far too long”.

“These parties have been bereft of ideas, they’ve not driven down reliance on fossil fuels and they’ve not taken the steps to bring about that just transition,” he said.

The Scottish government’s draft energy strategy includes a presumption against new drilling. The publication of the already delayed final document has been pushed back due to the general election.

During the debate, Mr Swinney predicted Labour was “going to walk it in England” in the general election, adding that the Tories were “finished”.

However he said Sir Keir Starmer and Labour would maintain the same “fiscal stranglehold” on the public purse, claiming that would be “disastrous for public services”.

Mr Sarwar said removing the Conservatives from Downing Street was an “opportunity Scotland cannot afford to miss”.

He added: “This election is about getting rid of this Tory government and it can only be replaced by a Labour government with Scottish Labour MPs at its heart delivering for the Scottish people.”

Under questioning, Mr Ross said he was wrong to support Liz Truss’s ill-fated mini-budget – a package including £45bn of unfunded tax cuts.

During an exchange with Mr Swinney, he said he had “assumed” the proposals had “gone through the normal processes with the Treasury” to ensure they were “deliverable”.

“That hadn’t been done,” the Scottish Tory leader said. “And I hold my hands up, I assumed that had been done.”

He said it “had an impact on household incomes” but that the UK government was “taking decisions to improve the economy”.

BBC Scotland will host an election debate on 11 June. The Debate Night special will feature the same four parties as the STV debate, as well as the Scottish Greens.