Patrick Harvie invited to tell north east Scots that he wants end to oil and gas

Patrick Harvie has been invited to the north east of Scotland to tell those living there that he wants to destroy their jobs by switching off the oil and gas taps. The Scottish Greens co-leader was told that his comments were “an insult” to those living there in a heated debate on energy at Holyrood.

The Scottish Tories attempted to force the SNP to admit they either supported or were against new licenses in the North Sea, but were met with a brick wall as the Scottish Government refused to outline a position once again. Instead, Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan repeatedly mentioned a climate compatibility test but could not explain what this was.

Mr Harvie insisted that they should not be working at all with oil companies to help with the Just Transition, despite the millions of pounds in investment which they can offer. He added: “Anyone working in the sector, if your family works in the industry, you need an active transition and if that’s what you need, the fossil fuel industry itself is your greatest enemy.

“The last thing our climate needs is new oil and gas drilling. It would be an environmental catastrophe in the making. While the SNP U-turns, and the Tories give tax breaks to polluters, Labour is showing utter confusion about its own plans.”

READ MORE: Unionist split will let Stephen Flynn off the hook in Aberdeen as Tories warn ‘Labour won’t win here’

His comments were slated by North East Tory MSP Tess White who pointed out that there is upwards of 94,000 jobs that could be lost if the oil and gas sector was just shut down. He said: “By any standard you would be forgiven for expecting politicians on the SNP and Labour benches to want to safeguard such an important sector.

“And yet, the SNP, Labour, Lib Dems and Greens want to turn the taps off in the North Sea and turn their backs on oil and gas, hard working and highly skilled North Sea workers will pay the price for political virtue signalling. And Patrick Harvie has demonstrated today that he lives in a bubble.

“I would invite him to come up to the north east and say what he said today to the hard-working families who would lose their livelihoods and their jobs. He and the SNP would create a cliff edge in the energy transition and devastate communities across my region.”

She pointed out that the nationalist government have failed to publish its new energy strategy which has been delayed until after the General Election. The SNP have claimed that they have never said no to new licenses, with this position called into question.

Scottish Tory MSP Stephen Kerr said: “Harvie’s comments were an insult to the people living in the north-east, they will shut everything down. The SNP should know we do not have straw for brains, we can remember what was said the year before, don’t insult the intelligence of Scots by portraying the SNP as the friends of oil and gas.”

He was also critical of Scottish Labour’s position of no more licences and their GB Energy proposals which will sell publicly owned energy. He said that it was “policy written up by policy twonks and careerists who have no idea how the real world works.”

Scottish Tory shadow cabinet secretary for net zero, energy and transport Douglas Lumsden MSP added that the other parties will “sell the industry down the river, destroying the energy industry for future generations. He stated: “The SNP and Labour’s reckless plans in rejecting new licences for the sector would put tens of thousands of jobs at risk and would be devastating for the north east.”

Never miss the latest top headlines from the Scottish Daily Express. Sign up to our daily newsletter here.