AN SNP MP has described as “ludicrous” a Scottish Labour blog entry which blames the Scottish Government for failing to respond to the falling price of oil because it was “politically embarrassing”.
In the post, North East MSP Lewis Macdonald said the Government had been unable to keep track of the number of jobs its task force had protected, or how many workers had found new work. “That is a complete failure of duty from the SNP Government in Edinburgh,” Macdonald said.
However, Aberdeen South MP Callum McCaig, the SNP’s Energy spokesperson, told The National: “Labour’s claims are bizarre.
“The attempts to conflate the downturn in oil and gas to be somehow the fault of the Scottish Government are pretty ludicrous.
“Labour fought tooth and nail to keep control over oil and gas in the hands of Westminster and their colleagues down there have not lifted a finger to support the industry.
“We had a major debate on Monday around the establishment of the Oil and Gas Authority and the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland [Ian Murray] didn’t even contribute.” He added: “Their calls are not going to help and they should direct their attention to where help can readily be offered – and that is George Osborne and the Treasury.”
McCaig also supported Professors Alex Russell and Peter Strachan, from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, who earlier this week called for responsibility for oil and gas to be devolved to Holyrood.
The MP said that although Aberdeen was bearing the brunt of the oil downturn, the chill was being felt across the supply chain which stretched across the country.
He said: “Here in Scotland, and Westminster for that matter, there is nothing that can be done to improve oil prices, but support must be given to the industry in its hour of need.
“For well over a year now the Scottish Government has been calling on the UK Government to introduce meaningful incentives for exploration, but it has been to no avail.
“It is unquestionable that if Holyrood had control of oil and gas taxation this support would have been delivered long before now. Unfortunately, control rests with Westminster and whilst it does we are forced to sit and witness more job losses.”
He said that since May he had been stunned by the “casual indifference” to the plight of the industry shown at the “highest levels of the UK Government”.
He added: “The Chancellor laughs off calls for support by asserting, quite wrongly, an independent Scotland would be going cap in hand to the IMF; the fact that the Scottish economy continued to grow last quarter despite the downturn in oil and gas seems to have escaped George Osborne’s notice.
“Meanwhile, the Prime Minister openly boasted a low oil price is ‘basically good for the economy’.
“The future of this industry is in the hands of George Osborne, the most political of chancellors. It is of little wonder that professors Peter Strachan and Alex Russell have recommended control over oil and gas to be devolved to Holyrood.”
McCaig added: “Between now and the budget in March my SNP colleagues and I will push the Chancellor to take action to protect jobs and boost production.
“The fact that support from Westminster for this vital industry cannot be taken for granted crystallises the need for that control to be passed to Holyrood.”
Meanwhile, oilfield services giant Schlumberger has cut 10,000 jobs in the last three months and posted a net loss of $1 billion (£697m), its first quarterly loss in 12 years.
Revenues fell 39 per cent to $7.74bn (£5.39bn), and chief executive Paal Kibsgaard warned there were “no signs” of an oil price recovery on the horizon.
The latest jobs cuts added to 20,000 redundancies Schlumberger had already announced earlier in 2015.
Falling oil prices have been blamed for Aberdeen registering the UK’s biggest drop in hotel occupancy and revenue – down 19.7 per cent to 65.1 per cent, and 45.7 per cent to £43.05, respectively.
Accountants and business advisers BDO LLP said its monthly survey showed Scotland was the only part of the UK to experience a fall in both occupancy and revenue in October.
Alastair Rae, from BDO, said: “The substantial drop in occupancy and revenue in Aberdeen is further evidence that the weakened oil price is substantially dampening demand in the city.”
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