TREASURY minister Robert Jenrick appears to have moved to allay fears that the Government could hike taxes in the North Sea.
Speaking after meeting industry leaders and local MPs in Aberdeen, Mr Jenrick said: “I reaffirmed the Treasury’s commitment to globally highly competitive, stable and predictable taxation for the sector.”
The meeting came amid concern the Government may be tempted to try to increase the tax take from the North Sea following the rally in the crude price since late 2016.
The Government cut taxes during the deep downturn in the industry triggered by the crude price plunge from the summer of 2014.
The chief executive of industry body Oil & Gas UK, Deirdre Michie, championed the value of the sector at the meeting. She noted it helps secure the UK energy supply, contributes billions to the economy and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“We continue to work with governments and the regulator to guarantee the success of our industry for many decades to come,” said Ms Michie.
“It’s why I’m pleased the Minister again confirmed the government’s commitment to fiscal stability – a critical element of our offering to investors in a globally competitive market.”
Mr Jenrick became Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in January.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here