Douglas Ross had a “stand-up row” with the Prime Minister over Jeremy Hunt’s plan to extend the windfall tax, according to reports.
There was a "heated" discussion between the two men at a pre-budget drinks reception for Tory MPs in Westminster.
The Telegraph says that the Scottish party leader told Rishi Sunak that it would hammer the Tory vote north of the border.
READ MORE: Oil and gas industry being 'taxed to death'
Mr Ross then sought out the Chancellor and made a last-ditch plea to him to drop the measure from today's Budget.
However, it reportedly fell on deaf ears.
So anxious was No 10 about Mr Ross that they worried he might quit.
The paper says Simon Hart, the Chief Whip and Alistair Jack, the Scottish Secretary were mobilised to "talk him down."
At the meeting, Mr Ross said he would keep a lid on his anger but warned he would be publicly criticising the decision afterwards.
What makes any windfall tax extension even more awkward for the Scottish Tories is that they are using their opposition day in Holyrood for a debate on "Backing Scotland’s Oil and Gas Sector."
The motion "condemns" the Labour Party’s proposed extended windfall tax, pointing out that OEUK has warned it will lead to 42,000 job losses and £26 billion of economic value being wiped out.
Mr Sunak first announced the windfall tax - set at 65% - back in May 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to a surge in wholesale and retail energy prices.
He always insisted it would be temporary and was due to end next year.
However, after Liz Truss’s mini-budget crashed the economy, Mr Hunt increased the rate to 75% and extended it for a further two years to 31 March 2028.
Last month, Labour announced plans for a “proper” windfall tax, saying they would raise the rate to 78% and keep it in place until 2029.
That led to them being branded “traitors” by the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce.
READ MORE: Budget: Jeremy Hunt to cut National Insurance by 2p
In his speech to the Scottish Tory conference over the weekend, Mr Ross described Aberdeen as “Scotland’s most important city.”
He claimed its future was “being put at risk by an anti-Aberdeen, anti-North East alliance – a partnership between Labour and the SNP determined to close down Scotland’s oil and gas sector.”
The party leader also warned that extending the windfall tax would be “an unacceptable blow” to the industry and workers.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the whole thing was "excruciatingly embarrassing for Douglas Ross."
"Underscores just how outside the Number 10 tent he is," he tweeted.
Coming as this does as the day the conservatives use their parliamentary time in Holyrood to try to slam everyone else on energy policy and the windfall tax, this is excruciatingly embarrassing for Douglas Ross.
— Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP🔶🇺🇦 (@agcolehamilton) March 6, 2024
Underscores just how outside the number10 tent he is. pic.twitter.com/eDZ8pkJThx
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel