Andrew Bowie is coming under increasing pressure to oppose Jeremy Hunt’s £1.5bn raid on Scotland’s oil and gas industry.

The MP, who is defending a wafer-thin majority in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, has so far only said he is “disappointed” by Jeremy Hunt’s decision.

However, voting against it in the Commons would mean quitting his government job and losing his £22,000 ministerial salary uplift.

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Douglas Ross added to the pressure on Thursday.

Speaking to journalists in Holyrood, the Scottish Tory leader said Mr Hunt had made the “wrong choice.”

“I made that clear throughout the last week. I put that case across as robustly as I could, and I have been clear with every single one of you, that I still believe the Chancellor is wrong.

"And that's why I have made the firm commitment and the guarantee that I will oppose the Bill that will be required in Westminster to introduce that extension because I do not support it in any way.

"I reiterate that the Chancellor has got that wrong. I made that point to him personally, and I said, in no uncertain terms, I wouldn't go out and try and either shy away from making a comment on it or suddenly come round and support him.

"He has made the wrong choice here and I've made that very clear."

Mr Ross, who is both an MP and an MSP, repeated that the "best way" for him to stop the extension was "being in the House of Commons and opposing the legislation that the government will need to bring forward."

Asked what this would do for his party’s chances in the election, he said voters would look “at what the other parties are suggesting” and believe the Tories were still the most supportive of the industry.

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Initially, Mr Bowie, who is defending a majority of just 843, tweeted that while there was “much in this budget to welcome” the extension of the Energy Profits Levy was “deeply disappointing.”

He said he would work with Mr Ross to resolve this.

Three hours, he said ”I've spoken to the Chancellor. He understands the importance of the EPL issue in the North East.

“The fact is only the Conservatives support our Oil and Gas sector. Thats why, for example, we are alone in retaining the capital gains allowances. So now we need get on and deliver.”

Earlier on Thursday, during an interview with the BBC’s Today programme, Mr Hunt was asked who the “losers” were in his budget.

He replied: "Who are the losers? I'm trying to answer your question directly. Foreigners who are resident in the UK who are able to pay a check and avoid paying tax at the same rate as everyone else, the so called non-doms.

"They are going to be paying significantly more tax.

"I've also asked the Scottish oil and gas industry to pay an additional contribution because the war in Ukraine is lasting longer.

"Oil and gas prices are going to stay higher for longer. I think it's fair they can make an additional contribution."

The SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said the Chancellor had "let the cat out the bag."

"The Chancellor has humiliated his Scottish Tory colleagues and destroyed any last remnants of credibility the Tories had in the North East of Scotland,” he said.

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Responding to the Chancellor's "loser" remark, Ryan Crighton, policy director at Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said: “When the dust settles, Jeremy Hunt may find that the biggest budget loser is in fact the Treasury, because the investment that he could have attracted to the North Sea was far greater than the £1.5billion he has grabbed.

“The Chancellor had two choices yesterday – strangle more cash from a sector already paying tax at nearly four-times the rate of every other business in the UK, or create the fiscal conditions that would unlock £200billion of investment in our energy sector.

“This is the fourth time energy taxes have been tinkered with in 18-months – and for a sector which relies on stability to make long-term investments, that is unacceptable.”