Overview
- Launching a joint drive with the Scottish Conservatives, Kemi Badenoch urged the government to end the moratorium on new North Sea licences and abolish the 38% Energy Profits Levy in the 26 November Budget.
- Labour reiterated its opposition to new oil and gas fields and condemned the Tory plan, while environmental groups attacked the call as a return to a "drill baby drill" approach.
- Offshore Energies UK and Scottish Renewables wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband calling for the levy to be urgently replaced to support investment.
- Harbour Energy announced a further 250 job cuts, taking its reductions to about 600 since the levy’s introduction, intensifying pressure on ministers over the sector’s outlook.
- Labour’s manifesto pledge not to grant new licences remains in place, though separate reporting suggests Miliband may be considering adjustments to the drilling ban.