Overview

• At the Scottish Conservative conference, Kemi Badenoch vowed to abolish the 38% energy profits levy and lift the ban on new North Sea exploration licences to boost domestic production
• She warned that extending the windfall tax to 2030 will undermine industry viability, threaten thousands of jobs and increase UK dependence on foreign imports
• The levy, applied on top of existing corporation and supplementary rates to reach a 78% headline rate, has been slammed by the North Sea Transition Taskforce for throttling sector investment
• Critics including the End Fuel Poverty Coalition argue that ending the levy would do little to cut high household energy bills and would primarily benefit oil and gas firms
• Badenoch framed the policy shift as a counter to Reform UK’s surge in Scotland and described Nigel Farage’s party as a threat to the union’s stability