The Conservative leader accused the SNP of speaking ‘out of both sides of its mouth’ on support for the fossil fuel industry.
Aberdeen is “dying” because of the SNP’s lack of support for the oil and gas industry, Kemi Badenoch has said.
The Conservative leader accused the party of speaking with “both sides of its mouth” on the fossil fuel sector.
Speaking during a visit to the city, she said the Aberdeen South by-election would be a referendum on oil and gas.
The by-election was triggered after Stephen Flynn, now Scotland’s Transport Secretary, was elected to the Scottish Parliament.
Speaking to the Press Association, Ms Badenoch said her party should not have introduced the windfall tax on oil and gas firms, but said Labour had raised it and made it permanent.
Asked about the SNP’s calls for it to be scrapped, she said: “The SNP speak with both sides of their mouth.
“They are not supporting the oil and gas industry.”
She said the party did not “care” about the sector, adding: “That’s one of the reasons why oil and gas is dying, it is one of the reasons why Aberdeen is dying.
“We are losing funding, we are losing tax revenue, young people are not getting jobs – where is the SNP when all this is happening?
“All they do is sit in Holyrood and complain about everything. They do not deliver.”
Ms Badenoch encouraged voters to back Douglas Lumsden, who announced his candidacy for Westminster just days after being elected to the Scottish Parliament, saying he would be “one less nationalist MP”.
“We want this to be a referendum on oil and gas,” she said during a visit to Uniconn.
She said that while “Reform talk a good game” they “don’t actually do anything”.
She said: “This is the fourth time I’ve made a trip to Aberdeen and that is because I care about oil and gas, I care about this industry, I care about this city.
“I get on the plane, and people ask me to save Aberdeen; they tell me that Aberdeen is dying, that Aberdeen is a shell of what it used to be.
“We need someone who cares about Aberdeen”.
The candidates for the seat are:
– Nuru Hoque Ali – Scottish Labour
– Richard Thomson – SNP
– Jo Hart – Reform UK Scotland
– Douglas Lusden – Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
– Jorg Shelton-Eckstein – Scottish Greens
– Mel Sullivan – Scottish Liberal Democrats
Mr Thomson said Ms Badenoch’s comments were the “height of hypocrisy” which “no one in Aberdeen should be taken in by at all”.
“In government, the Tories gave us a merry-go-round of Energy Ministers who only had one thing in common, and that was to continue siphoning off billions from Scotland’s oil and gas sector.
“In contrast, the SNP has created a new role within our newly formed government with the energy minister reporting directly to the First Minister.
“No one should forget that it was the last Tory Government in which Kemi Badenoch was a minister which introduced the disastrous Energy Profits Levy, and created the cliff-edge for the North Sea which Labour now want to push us off.”
Mr Thomson said it was a “disgrace” that Scotland had some of the highest energy bills in Europe while the industry loses about 1,000 jobs each month.
He added: “I will never stand by as Scottish jobs are cast on the scrapheap and, just like Stephen Flynn, I will always stand with the workers in our energy sector.
“Only the SNP is on the side of our energy sector and we are the only party that wants the rich resources of the North Sea to be under the control and working for the benefit of the Scottish people – that’s what’s on the ballot in a few weeks’ time.”
Mr Shelton-Eckstein said: “For too long, the needs of our communities here in the North East have been ignored by governments in London and Edinburgh, as well as by the fossil fuel giants that have profited from our city and exploited our workers for decades, while paying very little back to our community.
“It’s time to demand better for Aberdeen. On June 18, you can do that by voting for the Scottish Greens.”
Mr Sullivan: “People across the constituency feel like things aren’t working.
“Even as the North East produces much of Scotland’s energy, our household bills are soaring while, under the SNP, waits to see a GP are far too long.
“People deserve a change with fairness at its heart and that is what I will be campaigning to deliver.”
