Fears grow for North-east communities as wave of North Sea job losses deepens

Charities, unions and business leaders have warned of a deepening crisis in the North-east of Scotland as job losses across the North Sea energy sector begin to hit households and communities.

Speaking at an emergency press conference on Friday, Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce said that 600 jobs had been lost in just 10 days - with many more under threat.

The event featured emotional testimony from Kerry Smyth, a worker at Harbour Energy, who is among 250 people facing redundancy following the company’s latest cost-cutting announcement.

She said it had been a “really hard week” for workers at Harbour - which has now cut 600 jobs in total since the introduction of the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) - and urged the UK Government to listen and take responsibility for the damage it is causing to industry.

“People are sad, they’re worried, but no one is surprised,” Ms Smyth said.

“600 at one company, that’s 600 livelihoods, mortgages and families – what we want to see from the government is that they actually care about that.”

Aberdeen Cyrenians chief executive Donna Hutchison warned that recent job losses in the city would fuel a further increase in child poverty, alcohol and substance-related harm and domestic violence.

“I’m all for a just transition, fair and inclusive, but I’m pretty sure it’s not palatable to anybody in society to accept those risks,” she said.

“This is not just numbers on a spreadsheet, we really need to remember the humanity in this and that it really is having an impact every day on the citizens of Aberdeen.”

AGCC Chief Executive Russell Borthwick said: “The Energy Profits Levy is starving the sector of investment and damaging the very supply chain we need to deliver net zero.”

The Chamber is calling for urgent intervention from both the UK and Scottish Governments. Its three key asks are:

• Removal of the Energy Profits Levy before the next financial year;
• A funding commitment to the Acorn carbon capture project; and
• An emergency summit involving both the Prime Minister and First Minister to prevent further job losses and rebuild confidence.

The Chamber was also joined by Sean Robertson from the GMB Union and clean tech investor Steve Gray, Managing Partner at Ventex Studio, who both expressed concern that the current approach to the energy transition is placing jobs at risk.

Mr Gray said government policy was failing the UK on every metric, from economics, jobs and emissions, to the pace of the energy transition, and called for a “serious reset”.

“The biggest challenge is charging 78% tax on profits of domestic oil and gas production while you drive up imports which are untaxed and which don’t pass any of our regulatory or licensing regimes,” he said.

The press conference coincided with the release of new Survation polling, showing strong public backing for domestic energy production and growing scepticism about the effectiveness of the windfall tax.

Key findings include:

• 68% of UK voters prefer meeting oil and gas demand from domestic production rather than imports;
• Only 27% believe the Energy Profits Levy has helped reduce household bills;
• Three times as many voters think the tax is unfair than fair, when told of the 78% effective tax rate facing North Sea operators.

Mr Borthwick added: “People in this region are not resisting change - they are delivering it. But this must be a transition, not a cliff edge. If we continue down this path, the social cost will be felt for years to come.”