Scotland faces “dole, baby, dole” under Labour’s plan for the North Sea oil and gas industry, the Conservatives have claimed.
Shadow Scotland secretary Andrew Bowie said early-stage plans to stop issuing new oil and gas field licences mark a “betrayal of those workers” in the sector.
The Government plans to end new licences, which it is consulting on, but existing licences to drill could still be extended.
The Treasury has also said it is consulting on a new tax regime for producers post-2030 which would “respond to any future shocks in oil and gas prices”.
Mr Bowie told the Commons that companies are leaving the UK for other countries, such as the US, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Norway.
“It’s said that in every oil-producing country in the world, you will find an Aberdonian,” he said.
“Turns out the only country you won’t find an Aberdonian working in oil in the near future is Scotland, so driven by this mad rush to clean power 2030, their obsession with renewables at the expense of everything and everyone else.
“It might be ‘drill, baby, drill’ in the USA, but it’s ‘dole, baby, dole’ under Labour in the UK.”
In a reference to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Mr Bowie also said: “No other country in the world, especially at a time of heightened global instability and volatility, would choose – actively choose – to aggressively and at pace shut down its domestic oil and gas industry.
“But this is exactly what this Government, and in particular this department led by the eco-warrior-in-chief, is doing.”
Industry minister Sarah Jones pledged on Thursday a “well-managed, orderly and prosperous transition” away from oil and gas.
Granting new licences for seaward exploration and production “would not take one penny off bills” and could hamper government efforts to meet British climate commitments, she said.