Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement is troubling for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East
The Labour Westminster government is pushing the North-east energy sector off a cliff edgewhile leaving local families to buckle under the weight of a soaring cost of living.
In the Spring Statement, Rachel Reeves failed to end the Energy Profits Levy (EPL). She has announced since that she may end it earlier but Labour promises to Scottish interests have proven to be empty since July 2024.
Any continuation of the levy is already destroying investment and risking thousands of skilled jobs across the North-east of Scotland.
The Chancellor’s statement comes alongside sobering figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which has downgraded the UK’s economic growth forecast for 2026 to just 1.1% and revealed that unemployment has hit a five-year high of 5.3% under Labour’s watch.
By failing to use this opportunity to abolish the levy on Scotland’s energy, Rachel Reeves has signalled that Labour is more interested in plugging their own funding gaps than protecting the livelihoods of my constituents.
Subsequent promises outwith her Commons statement can be taken with a pinch of salt considering how empty Labour’s promises for Scotland have been since they were elected to government.
In the North-east, our energy sector is a backbone of the economy. This uncertainty over the EPL doesn’t just threaten current oil and gas production – it actively deters the very investment we need for our transition to renewables.
We are seeing a managed transition turn into a chaotic collapse under Westminster, putting our energy security at risk at a time of immense global instability.
But the pain doesn’t stop at the rig floor. Families across this constituency are feeling the squeeze like never before. Energy bills are nearly £400 higher than Labour promised they would be, and with inflation up by 50% since the election, the weekly shop and the cost of filling up the car are becoming unaffordable for many.
In a rural constituency like ours, where we rely on our cars and face higher heating costs, the Chancellor’s refusal to step in as petrol and gas prices soar is a dereliction of duty.
Britain is broken and Westminster isn’t working, but it is the people of the North-east who are paying the price for Westminster’s failure.
It is now clearer than ever that the only way to protect Scotland from Labour’s chaos and cuts is to demand a fresh start with independence and a future where our resources and our workers are respected.
