LABOUR was warned before last year’s general election that its policies could be “catastrophic” for the oil and gas sector as the jobs exodus in the North Sea continues, according to the SNP's leader in Westminster, Stephen Flynn.

The Aberdeen South MP made the remarks after Harbour Energy announced 250 jobs would be slashed from North Sea operations on top of the 350 already cut by the firm in 2023.

Harbour Energy's managing director Scott Barr insisted the decision was “due mainly to the government’s ongoing punitive fiscal position and a challenging regulatory environment.”

Unite has condemned the “devastating” announcement.

General secretary Sharon Graham said: “It’s crystal clear that UK government policy is driving oil and gas companies out of the North Sea.

“It is directly leading to thousands of jobs being axed and to decommissioning plans being accelerated years ahead of schedule.

“Unite fears that the scale of the job losses in the years to come will run into the tens of thousands unless the UK government changes direction and produces a concrete plan with real jobs for the transition of North Sea workers.” 

Echoing those fears, Mr Flynn told BBC Radio Scotland: “Harbour is one of many companies that operate out of Aberdeen and there is a real and present danger — something the Labour Party was warned about prior to the election — that the decisions they were seeking in relation to policy for licensing and taxation of the North Sea sector would lead to catastrophic job losses.”

He added: “Everyone knows the North Sea is a depleting asset, but the argument is how quickly you seek to shut down the industry and what we are seeking is a clear pattern of direction from the Labour government in that regard, which is seeking to accelerate that.”

Reacting to the job losses on a visit to Scotland on Wednesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves insisted: “It’s a commercial decision by one company… but there are many other companies that aren’t laying off workers.

“It is important that, with energy companies making record profits after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we ask those companies to pay their fair share of tax, especially when ordinary working people saw their energy bills go through the roof.”