A furious Tory row erupted today following Jeremy Hunt’s move to extend the windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas profits.
Energy minister Andrew Bowie and Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross teamed up to blast the Budget measure as ‘deeply disappointing’.
The embarrassing split within Tory ranks was prompted by the Chancellor extending the Energy Profits Levy by another year to 2029 to rake in an extra £1.5billion.
The windfall tax was introduced in 2022 as energy prices spiked in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which saw oil and gas firms enjoy soaring profits.
The 35 per cent surcharge on the profits of oil and gas producers in the UK was initially due to end in December 2025, but has now twice been extended by Mr Hunt.
Scottish Tories fear that continuing the windfall tax will threaten jobs and investment in the north east of Scotland, where most of the UK’s oil and gas industry is based.
A furious Tory row erupted following Jeremy Hunt’s move to extend the windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas profits
The embarrassing split within Tory ranks was prompted by the Chancellor extending the Energy Profits Levy by another year to 2029 to rake in an extra £1.5billion
Energy minister Andrew Bowie and Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross teamed up to blast the Budget measure as ‘deeply disappointing’
Mr Ross is reported to have been put on resignation watch following a ‘heated’ row with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week over the Treasury plans.
Amid claims he had been ‘talked down’ from quitting by Tory whips, the Moray MP today criticised the Chancellor’s latest extension to the levy as ‘a step in the wrong direction’.
He also vowed to oppose separate legislation needed to pass the windfall tax extension, adding he would ‘continue to urge the Chancellor to reconsider’.
In an even more embarrassing development for Mr Hunt and Mr Sunak, Mr Bowie – a minister at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero – also spoke out against the move.
‘I agree with Douglas,’ the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP wrote on Twitter/X.
‘There is much in this Budget to welcome. Much that is good for Scotland and our United Kingdom. And only the Conservatives have a plan.
‘However, the extension of the EPL is deeply disappointing. I will be working with him to resolve this.’
Mr Bowie, MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine and a minister at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, branded the levy extension as ‘deeply disappointing’
Mr Ross vowed to oppose separate legislation needed to pass the windfall tax extension, adding he would ‘continue to urge the Chancellor to reconsider’.
As he announced the latest extension to the windfall tax during his Budget speech in the House of Commons today, Mr Hunt told MPs: ‘We want to encourage investment in the North Sea so we will retain generous investment allowances for the sector.
‘We will also legislate in the Finance Bill to abolish the Energy Profits Levy should market prices fall to their historic norm for a sustained period of time.
‘But because the increase in energy prices caused by the Ukraine war is expected to last longer, so too will the sector’s windfall profits.
‘So I will extend the sunset on the Energy Profits Levy for an additional year to 2029 raising £1.5billion.’