Only a vote for the Scottish Conservatives in the Aberdeen South by-election a week today will send the message that Britain must get drilling again, the party’s candidate Douglas Lumsden has said.
The Westminster by-election on June 18th is a two-horse race between the Scottish Conservatives and the SNP, with the result expected to be on a knife edge.
Lumsden says the SNP cannot be trusted to stand up for the oil and gas sector given their ongoing presumption against any new projects, while their new Climate Action minister Gillian Martin refused to back the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields this week.
He added that against a backdrop of rising energy bills, it is “utter madness” to be still relying on importing oil and gas, instead of maximising the resources on our own doorstep.
Lumsden says that if voters in Aberdeen South vote for him next week, he will hit the ground running and demand Labour ditch the Energy Profits Levy and give the go-ahead to new projects in the North Sea.
But he warned that voting for any other party risked the SNP clinging on to the seat.
Scottish Conservative candidate for Aberdeen South Douglas Lumsden said: “A week today voters in Aberdeen South can send a clear message that it’s time to get Britain drilling again.
“The only way to do that is if by uniting behind me and the Scottish Conservatives. This by-election is on a knife-edge between us and the SNP – and a vote for any other party, especially Reform, will only help to elect another nationalist MP.
“John Swinney and the SNP cannot be trusted to stand up for the oil and gas sector, no matter how hard they try and spin.
“Their presumption against new projects has decimated the industry, and senior SNP ministers still won’t give their backing to new projects in the North Sea.
“It is utter madness that we are not drilling right now and maximising the resources available to us on our own doorstep.
“If I am elected as Aberdeen South’s new MP, I will immediately call for Sir Keir Starmer to ditch the windfall tax and urge net-zero zealot Ed Miliband to end his reckless ban on new drilling.”