There is “no crisis” in Scotland’s oil industry, despite plummeting prices and tens of thousands of workers losing their jobs, an SNP MSP has claimed.
Aberdeenshire West representative Dennis Robertson’s “astonishing” claim was slammed by a workers representative and political opponents.
Mr Robertson intervention came as Labour leader Kezia Dugdale’s challenged SNP ministers “to talk about the jobs crisis in our North Sea Oil industry”.
He said: “The member just mentioned a crisis in jobs in the North Sea in oil.
“There is no crisis. We have just actually extracted more oil than ever before from the North Sea.”
Tommy Campbell, regional industrial organiser of Unite, reacted furiously. He said: “What planet is this man on?
“We know for a fact that 70,000 jobs have gone. That’s the equivalent of 15 big car factories or 15 shipyards.
“It’s as plain as the nose on your face that there is a crisis.
“There are families across Aberdeen that are really suffering and I call on Mr Robertson to withdraw his remarks and acknowledge that there is a crisis.”
A recent report by Oil and Gas UK said the contraction of Britain’s offshore oil sector had stripped out 65,000 jobs.
The oil price plunged to a multi-year low below $40 in 2015, although the industry body said this week that North Sea production rose over the past 12 months, despite the global price collapse.
Labour’s Lewis Macdonald said: “These comments are nothing short of astonishing from a North East MSP. They show that the SNP remain in complete and utter denial about the oil jobs crisis.”
Liberal Democrat MSP Alison McInnes added: “This was a breath-taking display of complacency from the government benches.”
Tory MSP Alex Johnstone said: “His remarks are wildly inaccurate and offensive to those who rely on the oil industry for their jobs and livelihoods.”
Meanwhile, during the debate, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs she was confident of convincing a majority of Scots to vote for independence “over the next few years.”
She said: “We will make that case positively and powerfully, and we will do so in realistic and relevant way.”
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said her party would stand as a “principled, practical, Scottish alternative to the SNP,” with support for Scotland’s place in the UK.