A £30 billion economic opportunity decommissioning oil and gas facilities is sailing past Dundee, according to Jim Murphy.
In his first major speech on the economy as Scottish Labour leader, Mr Murphy laid out his vision of a Scotland that could rid itself of inequality.
On decommissioning he said: “This industry could be worth £30 billion. Yet we have the sight of a major rig being sailed down the east coast, past Aberdeen and past Dundee, where this work could be done, and into Hartlepool.
“The SNP Government has failed to see how Scotland can capture this wave of international work in the oil and gas industry. That is another lost opportunity.”
Energy Minister Fergus Ewing had previously told Holyrood there were “significant opportunities” but also a risk of installations being decommissioned prematurely because of UK Government policy when pressed on the issue by Dundee-based MSP Jenny Marra.
Mr Ewing said: “Unless there is an appropriate and substantial tax reduction, a substantial number of the more than 400 existing installations in the North Sea face precisely that fate because of their ageing nature and the relatively small but still economically viable deposits of oil and gas that remain.”