SCOTTISH Tory MP Andrew Bowie boasted that Scotland’s oil and gas sector paid for half of all energy bills this past winter.
Speaking on BBC’s Politics Live on Thursday, the nuclear minister claimed this was due to the UK-wide windfall tax.
This comes as Labour also announced plans last month to use Scotland’s oil and gas resources to fund a council tax freeze in England if they were in power, which was branded a “slap in the face” by the SNP.
The MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine told presenter Jo Coburn: “The windfall tax, in which we now tax oil and gas companies 75% on the profits they make in the North Sea.
“That 75% tax has gone towards half of everybody in this country’s energy bills over the past winter.
“I know that mathematics and numbers are a difficult concept for the Labour Party. They have spent their non-dom policy, I think, three times over now.
“There’s only so many times you can actually spend money that is raised through a tax. We have spent the 75% levied on oil and gas on supporting everybody in this country over this past winter.
“We also want to, of course, incentivise companies to invest and create jobs and maximise economic recovery from the North Sea because oil and gas is important, it will be with us for the next 20-30 years.”
