A SCOTTISH Tory MP who criticised windfall taxes on oil and gas firms did not declare that his wife has more than £50,000 worth of shares in BP, it has been revealed.
David Duguid, MP for Banff and Buchan, has spoken against windfall taxes on companies such as BP four times in parliament since the beginning of 2022.
The former junior minister in the Scotland Office has also voted against proposals to examine the impact of increasing windfall taxes, which would impact the dividends paid to shareholders.
The Guardian reports that an analysis of BP’s shareholder register suggests Duguid moved his shares into his wife’s name five years before he became an MP.
Duguid’s spouse has more than 11,000 shares and would have received more than £2000 last year in dividends, the newspaper reports.
Parliamentary rules require MPs to declare the financial interests of family members and spouses where there could be considered a conflict of interest.
However, Duguid has never publicly disclosed his wife’s financial interest in the House of Commons register.
A spokesperson for Duguid insisted the MP had abided by the rules.
Since the start of 2022, the Tory MP has declared interest in BP in two debates in parliament, but only referencing his prior employment of 25 years in the oil and gas industry, 10 of which were spent working for BP.
And, despite his involvement with energy policy during his time in the Scotland Office, Duguid’s wife’s shares were not contained in the list of ministers’ interests published by the Cabinet Office.
Duguid was a junior minister in the Scotland Office under Boris Johnson between June 2020 and September 2021, and again, briefly, under Liz Truss in October 2022.
During his time as a minister, Duguid met nine times with lobbyists from the oil and gas trade association Oil and Gas UK, now known as Offshore Energies UK (OEUK).
OEUK’s members include BP, and it has recently argued against an increase in the windfall tax on energy producers. He also worked on the North Sea Transition Deal, an agreement between the UK Government and the oil and gas industry, to work together to meet net zero commitments by 2050.
Duguid was in attendance at the August 2021 opening of OEUK’s new offices in Aberdeen.
Under the current system, MPs are required to declare any holdings in a company over £70,000.
For ministers, all interests held by themselves, their spouses and family members that could give rise to a conflict must be provided to the department’s permanent secretary.
This includes shareholdings under the parliamentary threshold of £70,000, with a decision then made by the independent adviser on ministers' interests which “relevant” interests are published publicly.
The ministerial code states that ministers “must scrupulously avoid any danger of an actual or perceived conflict of interest between their ministerial position and their private financial interests”
BP’s shareholder register shows that Duguid stopped being a shareholder in BP in November 2012.
On the same day, his wife joined the company’s register of members.
Duguid was first elected to the Banff and Buchan seat in 2017. He is also the vice-chair of the British offshore oil and gas industry all-party parliamentary group, supported by OEUK.
He previously claimed plans by Labour to ban new oil and gas drilling were “based on ideology”.
A spokesperson for Duguid said: “Mr Duguid followed the prevailing rules for reporting relevant financial interests.”
