SNP must recognise there is an oil jobs crisis’ – Macdonald

The SNP must recognise there is an oil jobs crisis in Scotland as the price of oil fell to a new 10-year low, trading below $35 a barrel, Labour said yesterday.

During a debate in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, SNP MSP Dennis Robertson, who represents Aberdeenshire West, said there was ‘no crisis’ in the oil industry, and instead said the industry was ‘booming.’

It is estimated that more than 65,000 jobs had been lost since the price of oil began to sharply drop last year.

Scottish Labour Public Services spokesperson and North East MSP Lewis Macdonald said:

“Dennis Robertson’s comments about the oil industry were remarkably ill-judged. Thousands of jobs have been lost, not just in Mr Robertson’s own constituency but right across the North East and the whole of Scotland.

Today the price of oil fell to a new 10-year low, showing again that these comments from the SNP were an absolute fantasy.

The SNP have to recognise that this is a real jobs crisis in Scotland, with Oil and Gas UK warning that more job losses are to come. Dennis Robertson’s comments were thoughtless and unhelpful to workers and their families affected.

The SNP Government in Edinburgh have lived in complete denial about the oil jobs crisis because it was politically embarrassing to them.

Even after the slump began, Nicola Sturgeon was reassuring people that the price could return to $100 a barrel before now.

They ignored job losses for months and now North East SNP MSPs are denying there is a jobs crisis.

We need a proper response to the oil jobs crisis. That means assessing the impact of the oil price on the wider Scottish economy and a commitment to publishing regular oil and gas bulletins with a specific focus on the impact of oil prices on jobs right through the industry.”

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8 thoughts on “SNP must recognise there is an oil jobs crisis’ – Macdonald

  1. So one guy expressing an opinion becomes “The SNP”. However misguided Mr Robertson’s comment was, he is NOT “The SNP” and his comment is NOT an oficial SNP view. There is a whole thread on this site (massive by this sites standards) devoted to the “SNPbad” meme. This article is just more evidence of why that meme is so sucessful.

  2. Employment within the Oil and Gas industry has always fluctuated along with the price of Oil since the stuff was extracted produced refined and vended.
    This isn’t the first time employment within the Oil and Gas industry fluctuated downwards and it wont be the last.

    No this isn’t a crises this is a normal situation within a fluctuating trough cycle of employment based on a normal fluctuating trough cycle of Oil price value.

    Those workers in the North Sea who lost their jobs there are now mostly working abroad probably with the same companies in places such as Nigeria Azerbaijan Kazakstan Algeria Saudi Arabia the Gulf etc etc because unlike the UK Government other Governments have not taken the view of Oil and Gas that they are trying to spin because of Political considerations at home.

    Only 2 years ago the UK Government invested billions into NS Oil and Gas as a future return investment. Now the Pro Union cabal of Scottish naysayers want to pretend NS Oil and Gas is worthless and are trying to spin the normal fluctuating cycle of NS Oil and gas prices as a permanent downturn.

    The Price of Oil is only at an 11 year low. Considering NS Oil and Gas has been extracted and sold since the 70s its hardly a measure of failure or disaster by any stretch of the imagination. The UK treasury was heavily reliant on NS oil and gas all through the 70s 80s and 90s when the price of Oil was far lower than it is today.

    Not going to stop the cabal on Naysayers and Nawbags from lying their worthless arses off about it over and over though.

    https://www.oilandgasjobsearch.com/

  3. Perhaps we could use the OIL FUND built up over decades of huge revenues, going to the Westminster Treasury, from the Scottish sector of the N Sea…………….

    Oh, wait a minute……………………………!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  4. It is estimated that more than 65,000 jobs had been lost since the price of oil began to sharply drop last year.

    See this is actually bullshit. The 65,000 number is inclusive of contractors who came to the end of their contracts and who have since moved on to other contracts. In fact the largest slice of this estimate is down to contractors changing contracts. The actual number of full time staff jobs lost is minimum because it involves large 6 figure redundancy packages for most of them if they did lose their jobs.

  5. So…there is an oil crisis….

    except if you look at the historical price of oil through out the 90’s it hovered around the $22-$23 per barrel price…

    and we still have an oil industry….

    dd.d.d..dd……..don’t panic

    1. If there were an Oil crises petrol would be rationed what we have is a crises of credibility in the UK state.

  6. And so what do Scottish Labour plan to do about Saudi Arabia and the oil producing states then, deter them from their practices with your Nuclear Bomb or maybe you’ll just deter North Korea with it… Ooops

    Maybe you could give them some of the invisible APD money that you save by not charging it to passengers…Ooops

    I know give more money to the banks for lending more money so we can put up the price of houses thereby making it easier to…Ooops

    You’re going to be lucky to be in third place once Ruth-less is finished with you, she’s turning on her Labour buddies big time…Ooops

    It’s no wonder the ringing laughter is getting louder, and not in a good way

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