Aberdeen business chiefs issue 'start listening' demand after Donald Trump's North Sea drilling comments

Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC) said the energy profits levy - also known as the windfall tax - was a deterrent to investment and innovation, and Westminster “should start listening”.

It comes after the US President called the North Sea a “treasure chest” and attacked the UK’s tax regime for oil and gas companies.

“North Sea Oil is a TREASURE CHEST for the United Kingdom,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social during his four-day visit to Scotland. “The taxes are so high, however, that it makes no sense.

“They have essentially told drillers and oil companies that ‘we don’t want you’. Incentivize the drillers, FAST. A VAST FORTUNE TO BE MADE for the UK, and far lower energy costs for the people!”

The oil and gas industry has repeatedly criticised the windfall tax, which was introduced in May 2022 and subsequently extended and increased. Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), the North Sea trade body, has called on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to remove it by 2026.

The US President held talks with Sir Keir at Turnberry in Ayrshire on Monday, before the pair travelled to Aberdeenshire together for a private dinner, which was also attended by First Minister John Swinney.

Mr Swinney later told journalists the President had not pressed him to back new oil and gas licenses. “He didn’t press me to do that,” he said.

“He obviously expressed his view that there should be more oil and gas activity undertaken and I’ve seen material from the President this morning [on Truth Social] which raises issues about taxation, which of course, is not under my control. I don’t have any influence over North Sea oil and gas taxation.

“Obviously the President made clear his view that he is not a supporter of wind turbines and I expressed the view that we have about our energy priorities on renewable energy.”

Ryan Crighton, policy director at AGCC, said: “Donald Trump and Britain’s trade unions don’t often see eye to eye – but they have just found common ground on the need to support the North Sea.

“When the President told Sir Keir Starmer to back oil and gas production in Aberdeen, he was echoing the very same warning from GMB’s Gary Smith: that without a plan to protect jobs, the UK has no credible route to energy transition.

“It’s a message coming from both ends of the political spectrum – support domestic production while we still require oil and gas, protect jobs, and keep the economic benefits here in the UK, rather than importing at a greater carbon cost.

“The energy profits levy was meant to be temporary. Instead, it’s become a long-term deterrent to investment and innovation, putting at risk not just our oil and gas future, but our ability to deliver renewables at scale.

“This isn’t natural decline. It’s a policy failure. And when Trump and the trade unions are both saying the same thing, Westminster should start listening.”