'I'm throwing the kitchen sink at this': Inside the oil and gas by-election
The future of the North Sea has dominated the hotly contested Aberdeen South by-election
Wielding an umbrella in place of a sword, Richard Tice posed with his arm raised, mimicking the statue of William Wallace behind him.
“Does that work?” the deputy leader of Reform UK asked the photographers, before chuckling and jumping down from the plinth.
Moments earlier, he had cheerfully ignored the disgruntled comment of an adviser, who pointed out the statue was of a “Scottish nationalist”.
Mr Tice was in a driech, granite-grey Aberdeen on Monday to campaign ahead of a looming by-election on June 18. It is a contest dominated by one issue above all others: the future of the North Sea oil and gas industry.
“We’re the only party that has said we’ve got to use our energy treasure, our oil and gas, which frankly was the foundation of the prosperity, the wealth here in Aberdeen,” Mr Tice insisted.
The Aberdeen South by-election was called after Stephen Flynn, the former SNP Westminster leader, jumped ship to Holyrood last month.
The Scottish Conservatives see a prime opportunity to take the seat, but fear Reform may split the vote on the right, as happened in nearby Aberdeen Deeside and North Kincardine on May 7.
"There's a big concern that you could vote Reform and let the SNP back in, and that would be such a travesty for Aberdeen,” said Douglas Lumsden, the Tory candidate, who argues this is a two-horse race between his party and the SNP.
Mr Lumsden was recently re-elected as an MSP for North East Scotland, but argues the “jobs emergency” in Aberdeen means he could have more impact in Westminster, which has control over energy policy.
"If I could have the same impact in Holyrood to try and save jobs in Aberdeen, I would stay where I am,” he said. "But I am doing the most I can do to actually protect the jobs in Aberdeen.
"If that means standing for Westminster that's exactly what I'll do. And I'm throwing the absolute kitchen sink at this, because it is so important - not to me, but to everyone who lives in Aberdeen."
He said he knows a “huge” number of people who have lost their jobs or face redundancy, or who are moving abroad.
"We're losing 1,000 jobs a month in the North Sea and nobody is doing anything about it,” he said. “That's what's spurred me on to stand in this election."
If successful, Mr Lumsden said he would be “down in Westminster shouting and screaming every single day to try and highlight what is going on in Aberdeen”.
Reform, he said, is focused on the Makerfield by-election in England, which will be held on the same day and where the party hopes to block Andy Burnham’s path to Downing Street.
"Our priority lies with Aberdeen and saving all the jobs in the oil and gas industry,” Mr Lumsden said.
During a visit to the Granite City on Friday, UK Tory leader Kemi Badenoch told journalists: “Every time I come here, I meet people who are saying, ‘Our city is dying, please help us save it, nobody cares’. I want them to know that the Conservative Party cares.”
Richard Thomson, the SNP candidate, said this is “absolutely” an oil and gas by-election.
“The issues that are coming up are oil and gas, the future of the the energy industry in Aberdeen and the north-east more generally, and also the cost of living crisis,” he said.
“In many ways the two are are interlinked. But it's quite clear that people have got concerns about the about the economic future of the city, and it's quite clear that the world has changed in the last few years with the war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz.
“I think people now understand quite clearly that an energy transition has to be just that, and that it's important that we are able to produce as much of our own energy, not just for our energy security, but also our economic security.
“While three quarters of our energy needs are being met by oil and gas, it makes no sense to be importing carbon intensive fuels from other parts of the world, when we could produce it at a lower environmental cost and with great, far greater economic benefit on our doorstep, and keep people in work.”
Mr Thomson, who was previously the SNP MP for Gordon, said he would like to see the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields get the go-ahead.
Elsewhere, he insisted the recent coverage around Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive who embezzled more than £400,000 from the party, would have little impact on the result.
"What I would say is truthfully, the issues are coming up in the doorstep are oil and gas and the cost of living,” he said, adding: "I don't think it's going to be a pivotal or particularly influential matter in this election. I think people have got their minds focused on other more important issues that affect their lives day-to-day."
On Monday, Reform candidate Jo Hart joined Mr Tice for a walkabout in Aberdeen, pausing for interviews in Union Terrace Gardens.
She said the transition away from oil and gas has “gone so hard and fast that we’re now in this really vulnerable position, where we’ve got mass unemployment and massive decline of the city”, and described the pursuit of net zero as “nonsense”.
She added: “We were the oil capital of Europe at one point, and now I think Aberdeen is pretty much a ghost town.”
Mr Tice said he “almost weeps” at the decline of the city.
“I call it the doughnut principle,” he said later. “But doughnuts are supposed to have some delicious jam in them.
“The problem is for too many of our town and city centres now, the centre is just mouldy cheese.”
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.