A NEWSPAPER based in the north-east has taken aim at Labour’s oil and gas plan in a front-page splash.
The Press & Journal, the daily regional newspaper published in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Inverness, and the Highlands and Islands, slated Labour’s “betrayal” of the region, which it said would put “100,000 energy jobs” at risk.
The splash pictures Labour leader Keir Starmer, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, as well as Ed Milliband – shadow secretary of state for climate change and net zero – and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar dressed as characters from the BBC’s The Traitors, against the backdrop of an oil rig in the North Sea.
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Below the image reads: “Labour’s ‘betrayal’ risks ‘100,000 energy jobs’ “North Sea windfall tax plan ‘must be stopped’ “SNP chief says ‘livelihoods will be destroyed’”.
The splash comes after Starmer (below) promised a “proper” windfall tax on oil and gas companies, which he said would raise £10.8 billion over five years to help pay for its green spending plans.
The plans include the extension of the tax until 2029, with the energy profits levy rising to 78%.
Labour also scrapped plans to spend £28bn a year on green projects, after previously committing to deliver 50,000 jobs in the renewable energy sector in Scotland over a decade.
One social media user said the front cover was “brutally true”, and that “Labour will be livid”.
It comes as the Scottish Labour conference is set to take place in Glasgow this weekend, with a national demonstration against the war in Gaza scheduled to arrive outside the conference centre.
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Whilst Starmer has previously rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Sarwar recently took to Twitter/X to support an “immediate ceasefire” and a “path to peace” following Israel’s attacks on Rafah earlier this week.
Sarwar (below) said: “Many Palestinians were told to take refuge in Rafah, where the humanitarian situation is now dire.
“We need an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of hostages and a path to peace now.”
Many Palestinians were told to take refuge in Rafah, where the humanitarian situation is now dire.
— Anas Sarwar (@AnasSarwar) February 12, 2024
The Israeli forces offensive there will be a catastrophe.
We need an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of hostages and a path to peace now.
A second vote calling for a ceasefire in Gaza will take place in Westminster next week.
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