Oil and Gas UK chief executive Malcolm Webb said his meeting with Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy was “very positive”.
The MP has been on a visit to Aberdeen to meet North Sea industry leaders, offshore trade unions and city councillors amid a continued fall in the global price of oil.
Mr Webb attended a meeting alongside the politician to discuss the current challenges facing the oil and gas industry.
He said: “We put across the need for collaboration, across industry and across partners as well, including the Scottish and UK governments.”
“What the Chancellor said in his Autumn Statement we welcomed, but at the time we said we would like to see some of it
further developed more quickly.
further developed more quickly.
“We are pleased to say that we believe the new investment allowance is going to be brought forward into the finance act 2015, it needs to be,it cannot wait until the next parliament, and (Chief Secretary) Danny Alexander is in agreement with us on that.”On the subject of the “resilience fund”, Mr Webb sounded a note of caution, however.He said: “I don’t see as a concept that there is a problem with it, but one thing I would say is I hope we are not linking that with saying ‘this is an industry in meltdown or collapse’ because I really don’t see it that way.””This is an industry that is too important in any event, but it will continue. I can’t see at the moment a bottom to the price spiral, but there will be a bottom and there will be a recovery at some stage as well.”
At a meeting in Aberdeen Jim Murphy expressed concern about the “human impact” of redundancies in the energy sector and the wider impact of a downturn on the local economy.
He argued the Scottish Government should use money received from Westminster via the Barnett Formula to immediately set up a pot of cash that can be drawn upon to protect local communities.
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