Labour has raised questions over Chancellor George Osborne’s links to a senior oil and gas industry figure.
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow cabinet office minister, has asked Mr Osborne to explain his connection to Amjad Bseisu, the chief executive of EnQuest.
He claimed that it “looks suspicious” that the tycoon had twice benefited from UK Government decisions while making donations totalling more than £81,000 to the Conservative Party.
The row has broken out just days before Mr Osborne is expected to unveil new tax breaks for the North Sea industry in his autumn statement on Wednesday.
The company said there was no connection between Mr Bseisu’s personal donations and government decisions in respect of the company, and denied any inappropriate exchanges.
The Treasury said that Mr Osborne had not held private meetings with Mr Bseisu.
EnQuest, Britain’s largest independent oil company, was awarded one of 134 new North Sea licences last month, and nine days later Mr Osborne publicly highlighted the firm’s £4billion investment in the Kraken field.
Mr Bseisu and Mr Osborne also reportedly attended dinners run by the Conservative Party between July and September this year.
Labour’s Mr Ashworth said: “This looks suspicious and George Osborne has questions to answer. People will expect full disclosure over what discussions have taken place between the chancellor and Mr Bseisu during their meetings.
“David Cameron and his ministers dine exclusively with their big money donors on whom they rely for their re-election campaign. This shows why we need greater openness about Tory funding.”
An EnQuest spokesman said: “EnQuest’s management regularly engages with the UK government and a range of political parties on matters of importance to the UK North Sea oil and gas industry.
“None of these exchanges are in any way inappropriate. It is EnQuest’s policy not to make political donations; separately and in a personal capacity Amjad Bseisu is a supporter of the Conservative Party.”
A Treasury insider denied that the chancellor had had formal meetings with Mr Bseisu and noted that Ed Davey, the minister in charge of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) which granted the licence last month, is a Liberal Democrat.
He added: “This is a completely independent process with the decision taken by DECC. There have been no discussions or meetings.”
