SNP’s Stephen Flynn attacks Labour’s North Sea windfall tax plans

Labour has proposed increasing it, while the SNP wants it maintained at the current level, which is about 75%.

Flynn said the increased revenue from Labour’s plans would not reduce energy bills but rather “flow into nuclear power projects in England”.

He added the job figures were calculated by independent investment experts and had the Unite union saying it would result in workers being put “on the scrapheap”.

Flynn said: “We need to make sure that we have a just transition that allows us to meet our climate targets.”

Labour’s Ian Murray later said the SNP had “zero credibility” on the economy and was “all over the place” when it came to energy jobs and security.

He said: “Stephen Flynn thinks a nurse on £29,000 a year should pay more tax but the oil and gas giants taking in billions of pounds in profits shouldn’t.

“That’s nonsense from a party that can’t give a straight answer on oil and gas.”

Murray said Labour would establish GB energy, which would be based in Scotland, and transform the country into a “clean energy superpower”.

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie told BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show he wanted to see a move away from fossil fuels “as fast as possible”.

He also argued fossil fuels were a “thing of the past” and called for a focus on renewables.