Darren Paul 💙

Energy Secretary Red Ed Miliband claims renewables make energy supplies more secure. Of course, they don’t. Today, because wind is weak, we’ve been importing almost 25% of our electricity needs. We can never be sure that supply will always be there when we need it. And, of course, it adds to our balance of payments deficit, which is already big enough without unnecessarily importing all this power.

@MonicaHone @ClaireCoutinho If you think that’s the whole argument then you aren’t listening closely enough. Jobs, tax, security of supply (particularly reduction in imported (dirty) LNG), speed / readiness for transition, improved trade balance, maintaining supply chain. All important points

@Dazpaul4 @ClaireCoutinho Except the whole point of the pro north sea oil argument is that somehow it will provide *us* with oil. It won't. It will be sold to the highest bidder on the global market.

Excruciating. If he thinks the tax take from the North Sea is important, why he is sending it abroad…? Norway, Qatar, the US will get that tax take, but not Britain. The truth is Ed Miliband would rather we were more reliant on dirtier imports than use our own.

@Toptap_one @MonicaHone @ClaireCoutinho Not nope. Profits are taxed at 78%. Investment allowances aren’t specific to one sector and with the current regulatory / political regime O&G capital intense projects / spend is on the decline so even less offset

@Dazpaul4 @MonicaHone @ClaireCoutinho Nope.

@MonicaHone @ClaireCoutinho I don’t see your point here. The government tax profits at 78% so to say we don’t get anything is wrong. I doubt anyone affected by these policies and decisions thinks that employment is irrelevant. A very poor take

@Dazpaul4 @ClaireCoutinho Once oil is licensed it belongs to the license owner to sell to the highest bidder on the global market. Mineral rights are meaningless if you license them away. Employment is irrelevant because it just shifts from one industry to another.

@MonicaHone @ClaireCoutinho The ‘Crown’ (‘We’) own the mineral rights which is licenced to operators. ‘We’ see 78% of the profits through the tax take. ‘We’ also benefit from employment and the tax take through that.

@ClaireCoutinho *We* don't own anything in the North Sea, as you well know. *We* do not get priority on oil produced in this country and *we* do not see the profits or benefits. Unlike Norway. Whose oil is state owned.

Another energy fail. Unlike oil, gas trades at regional rates, not global rates. Gas from the UK North Sea is piped to our shores. Most of it stays in the UK. A small amount goes into the European system. The more that comes out of the North Sea the bigger the dampening effect on domestic prices because it is cheaper than LNG. But the real benefits are security of supply (the government has ultimate control over it via licenses), more taxable revenue (to cut fuels bills), fewer imports, stronger sterling, more jobs, smaller carbon footprint than LNG. What’s not to like? Why create jobs in Stavanger when you could be creating them in Stonehaven.

Reopen the North Sea. Expand exploration. Scrap the EPL. Deliver energy security. It’s that simple.

Ed Miliband is a dangerous fantasist who is gambling with our energy security.   As the world gets more dangerous, Britain should be asking itself a hard question: is our energy system resilient enough?   Miliband argues that his race to power the country on the wind and the sun makes us more secure. In reality, he is doubling down on a reckless experiment which is making us weaker and poorer. What Britain really needs is an Energy Resilience Strategy.   Miliband’s first fatal mistake is shutting down the North Sea, which still provides half of our gas supply. Rather than use our own, Labour would prefer Britain became more reliant on dirtier gas from abroad, while losing thousands of jobs here and sending billions of pounds overseas in the process.   We have to end Miliband’s mad ban on new oil and gas licences, scrap the Net Zero restrictions and job-destroying taxes and maximise recovery from the North Sea.   Second, we need to make electricity cheap. Miliband is so consumed by making our electricity supply completely clean that he doesn’t care that he’s also making it unbearably expensive. He has the problem completely back to front. He is making it harder for people to opt for electricity to protect themselves from shocks. Our Cheap Power Plan would cut everyone’s electricity bill by 20% and make it far cheaper for households and businesses to electrify if they choose to do so.   Third, we must double down on nuclear. Nuclear provides reliable, 24/7 power which has the most secure supply chain of any energy source. Yet Labour scrapped my plans to build the third modern large nuclear plant in Britain. This is absurd and must be reversed.   Fourth, in times of war, our industrial power is our hard power. British industry is being crippled by soaring Carbon Taxes which have as much as doubled under Labour. We will still need chemicals, plastics and steel, we will just end up getting them from more polluting countries who do not impose these taxes. We must stop escalating Carbon Taxes and back British industry.   None of this is inevitable. We are an energy-rich nation choosing to make ourselves energy-poor. Making ourselves weak to appease Net Zero ideologues will make us a warning, not an example, to the rest of the world.   It’s not too late to change course. Keir Starmer must ditch his dangerous Energy Secretary and prioritise Britain’s energy resilience now.

Thanks to policies you zealously pursue we already have the highest industrial energy costs and second highest household costs in the world. You’re inflicting working people with extra financial burden and loss of well-paid jobs. So don’t dare talk about skyrocketing bills. Your solar panels are paving over good farmland and your onshore windmills are already a blight on the landscape. There are nothing like hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs. It’s a myth you perpetuate. Unemployment is rising. There is no energy security when you increase dependence on intermittent renewables, which is why you’re having to build new gas plants as back up and increase imported electricity (which hardly adds to our energy security). Thank you for your attention to this matter.

@AberdeenFC Mitov is absolutely brutal

12' Goal Kilmarnock, Lyons. 🔵 1-0 🔴

The greatest feat since Fergie retired? Dalot outlasting SEVEN managers… and counting.

@ee_sport Nope

🔴⚪️ EXCLUSIVE: Former Scottish manager of the year throws hat in ring for Aberdeen vacancy pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/footb…

@AberdeenFC We’re at the ‘throw the players under the bus’ phase

Jimmy Thelin spoke to RedTV after our game with Falkirk.

@AberdeenFC Jimmy Out

Full-time.

@unitedupdates Out

Are you Ruben Amorim OUT or IN?

@AberdeenFC Jimmy out

Defeat in the capital.

@geemangeegee @RidgeandFrost @EdConwaySky No new licences and a tax burden that no other industry has to carry are political decisions that make it less profitable. While energy security and supply are part of the picture as is employment and tax take, both of which are being impacted by policy

@Dazpaul4 @RidgeandFrost @EdConwaySky By 2030, the UK is projected to import significantly more oil than it produces. It will be reliant on imports for 80% of its oil & gas demand by 2030 & that’s a current rates of consumption. It’s not a political decision, it’s a oil producer’s decision,has to be profitable🤷‍♂️

The US ambassador to the UK has said Britain should carry out "more drilling and more production" in the North Sea. Economics and data editor @EdConwaySky dives into the statistics behind the UK's energy costs. trib.al/kdXA2Dr 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602

@geemangeegee @RidgeandFrost @EdConwaySky You’ve contradicted yourself twice. Reserves wont run out by 2030. You said only geologically challenging reserve remain then that remaining reserve aren’t currently economic, which is a political decision. Also need to consider

@Dazpaul4 @RidgeandFrost @EdConwaySky No it’s not, 180 of the 280 active fields expected to cease production by 2030 any other reserves aren’t really financially viable right now, but any new viable fields will only take it to 2050 at the most. Drilling more will dramatically reduce that🤷‍♂️

@geemangeegee @RidgeandFrost @EdConwaySky This is wholly inaccurate

@RidgeandFrost @EdConwaySky North Sea basin is classed as a"mature basin"with only geologically challenging reserves remaining, at current pace reserves will run out by about 2030,upping production will bring that date closer & the UK will then be more reliant on global imports,making energy more expensive!

@AberdeenFC First job. Sack Jimmy

We are delighted to announce Lutz Pfannenstiel as our new Sporting Director. Everyone at Aberdeen FC looks forward to welcoming Lutz to the North-east when he officially starts with the Dons next month. // bit.ly/47Jei0Y