Graham Wilson

1,000 jobs are lost in our North Sea oil and gas sector every month, as a direct result of Labour's ban on new drilling licences. It's an act of national self-harm that will harm Aberdeen’s and Britain's economic future. @RussellFindlay1 and I agree - this cannot go on.

BREAKING: UK waives some Russian oil sanctions, allowing imports of diesel and jet fuel processed in third countries from Russian crude (most likely supply chain: imports of Indian refined products produced by processing Russian crude). gov.uk/government/pub…

Britain cannot afford more Labour chaos. My words in today’s @DailyMailUK 👇🏻 Our government bonds have traditionally been regarded as one of the safest investments in the world. Pension funds rely on them. Retirees depend on them. It’s a relationship built on trust. Under Labour, that trust is being eroded. Britain’s borrowing costs are climbing sharply once again, and the consequences are being felt far beyond Downing Street. Rising gilt yields affect government finances, mortgages, and crucially the pensions and savings of millions of ordinary people. Markets are increasingly nervous about the direction of this Labour Government. Investors can see a Prime Minister weakened by internal divisions, constantly pulled to the left by his own backbenchers, while speculation grows about who might replace him - and whether they would borrow and spend even more. That uncertainty comes at a price. The UK is increasingly becoming an outlier internationally. While global events clearly influence markets, Britain’s borrowing costs have risen further and faster than any comparable country. Investors are demanding a higher premium to lend to this Government. Rachel Reeves promised stability. Instead, Britain now faces borrowing forecasts that are more than a quarter of a trillion pounds higher across this Parliament than the plans Labour inherited. The Chancellor loosened her own fiscal rules to allow yet more borrowing - maxing out the nation’s credit card at precisely the wrong time. She also pushed up the cost of living through her tax rises on businesses, which left us with the highest inflation in the G7 last year, meaning interest rates have stayed higher for longer and with knock-on impacts on government borrowing costs. When the Iran War began, markets could see the UK was in a weak position to deal with the consequences. Rachel Reeves likes to blame the war for what is happening in the bond market, but our borrowing costs have risen around twice as much as our peers. Her poor choices left us in no state to withstand a fresh crisis. Now, on top of all that, the uncertainty around the Labour leadership is layering on even more pressure. Last week every new rumour or resignation was reflected in a steep jump in gilt yields. And ordinary savers are paying the price. As people approach retirement, many pension funds move their pension investments into lower risk assets like government bonds. When investors start to shun our gilts, their value plummets. That can leave savers worse off, with many of the worst hit being those just approaching the point when they will need their pension. Meanwhile, taxpayers face an enormous and growing debt interest bill. Britain is already spending well over £100 billion a year servicing debt - almost double what we spend on defence. That is money that cannot go to schools, hospitals, policing or tax cuts. Britain simply cannot afford more Labour chaos. Stability matters. Credibility matters. And once markets lose confidence, taxpayers and ordinary savers are the ones who suffer most. @Conservatives