Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey has called on both Edinburgh and London’s governments to take more action to safeguard the oil industry in the UK.
Speaking at the launch of his Unite reelection campaign in Glasgow, McCluskey stated his opinion that the North Sea oil industry, which is an important area for oil giants including Royal Dutch Shell and therefore the manufacture of products like Shell Tellus S2 M 46, should be afforded the same level of help as that given to the banking industry when the global financial crisis took hold.
The Scottish government was in agreement with the Unite boss, stating that action must be taken on gas and oil by Westminster, which they say controls the industry.
McCluskey, who is being challenged for his post as the head of Unite by rivals Gerald Coyne and Ian Allinson, told the BBC in Scotland that more support was required for the oil industry.
He commented:
“Contrary to what people might say, there are billions and billions of tonnes of oil still in the North Sea. It is huge, huge asset and we’ve got to make certain that both the Scottish government and the Westminster government intervene, in the way that they did with the banks, to assist this vital sector.”
Meanwhile, a UK government spokesperson for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy commented that gas and oil was still important to the UK’s energy mix, stating that the government has already provided a £2.3bn support package to the North Sea oil industry.
