SCRAPPING the windfall tax and standing up for oil and gas giants who enjoyed hundreds of billions in profits over recent years, while millions were plunged into fuel poverty, will be the Tory priority, Kemi Badenoch said today.

Despite the industry’s records since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, with £6 billion of that cash being invested in the North Sea in 2024 and a further £5bn predicted this year, the Tory leader has used her first address as Tory leader to the party's Scottish conference to accuse the Westminster government of “killing” the sector.

She said: “Labour must remove the energy profits levy. Labour must speed up the process of replacing it with a system that rewards success and incentivises investment.

“Because we shouldn’t have this energy profits levy at all.”

Branding her comments “out of touch,” however, End Fuel Poverty Coalition’s Simon Francis said: “Even with the windfall tax in place, the energy industry made over £115bn in profits in 2024 alone.

“Meanwhile, average household energy bills remain hundreds and hundreds of pounds higher than they were before the energy crisis started.

“Maintaining a profits levy could help fund home upgrades and a social tariff which would bring down energy bills for the most vulnerable.”

SNP MSP Kevin Stewart argued the policy showed the Tories “lurching further to the right as they haemorrhage votes to Nigel Farage."

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “Caving in to lobbying from the oil and gas giants is no surprise from the Tories, but it's a dead end policy both for climate and for jobs. 

“Both Scottish and UK governments must commit to a renewable future, and one where the energy industry serves public interest not private profit.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie meanwhile argued both past Tory and present SNP governments had “let energy workers down by failing to plan for the future.”

She added: “The Tories are on the side of oil and gas giants rather than working Scots, but Scottish Labour will work with the UK government and use devolved powers to deliver a just transition for the industry.

“With Kemi Badenoch desperately attempting to rally the few remaining Scottish Tories, it seems like it won’t be long until they can fit all of their MSPs in a single taxi.”