23 June 2026
Offshore oil platform, north Scotland. Still needed, as the voters of Aberdeen South say. Photo astudio/shutterstock.com.
The Aberdeen South by-election on 18 June resulted in a decisive defeat for the Scottish National Party. The future of the North Sea oil and gas industry was a decisive issue in the vote for a seat at Westminster.
The outcome is widely viewed as a result of anger against the net zero policies of both the SNP in Holyrood and the Labour government nationally.
Wake up call
The trade union Unite represents thousands of North Sea oil and gas workers, as well as many workers whose jobs depend on the industry. It flagged the Aberdeen South result as a huge wake up call on oil and gas policies.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham added this was “a direct result of failed Labour policies on oil and gas”. She pointed out that government energy policies are failing all over, not just the North Sea, and that Labour’s industrial vandalism has been laid bare for all to see.
“Labour’s industrial vandalism is laid bare.”
Graham said that unless the Labour government has a plan to back British industry, which it don’t seem to, then workers will continue to abandon it.
Social media campaigns by Unite’s Offshore Energy Branch and by Keep Grangemouth Working have raised the calls “Keep the North Sea Working” and “Defend Trade Union Jobs on the UK Continental Shelf”.
These workers say clearly, “Offshore energy workers are clear: stop promising a Just Transition tomorrow while our sector is in crisis today. We are a distinct, established industry, producing the oil and gas that the UK relies on now.”
Urgency
The urgency is obvious: key decisions are about to be taken on whether to proceed with the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields.
Rosebank, around 80 miles west of Shetland, is Britain’s largest untapped oil and gas field around 80 miles west of Shetland with up to 500 million barrels of oil. Jackdaw is one of the largest unexploited gas fields in the North Sea located 150 miles east of Aberdeen.
New approach
The campaigners point out, “A complex mix of fiscal and industrial policy at UK level, including the ban on new licences, are being cited as reasons for the North Sea jobs crisis. With no credible plan for jobs, it’s time to take a new approach that protects jobs, communities and our energy security.”
Even the Conservatives – who overturned a 3,000 vote majority of the SNP – could see the reasons for workers voting as they did. On a visit to Aberdeen, their leader Kemi Badenoch stated, “Yesterday, the people of Aberdeen sent a message on behalf of the whole country. They know it is common sense to use our own oil and gas rather than importing it from overseas.”