Part of Scotland – in the House of Commons at on 25 February 2026.
Douglas Alexander
The Secretary of State for Scotland
I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman had a chance to listen to what was on the radio this morning about Bills and the progress being made. [Interruption.] Well, let us introduce some facts to the debate. This trend in the North sea did not emerge yesterday; it is a mature basin where there was a 75% reduction in production between 1999 and 2024. We have been a net importer since 2003, and we lost more than 70,000 jobs from the basin in the last 10 years of the Conservatives being in power.
A proposal for new legislation that is debated by Parliament.
The Conservatives are a centre-right political party in the UK, founded in the 1830s. They are also known as the Tory party.
With a lower-case ‘c’, ‘conservative’ is an adjective which implies a dislike of change, and a preference for traditional values.