00:00Good morning, everybody. It's good to be here in Aberdeen. And congratulations on beating
00:06Celtic last week, no doubt. It's been a week of some celebration, clearly some Aberdeen
00:11supporters in the audience. We're very pleased today to be joined by several prominent businessmen
00:17and businesswomen who are very, very thoughtful and very, very worried about the future of
00:23the oil and gas industry, and indeed, all the related businesses and industries that
00:27go around that, and perhaps what might happen to the future of Aberdeen and the surrounding
00:33area itself. Reform has made remarkable strides in Scotland over the course of the last year.
00:40We managed to field candidates for every seat in the general election, but to be honest,
00:44it was pretty much a paper exercise. Since then, we've managed to build branches. We've
00:49been contesting by-elections every Thursday for councils wherever they come up. We've
00:55had a steadily rising score. We, if you believe the polls over the weekend, are beginning to
01:01eclipse Labour to be the second most popular party in Scottish politics. And of course,
01:08we have the Hamilton by-election taking place this Thursday. But the purpose of this visit,
01:15and I guess it was really the news that Harbour Energy were laying off yet more people, the
01:20fact that this industry is in serious decline, and that, to a large extent, it is wholly unnecessary.
01:28These are decisions that we have taken here in our own country. The tax rate, the super tax
01:36of 75 percent that was imposed by the Conservatives in the last time, in the last period of their
01:4214 years of government, was a disaster for the industry. Labour have only added to that by putting
01:48it up to 78 percent and stopping the application of new licenses. Yes, the oil price is low at this
01:57moment in time, but after 20 years as a commodity trader, these things do move in cycles. 2025
02:05will be a year of record consumption of fossil fuels. We can con ourselves as much as we like.
02:15There will be more coal burnt this year than has ever been burnt in the history of mankind. And the
02:20same applies to the use of gas and oil. Even the most ardent proponent of net zero has to accept the
02:27world will still be using oil and gas up until 2050 and beyond. And yet we've decided to
02:34sacrifice this industry as a consensus around net zero has emerged. Of course, I say net zero.
02:42It isn't really net zero. All we're doing is exporting carbon dioxide production. And into the bargain,
02:49we are seeing Scotland and many parts of England and Wales literally de-industrialising before our very
02:56eyes. Yes, there are arguments around new industries, but for every job created in a new industry,
03:01many more have been lost in conventional industries. We now have the most expensive energy prices,
03:08commercial energy prices in the world, and the whole thing is complete and utter madness. Richard Tice and
03:15I have been standing up and fighting and speaking on these issues for many, many years. It's also worth
03:22adding shortly after the Prime Minister's so-called EU reset that if we look across the other side of the
03:29North Sea to Norway, not only do we see a country that has championed its oil and gas industry,
03:36a country that sells an awful lot of gas to us, a country that also has a 200-mile exclusive economic
03:48zone for fisheries, a 200-mile EEZ. Just imagine what anything like that would do for all these towns and
03:57cities on the east coast of Scotland. So whichever way we look, we're getting things wrong. They must be
04:04laughing themselves silly in Norway that now, actually, we have to import a significant amount
04:08of our electricity from them as well. It is almost – the madness of this is almost completely and utterly
04:14beyond belief. One of the reasons that we've been doing well in Scotland is we've been attracting some
04:21very, very good, fresh talent. There have been several Conservative councillors that have come to us and
04:27there will be a Labour councillor coming to us this afternoon when we get to Hamilton. But Duncan Massey
04:34has been not just a city councillor here in Aberdeen over the course of the last few years, but somebody
04:40who has spent 20 years working in the oil and gas industry. And it's my happy duty to welcome Duncan as a
04:50reform councillor here in the city of Aberdeen today. Duncan.
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