NORTH SEA TAX TAKE

Early day motion 780, tabled 12 February 1998 by Frank Cook (Labour). Signed by 29 members.

That this House acknowledges the crucial importance to the UK economy of the offshore oil industry in that it provides direct employment for 30,000 and engages 300,000 indirectly in the United Kingdom, adds ú16 billion per annum to the national economy, pays ú3.5 billion per annum to the Exchequer, supports over 5,000 firms across the country providing more than 20 per cent of total current UK industrial investment, promotes huge export potential in terms of equipment and technology for applications in developing oil fields around the globe and is able to continue attracting the levels of investment necessary to maintain this momentum, despite relatively high operational costs and diminishing production fields, by virtue of the stable tax regime applied by Her Majesty's Government; and therefore urges the Treasury team to take all these factors into full account before they finalise their current review of the North Sea fiscal regime.

Signatures by party: Conservative 14, Labour 10, Liberal Democrat 2, Scottish National Party 2, UUP 1.