using your logic the north sea oil industry will shut up shop.

And that’s exactly what should happen over the long term. Like I said, if catastrophic climate change is to be prevented, oil, coal and gas needs to be left in the ground. Saying we can’t afford it is false economy as it’ll cost far more in future to deal with the consequences. I realise this isn’t something the UK can do unilaterally but at some point the tide has to turn. I don’t really see what the alternative is. The oil companies are not going to do if voluntarily.

profit taking and high wages all round, then asking for help when the rain comes. Grrrr.

Do you actually have any idea what level of profits oil companies have? In fact it’s lower than other industries. The money needed for a hydrocarbon project is enormous, and the risks huge.

Ah yes , but your country needs the tax revenue as much as the energy.

The revenue stream is reversed on renewables 😉

So an oil company exec and an amazon/google/apple/Starbucks exec walk into the stw bar. Who gets lynched first?

Tax is about the revenue you can collect.

The revenue stream is reversed on renewables

renewables is a developing industry, there are only a few offshore wind farms built so far and minimal existing commercially viable wet renewables, government investment in eg nuclear development was crazy high, in fact we are still paying for it today, and was also very high when oil extraction was being developed.

fossil fuel subsidies are much higher than renewable subsidies, in fact we subsidise production of oil all over the world, not just in the UK.

people get so blinkered by oil! I think it’s the effect of money on people 😉

By subsidise all over the world do you mean the export finance guarantee scheme ? Or are we giving money away to countries unreported ?

Also

“Those included tax breaks for North Sea exploration worth £528 million to Total (HQ France), £256 million to Statoil (Norway), £144 million to Centrica (UK) and £45 million to Chevron (USA) between 2009 and 2014.”

You mean subsidise via tax breaks for exploration write off ? Ie encouraging investment in the sector instead of letting it die on its knees like the uk industry of yore, bit like tax breaks for buy to let land lords getting to write off expenses….oh i forgot the moral high ground on here forbids buy to let as well…..

As for your little dig. Yes i work in oil, how ever i dont work in the north sea/uk sector so crack on, my head office might move but i go to work on a jet liner so itll make little difference.

What about the tax breaks for people on high incomes who pretend they ride to work, how come richer people get more out of that scheme?

Because they pay more tax?
So the tax relief is subsequently more then someone paying standard rate.

Or am I being naive?

What about the tax breaks for people on high incomes who pretend they ride to work, how come richer people get more out of that scheme?

Probably because it would cost more to police properly (ie prove you cycled to work) than to just let them have a tax free bike. Personally it’s just a tiny tax break it’s in the noise…..

Personally it’s just a tiny tax break it’s in the noise…..

In the context it’s a subsidy if you want to claim dropping tax rates to oil companies is a subsidy.

They also dropped the duty on Scotch. Subsidy for drinkers I suppose?