Treasury pledges low-carbon investment relief to appease oil and gas industry

Minister James Murray says decision aimed at protecting jobs and investment after concerns raised by industry

The Treasury has sought to defuse a bitter row with the North Sea oil and gas industry by promising to keep investment reliefs on low-carbon projects, aiming to protect jobs and soften the expansion of the energy windfall tax.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said last month that she would expand the levy on energy industry profits as part of her plan to plug a 22bn hole" in the public finances that Labour said had been left by the previous Conservative government.