Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been accused of "economic illiteracy on steroids" by blocking £17.5billion of investment in the North Sea after shelving plans to end the Energy Profits Levy. Industry leaders had met with Reeves last month after identifying North Sea projects to deliver more than a billion barrels of oil and gas by the end of the decade. But Times sources in the energy industry have branded the delaying of the switch from the EPL to OGPM as "economic illiteracy on steroids”. A source told The Times: “Oil and gas companies have had their North Sea profits all but wiped out by a punitive energy profits levy that has made the UK virtually uninvestable. “It would be economic illiteracy on steroids if the government were to choose not to seize a £17billion investment opportunity by 2030, which is predicated on an early move from EPL to OGPM.

Source: The Times April 08, 2026 07:39 UTC