Gordon Brown is calling for the creation of a North Sea reserve fund to help the oil industry in one of his final speeches before stepping down as a politician.
The former prime minister believes the fund would help maintain and upgrade infrastructure and could help finance fields so they remain open.
The Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP is stepping down from Westminster at May’s election.
SNP deputy leader and Treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie said Mr Brown is “responsible for undermining investment” in the North Sea during his time as Chancellor and called on him to back the Scottish Government’s action plan for the industry.
Speaking before he will give the inaugural John Wheatley lecture for Parkhead Housing Association in Glasgow tonight, Mr Brown said: “For 30 years oil has averaged around 17% of the Scottish economy. But our best estimate is that production will fall from a peak of 4.3 million barrels per day in 1999 to 1.3 million barrels per day in 2018.
“The tax regime has always been controversial. I know this as a former chancellor and tax reductions are now necessary in the Budget. But a tax reduction for a loss-making operation is little help in the short term.”
Mr Brown called for the creation of a ‘North Sea reserve’ which would “maintain and upgrade essential infrastructure and to provide last-resort debt finance for companies who want to keep fields open”.
Mr Hosie said: “As a chancellor who treated Scotland’s oil as a cash cow, imposed the supplementary tax on the North Sea industry in the first place, then doubled it and left office having failed to set up an oil fund to deliver any long-term benefit from our own natural resources Gordon Brown is responsible for undermining investment in this vital industry.
“The Scottish Government has already published a comprehensive action plan to help the North Sea industry and protect tens of thousands of jobs, and it would be good if Mr Brown could help make up for the damage he did when in office by backing it.”