A TYNESIDE MP yesterday challenged David Cameron to curb taxes which she warned are threatening hundreds of local jobs.

North Tyneside MP Mary Glindon told Mr Cameron during Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons that tax rates on North Sea oil and gas were threatening 1,500 local jobs.

The developments come after the owner of a former Tyneside shipyard announced plans to invest £50m to transform part of the site into a facility to make wind turbine foundations – which could create hundreds of jobs.

OGN Group is already using part of Hadrian Yard in Wallsend to build an oil production platform for American firm Apache in a £150m deal and which has seen about 700 workers brought to the site.

Mrs Glindon said: “Can I ask the Prime Minister not to be complacent about North East jobs, but to incentivise offshore development and guarantee tax relief on platform decommissioning in the budget.”

And the Labour MP urged Mr Cameron to meet her and others to discuss the North East’s unemployment situation.

Mr Cameron said: “Let me just remind her though that the reason we put up the tax on [the] North Sea was actually to cut petrol duty for families up and down the country.”

The Prime Minister said: “We will make sure there is a good tax regime for the North Sea whether that is servicing jobs in England or indeed in Scotland.”

Mrs Glindon’s appeal to the Prime Minister comes after she discussed OGN’s plans and problems with bosses at its yard in her constituency.

Speaking later, she acknowledged support given by Energy Minister Charles Hendry that helped the company re-open an offshore fabrication yard and thanked Apache Energy for placing its business locally.

“But these new jobs are now under threat due to the higher taxes imposed on the oil industry by the Chancellor in his Budget last year. Companies like Apache are now paying 82% tax.”

An OGN Group spokesman said: “The Government must introduce a tax regime that reflects the mature basin which the North Sea is.

“This means helping oil companies with specific field allowances when the current tax regime prevents potential investments from being economically viable.

“Also the Government has been asked to confirm that the security for field decommissioning be calculated after tax.

“The churn on assets has virtually dried up over recent years, which means companies like our existing customer Apache are unable to buy existing fields and redevelop them as the pre-tax security is prohibitive in many cases.”