A Tory government would make North Sea oil and gas the “cornerstone” of the economy, Kemi Badenoch will pledge, as she hit out at Labour for treating the sector as a “relic of the past”.

The Conservative leader, who said she wants to see as much oil and gas extracted from the UK Continental Shelf as possible, will insist that it is only her party that is “backing Britain’s North Sea industry”.

With key figures from the oil and gas sector gathering at the Society of Petroleum Engineers Offshore Europe conference in Aberdeen , Ms Badenoch will use a speech there to say: “Under the Conservatives, British energy will power British prosperity.”

She will insist: “Labour sees the North Sea as a relic of the past; we see it as a cornerstone of Britain’s future.

“By restoring common

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