It has not felt like the most uplifting of weeks on the business and economic front.

This is no great surprise, given the miserable UK economic backdrop.

Scottish Government spending cuts have figured prominently in the headlines, of course.

And we must remember these are being made against a UK backdrop in which Labour is sticking with the fiscal constraints of the failed Conservatives.

This is not an environment which gives you confidence that better economic times are around the corner.

It remains impossible to see in Labour’s policymaking something that will boost UK growth meaningfully.

In such a situation, the last thing you would want to do, surely, is risk damaging or losing what you have.

In this vein, North Sea player NEO Energy’s frank words last week about Labour Government moves in relation to tax and environmental considerations affecting the UK Continental Shelf were worrying. And EnQuest, another North Sea player, warned of “irreversible damage” from the current tax regime.

The North Sea oil and gas sector is a crucial source of employment for Scotland, and an important driver of economic activity.

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What is more, the North Sea’s vibrancy has over the years and decades enabled the creation of truly international oil services businesses.

The innovation shown has been most encouraging.

All of this makes Labour’s noises on the North Sea all the more concerning.

Of course, the new Government must make decisions on appropriate tax levels and environmental assessments are obviously important.

However, its tone towards the sector has seemed unduly hostile, and its pledge to end new North Sea exploration licences has looked naïve, given recent years have shown up the UK’s woeful lack of energy security and the huge economic importance of the North Sea.

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Then there is the fact the energy transition is just that: a transition. That is, it is something that happens over a protracted period. And, over this period, it would obviously be foolish to kill off the goose that is laying the golden eggs, in terms of providing tax revenues and employment and playing such an important role in economic growth.

NEO, which is 100%-owned by Norwegian private equity player HitecVision, highlighted major decisions taken by the UK Government on environmental guidance for oil and gas companies, and to increase the so-called windfall tax on North Sea profits.

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NEO Energy, which owns 50% of the Buchan Horst development and is the operator on this project, said last Monday: “In recent weeks, the Government has announced a number of measures which have materially increased the level of uncertainty in relation to the UK’s oil and gas sector and investment decisions in this context are extremely challenging.

“In relation to the Buchan Horst project, NEO Energy awaits clarity regarding the UK regulatory and fiscal framework so that the full impact can be assessed. This will inevitably delay first oil timing in relation to the project which was previously forecast to be late 2027.”

NEO Energy noted the “Government intends to increase the energy profits levy (EPL) to 38%, thereby increasing the marginal tax rate to 78%, to extend the EPL sunset date to 31 March 2030, [and] to remove investment allowances”.

EnQuest chief executive Amjad Bseisu said on Thursday: “We are disappointed with the ongoing application of the energy profits levy despite operating in an environment where no windfall conditions exist. The current fiscal regime is causing irreversible damage to an indigenous and strategically important UK industry.

“The UK energy industry needs a progressive tax regime that recognises the maturity of the North Sea and re-establishes the UK as a globally competitive investment basin.”

My column on Wednesday declared that, while “in terms of lobbying power, the oil and gas sector and many of the big companies within it are perfectly capable of looking after themselves”, the Labour Government “would be wise to tread a little more carefully”.

It likened Labour’s behaviour on the North Sea front to a “bull in a china shop”, while observing that “to say that the new…Government has been pussyfooting about in lamentable ways in [other] key areas would be quite the understatement”.

One key area in which Labour has seemed scared of its own shadow has been Brexit, refusing to do anything significant to mitigate the huge damage.

For Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, this represents a dramatic U-turn from his 2019 position of arguing against Brexit.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, it seems his overtures to the EU on making life easier for UK touring musicians have not been music to the ears of our European neighbours.

As observed in my column in The Herald on Friday: “UK touring musicians should not hold their breath for any kind of easing of the nightmare bureaucracy that Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit brought them, given the signals reportedly coming out of Brussels.

“This is a pity – they have obviously been entirely innocent bystanders in the UK’s great Brexit farce. However, it is sadly not surprising.”

Sir Keir, who seemingly has a keen eye on those “red-wall” voters who swept Mr Johnson to victory in December 2019, is going to have to offer more than warm words to the EU if he is serious about a meaningful change to the current dismal post-Brexit situation.

There remains no sign that he is going to do so. Against a grim economic backdrop, and with Labour having boxed itself in by adopting the Tories’ fiscal rules, this is a miserable state of affairs.