This has been illustrated by researchers like Greg Muttitt, who is a senior policy adviser at the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
"They're not helping to pay for our hospitals and schools, they're taking public money and handing it to their executives and shareholders. A Treasury spokesperson told Sky News:"We're leading the world in building back better and greener from the pandemic. "Over the lifetime of the North Sea, we have been a major, net contributor to the tax revenues generated by the basin and the recent refunds simply represent a repayment of some prior paid taxes as some of our older fields enter the decommissioning phase of their life."