Thousands of jobs are at risk in Scotland’s oil and gas industry if the SNP wins a crunch by-election, Kemi Badenoch has claimed.

The Conservative leader highlighted the threat to the North Sea industry unless her party wins the Aberdeen South by-election.

She insisted a Tory victory would send a clear message to the Labour government to lift its ban on new drilling licences.

And she contrasted the focus on the Makerfield by-election – where Labour’s Andy Burnham is seeking to be elected as an MP and could then launch a leadership challenge - saying that vote is about ‘one man’s job’ whereas the Aberdeen South vote is about thousands of jobs.

She also claimed that many voters in the North East who backed Reform UK in last month’s Holyrood elections are expressing ‘regrets’ about letting in the SNP and urged them not to do so again.

In an interview with the Mail, Mrs Badenoch also condemned John Swinney and three of his ministers for travelling to the United States for the World Cup and branded his public holiday to celebrate Scotland’s qualification as a ‘bribe’, saying he should be standing up for jobs in Aberdeen and across Scotland instead.

At a boisterous Aberdeen South rally event at Cove Rangers Football Club, Mrs Badenoch said: ‘The war on oil and gas must end. We need to get Britain drilling again.

‘We need to scrap the Energy Profits Levy – it was one of the first things which I did, changing our policy as soon as I became leader, to get rid of the energy profits levy. It is driving businesses out of Aberdeen, out of Scotland, out of the United Kingdom.’

She said voters can ‘send a message to Labour and the SNP’ about the need for North Sea drilling in the by-election tomorrow, and added: ‘Everyone is talking about the by-election in Makerfield but that is about one man’s job and one man’s ego.

‘But this by-election is about thousands of jobs.’

She said afterwards: ‘If the SNP win it’s basically goodbye to oil and gas, that’s what I’m most worried about.’

Speaking to the Mail, Mrs Badenoch raised concerns that the oil and gas industry could soon reach a tipping point and a point of no return.

She said: ‘We can see the impact now, it’s not even about the long-term. It’s the short term. The damage is happening now.

‘Every time I’m here I speak to businesses who say that their profits are falling, there is one business which has never made a loss before and says it has made a loss for the first time and may be out of business. That’s about 50 jobs that go with it.

‘Jobs are disappearing, the damage is happening now. Even if we are successful with this (by-election) we still have to do a lot to keep businesses here, to wait. This is sending a message – showing Labour that they need to change course.

‘Perhaps if there’s a new Prime Minister you might get a new Energy Secretary: this is how we send that message, this is what we need to do. Show the Government, show the SNP, that people want oil and gas to stay. If we don’t fix this then it is going to be even harder.’

Mrs Badenoch also claimed that people who voted Reform UK in last month’s Holyrood elections are now considering backing Tory candidate Douglas Lumsden in the by-election.

She said: ‘What we’ve been hearing on the doorstep is many people having regrets about letting the SNP in last time by voting Reform.

‘We are getting switchers, it is not in the bag but we can win as long as people remember that the only way to send a message to the SNP and to Labour is by voting Conservative.’

She criticised Reform’s performance at Holyrood since becoming the joint largest opposition party, saying they ‘are not in Holyrood to scrutinise, they are just there to play games’.

‘They spend most of their time talking about reserved matters rather than devolved matters, which shows they don’t even know what Holyrood is,’ said Mrs Badenoch.

‘It is helping the SNP because if you’re asking questions that have got nothing to do with what the SNP is doing at Holyrood you are letting the SNP off the hook. Reform let the SNP off the hook.

‘Reform standing helped the SNP, they were absolutely delighted, and what we have seen in this by-election is people who voted Reform last time saying they regret it because they let the SNP back in.’

Mrs Badenoch criticised Mr Swinney and his Sport Minister Maree Todd for attending the World Cup in the US in an official capacity, and also for allowing Economy Secretary Stephen Flynn and Community Care Minister Alison Thewliss time off parliamentary and ministerial duties to attend matches, saying they ‘could have watched it on TV and shown the people of Scotland what they are most interested in is fighting for them’.

She also branded Mr Swinney’s national holiday on Monday to celebrate Scotland’s first World Cup match as ‘a wheeze’, and said: ‘They are trying to bribe people with holidays that are paid for with their own money, what we are doing is fighting for those people’s jobs so they can actually make more money, have a better quality of life, have jobs – especially for the young people here in Aberdeen and in all of Scotland.’

Ahead of campaigning in Aberdeen South on Wednesday, Mr Swinney said: ‘The only way to end Westminster’s rip-off of our energy is to finally put Scotland’s energy into Scotland’s hands with a vote for the SNP and independence – that is what is on the ballot paper this Thursday.’