North Sea tax receipts have plunged to their lowest level on record, new figures show.

Oil and gas production generated -£24m in 2015/16, compared to £2.1bn the year before.

It is the first time the North Sea tax receipts have gone into the red since records began in 1968.

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs said the low price of oil combined with the cost of decommissioning ageing North Sea assets and high levels of investment are responsible.

It reported: "Low oil prices in 2015/16 combined with continuing high levels of investment and increasing amounts of decommissioning expenditure have resulted in government revenues declining to -£24m, their lowest levels since records began.

"Significant investment in both existing developments as well as new projects, a decline in the volumes of oil and gas produced combined with a halving in the oil price between 2011/12 and 2015/16 has resulted in government revenues decreasing to their historical low."

The Treasury received £538m in corporation tax from production, including £259m in ring-fenced corporation tax and £279m from the supplementary charge which was halved by the Chancellor in March and backdated to January 1.

But it was not enough to compensate for the £562m loss it incurred in petroleum revenue tax, leaving a negative balance of £24m.

Secretary of state for Scotland David Mundell called the figures "particularly concerning".

He said: "The UK Government is doing everything it can to support the North Sea industry to become innovative and competitive on a global scale. No other government has supported their industry so extensively

"It is because of the broad shoulders of the wider UK economy that we are able to provide this support to our oil and gas industry, and to the thousands of workers and families it supports, at this very difficult time."