Scotland will power Britain’s clean energy future, Keir Starmer pledges, as he announces more detail of Labour’s £2.5bn British Jobs Bonus, part of Labour’s mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower, cutting energy bills and making the UK energy secure.
On a visit to Aberdeen to meet with industry and workers, the Labour leader set out how Labour will drive investment and jobs into historic energy communities across Scotland and the UK, to secure the next generation of high-quality jobs and ensure Scotland is the heart of a clean energy future.
During the visit Labour confirmed that key North Sea industries will be eligible for the British Jobs Bonus, with estimates that the initiative could create 29,000 UK jobs by 2050. Labour’s mission to make the Uk a clean energy superpower will support up to 50,000 jobs in Scotland by 2030.
Labour has already announced that GB Energy, a new publicly-owned company to invest in clean homegrown power and make Britain energy secure, will be headquartered in Scotland.
In last week’s King’s Speech, the Conservatives brought forward legislation for the sector, which industry confirmed was unnecessary and which the Energy Secretary subsequently acknowledged will not cut energy bills for British families. In his response the Labour leader called out this ‘messing around’ as a symptom of a government ‘not even pretending to govern anymore’, and seeing the challenges the country faces as something to be exploited, not solved.
In a tumultuous week in Westminster which has seen the Tories’ flagship policy confirmed illegal against a backdrop of bitter internal fighting, in contrast, Keir Starmer is focusing on delivering jobs and lower bills for British working people. Speaking with energy industry leaders in Aberdeen, he will present his Party’s plans for clean energy as the only credible, pragmatic plans to take the industry forward.
Criticising the ‘abject failure’ of a Conservative Government which has backtracked on net-zero – jeopardising British jobs and undermining UK energy security whilst admitting they will do nothing to cut energy bills – Starmer will meet with workers, unions, investors, business representatives, regulators and sector leaders to set out Labour’s plans to ‘harness Britain’s clean energy future’.
Alongside Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, the Labour leader will add detail to his Party’s landmark British Jobs Bonus, which will crowd in tens of billions of pounds in investment from the private sector by rewarding clean energy developers who invest in good jobs and supply chains in industrial heartlands and energy communities.
Labour confirms today that the bonus will apply to hydrogen, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), and floating offshore wind (FLOW) – three of the core technologies for a jobs-rich transition in the North Sea. The bonuses will come from a £2.5bn fund of catalytic public investment, to crowd in additional billions of private sector investment, to help create thousands of jobs for Scotland’s energy communities.
Speaking ahead of the visit, Keir Starmer MP, Leader of the Labour Party, said:
“The road to making Britain a clean energy superpower, slashing energy bills and creating tens of thousands of quality jobs runs through Scotland and the North Sea.
“This Conservative Party has zero ambition, zero plan and zero concern for the millions of British families suffering sky-high energy bills as a result of the government’s abject failure.
“Every day that they play political games, causing uncertainty and investment risk for the sector, they are costing jobs and hitting people’s pockets. My Labour government will rise above short termist gimmicks, put the country before our party, and deliver the long-term future of our energy industry.
“From establishing GB Energy, our publicly owned energy company headquartered in Scotland, to delivering the most significant investment in Scotland’s ports since privatisation, and securing the future of technologies like CCS, hydrogen, and offshore wind, with Labour, Scotland and the North Sea will power Britain’s clean energy future.
“Only Labour can deliver lower bills, good jobs, and energy security for our country.”
How Labour’s British Jobs Bonus will create jobs and boost investment into Scottish and UK energy heartlands, by staff reporter
