As Labour’s candidate for Aberdeen South in the forthcoming general election, I have read The Press and Journal’s headlines over the last few days with interest, alongside the hysterical comments from Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce.
I want to put the record straight by saying energy companies and those employed in the energy sector have nothing to fear from an incoming Labour government.
Aberdeen has suffered over the years with a boom and bust economy. What the energy sector asked Labour to do is work with them on the long-term, not the short-term, to bring about transition.
Labour, if given the opportunity, will make Britain a clean-energy superpower. Labour is serious about a proper transition for the North Sea, and jobs will increase, not decrease.
Aberdeen is the energy capital of Europe, and that will not change under Labour. The party’s plans will enhance the city’s reputation, because doing nothing means things stay the same. I am confident that everybody in the energy sector wants to see Labour commit to delivering clean energy by 2030.
My party will bring forward a publicly-owned energy company that will create jobs. It will invest in clean power roles. It will incentivise to strengthen supply chains in Aberdeen and the north-east, so that jobs are kept here in Aberdeen instead of being offshored. It will reform the National Grid to accelerate energy projects, and it will support decarbonisation.
No government would allow 100,000 job losses
In case anyone within the energy sector has not noticed, we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, and hardworking families right across Aberdeen and the north-east are struggling to pay their bills while the energy sector profits from the war in Ukraine.
Household bills have shot up through financial incompetence by both SNP and Tory governments. On Thursday, we learned that the UK is back in recession.
This hysteria about 100,000 job losses is simply not credible, and discredits the Chamber of Commerce’s position. The suggestion is fantasy, as no government – Labour or Tory – would allow such a large number of jobs to go; not now, not ever.
Labour’s slogan is “it’s time for real change”. I say to the energy sector: work with Labour to make that change happen, and to ensure Aberdeen becomes a clean-energy superpower by 2030.
To do nothing and support the status quo will do more untold damage to the energy sector, hasten its demise and ignore climate change.
M Tauqeer Malik is a councillor for Lower Deeside, and Scottish Labour’s general election candidate for Aberdeen South
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