Scotland can lead the world in delivering a clean energy future for our country, creating thousands of good jobs, cutting energy bills, and making us energy secure.
The number one priority of Labour’s energy policy is to ensure that Scotland and the rest of the UK can seize this industrial opportunity, and in doing so become the clean energy capital of Europe.
That is why Labour will enter the next election with a manifesto for the most ambitious investment in homegrown energy in Scottish history, supporting up to 50,000 new good clean energy jobs in the coming decades.
Immense pride in North Sea workers
© Supplied by PAIt starts with a fair and balanced transition in North Sea oil and gas which, under our proposals, will play an essential role in Scotland’s energy system for decades to come.
As Keir Starmer rightly said last weekend, Labour shares all of Scotland’s immense pride in the role North Sea workers have played in building Scotland’s energy heritage, and our determination that they are the people who will build our clean energy future.
The vast skills and expertise of sector will be key to delivering this transition to clean energy.
Our plan is to keep existing oil and gas fields for their lifespan whilst also not granting licences to explore new fields.
But the truth of the energy transition is that whatever approach is taken, as the North Sea basin continues to mature, the energy sector in the north-east of Scotland will be defined by whether we secure the next generation of jobs from carbon capture to hydrogen to offshore wind, including through the deployment of our existing oil and gas infrastructure.
© Andrew Milligan/PA WireThe investment in the future we need has simply not happened under the watch of the Tory government in Westminster and the SNP government in Holyrood who are leaving a trail of broken promises of new jobs.
Without things changing dramatically, we will miss the chance we must take to preserve and enhance the livelihoods of our communities. That is the true betrayal of oil and gas workers and their families.
That is why a Labour government will set up Great British Energy, a publicly owned energy company headquartered in Scotland.
‘SNP failed to deliver’
The SNP promised to establish a publicly-owned clean power company in 2017, but have failed to deliver.
Great British Energy – capitalised with £8.3 billion in the next Parliament, will partner with businesses to invest in clean energy technologies.
Alongside this, our British Jobs Bonus will offer up to £1.5 billion of investment incentives if companies choose to build jobs and supply chains in this country.
© Supplied by -We will end the absurdity that under the SNP and Conservatives, Scottish workers lose out on the good fabrication, welding, and manufacturing jobs.
Paired with the most significant upgrade of Scotland’s port infrastructure in generations, our plans will deliver an energy transition with more not fewer skilled, well paid jobs with trade unions at the heart of planning for Scotland’s energy future.
‘Crying out for change’
This represents the greatest chance in decades to invest in the future of our communities. But as well as being willing to borrow to invest within clear fiscal rules, we believe it is right to tax the windfall profits of oil and gas companies to help fund this massive investment in Scotland’s future.
There will be those who say we can have all these investments without a fair windfall tax, but they are the same people who have promised to deliver and failed to do so.
Of course, dialogue with oil and gas workers and businesses matters, which is why Keir Starmer, Anas Sarwar and I visited Aberdeen last November and we will continue to engage. In response to the sector’s concerns, for example, Rachel Reeves has made clear that North Sea operators should only pay windfall rates of tax while prices are historically high.
Our country is crying out for change and Labour will deliver it. We will work in partnership energy companies and workers to deliver the change our country needs for the benefit of all.
We are determined to ensure lower energy bills, good, skilled jobs, energy security and a fair and just transition for all who have invested so much in our energy industries.
Ed Miliband MP is Shadow Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary in the Labour party.
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