The Scottish Green Party has been accused of calling for the “demise” of the North Sea oil and gas industry.
Joint leader Patrick Harvie orchestrated a debate at Holyrood yesterday urging the Scottish Government to transfer support from the offshore industry to the renewable energy sector.
He argued the emphasis on fossil fuels was unsustainable, was damaging the environment and that people could find better employment elsewhere.
His arguments drew scorn from other parties in the chamber, with Orkney MSP Liam McArthur describing the motion as “unambiguous in calling for the sector’s demise”.
But Mr Harvie, a list MSP for Glasgow, insisted the party did not treat job losses “trivially” and that his policies would actually boost employment through work such as decommissioning.
He said: “We are setting out the case that the changes (a shift from oil and gas to renewables) are not only desirable and inevitable but already upon us.
“Those countries that deny that reality will fail to realise the positive opportunities that that change brings about.
“Already, there are those bidding for oil and gas decommissioning jobs in Scotland, and they are up against competition from other countries.
“If we allow others to develop the global reputation and the skill set to undertake that decommissioning work, we will be left behind in the race to build that alternative industry.
“Scotland has been here before. Let us not go there again. Let us not see an economic, industrial change coming down the line and fail to be ready to adapt to it, leaving communities stranded as a result.”
Mr McArthur branded the Green Party’s motion “unfortunate” – but also criticised the Scottish Government for refusing to hold a debate of its own on the crisis.
He said: “It is unfortunate that the first debate on oil and gas in almost a year is based on a premise that is unambiguous in calling for the sector’s demise.
“Those working in the sector across Scotland, those who may have recently lost their jobs and indeed the wider public, who realise the continued importance of oil and gas production to our economy, will form their own views on the Green Party’s motion.
“Yet, they will also rightly ask why it is that the Scottish Government appears to have been so reluctant for so long to debate the issues facing the sector.
“One statement last September is scant reflection either of the sector’s importance or the scale of the challenges it faces.
“When the oil price first started plummeting, it was striking how long it took the newly-installed first minister (Nicola Sturgeon) to visit Aberdeen to meet with industry representatives.
“This reticence did not go unnoticed.”
Scottish Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon pointed out that someone working in the offshore industry would earn an average of £64,000 a year – compared with just £25,000 on a windfarm.
North-east Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald added: “We cannot discuss the oil jobs crisis or a transition to a low-carbon economy as if they were abstract issues.
“This is about working people who have lost their jobs, communities that are under pressure and businesses that are facing closure.
“The oil jobs crisis is a reality right now for thousands of people throughout Scotland.”
Mr Harvie’s motion was rejected by other MSPs.
Recommended for you
