Calls for clarity over what kind of company GB Energy will be if Labour wins the next general election emerged at a hustings event in Aberdeen where the oil and gas industry was a major topic of debate.
Questions were raised over whether or not Labour’s proposed energy company would produce energy or invest in energy production – or both – at the event hosted by the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC) and Robert Gordon University (RGU).
However, it also emerged that if a Scottish Government plan to set up a retail energy company had gone ahead it would likely have been “blown up” by energy price rises in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
Energy policy centre stage
SNP candidate Stephen Flynn, who is looking to retain his seat in Aberdeen South, said Labour’s decision to scrap its pledge to invest £28billion per year to develop net zero capacity would have “huge” impact on the region and its ambitions to be a “net zero” capital.
© DC Thomson“That £28bn is no longer on the table and the impact of that is huge, particularly for Aberdeen,” he said.
“Because we know that oil and gas is not going to last forever. But we know that we can have a just, sustainable transition that builds and creates jobs for the future. We only do that though investment.”
Labour’s Lynn Thomson, an Aberdeen city councillor and trade unionist who is fighting for the seat in Aberdeen North, said the party’s proposed GB Energy would help unlock private investment particularly in energy, infrastructure including connections to the UK grid.
She said it would be both an investment vehicle and would generate energy but that its activity would “evolve as time passes”.
© DC ThomsonFlynn pressed her on where the company would be located. “Where should it be headquartered? If there are going to be a ton of civil service jobs put behind this hopefully it is going to be in Aberdeen, because why wouldn’t it be in Aberdeen given the expertise we have here.”
He said both Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar have given contradictory accounts about GB Energy’s core function.
He added: “Myself and everyone else I’ve spoken to in industry wants to know exactly what it is going to do to unlock the investment that is required. Because if you are not going to sell energy or produce energy, you’re doing something entirely different to what is being proposed.
“We need certainty on this because industry deserves certainty in order to get the energy transition right.”
He said the failure of the recent allocation round five of the UK government’s contracts for difference scheme, designed to fund development of renewables, had failed to attract any investors in offshore wind. This and the UK government’s windfall tax on oil and gas firms is “causing investors to not want to invest. If that’s the case then Aberdeen’s future is in question.”
As the exchange got a little heated, he admitted that SNP plans under former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to set up a not-for-profit Scottish energy company – which would have sold power to consumers – would have been “blown apart” in the energy price surge that occurred in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
For her part, Thomson said she would like to see GB Energy based in the Granite city. Previously, Sarwar told Press and Journal political editor Adele Merson at an E-FWD event that while Aberdeen has “very strong case” as base for GB Energy, but there were “lots of pitches” about where it should be including Glasgow and Inverclyde.
She said: “If I am fortunate enough to be elected as your representative for Aberdeen North, I will ensure Aberdeen’s claim to be the centre of GB Energy is heard loud and clear at the heart of the next government.”
John Wheeler, who is contesting Aberdeen South for the Conservatives, said his party wants to “advocate for the end of the windfall tax and will do so as soon we can get through the next parliament”.
He said he had been against his own party’s imposition of the EPL. “Anyone who has seen my social media posts will know that I was extremely critical of my own party and chancellor in the extension of the EPL in the budget earlier this year.”
Jeff Goodhall, Scottish Liberal Democrats’ candidate for, Aberdeen South, took aim at the Conservative government and said pleas for support for the oil and gas industry have not been listened to.
“The Conservatives only look at oil and as a cash cow. As does Labour. If Labour goes ahead with their policies there will be a massive reduction in jobs because there is no real plan for the north-east.”
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