THE Scottish TUC voted today to back continued oil and gas extraction in the North Sea as long as there is a domestic need for the fuels, and for public ownership of energy.

The GMB’s Tam Carr-Pollock said that the “rushed, unplanned rundown of North Sea production has already cost thousands of jobs. According to Robert Gordon University we’ll lose 200 more jobs every week for the next five years.”

Mr Carr-Pollock rejected “promises of jobs tomorrow” in renewables, while industry continued to outsource manufacturing of renewable energy infrastructure abroad.

Britain would continue to depend on oil, and even more so on gas, for decades while transitioning to renewable energy, he argued, saying there was no sense in ending domestic production while this continued.

Michael Bainbridge of RMT, seconding, said: “We must not ignore the facts of global climate change, no matter how loud the well-funded voices of the populists become. We must continue to target net zero, but also remember our oil and gas workers and the importance of the work they carry out.” The production of smartphones and tablets, indeed of wind turbines, still required oil, he said.

Sarah Woolley of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ union said Scotland was not currently being offered a just transition, “but a corporate transition. The same private energy companies that helped create the climate crisis are… posting massive profits, pushing up energy bills and delivering little for workers or communities.

“We’ve got to take control. That means democratic public ownership of energy, in all its forms,” she said.