BRITAIN’S biggest energy union Unite warned today that “real, good-quality jobs” must be at the heart of the government’s Great British Energy project.
The new £8.3 billion state-owned company will not be a retailer or generator of power, instead focusing on planning, investment and developing supply chains for clean energy and nuclear.
Scotland, long the centre of Britain’s oil and gas industry, will host the new company as part of government efforts to make good on its stated aim of delivering a just transition for 30,000 workers who are dependent on fossil fuel jobs.
Ahead of the Bill going before Parliament today, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Scotland will lead the clean energy revolution in the United Kingdom, fuelled by the skills, knowledge and talented workforce the energy sector here contains.”
SNP acting energy secretary Gillian Martin warned, however, that the governments diverge on new nuclear, while her former coalition partner, Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie, cautioned GB Energy must not “become a nuclear money pit.”
Key to investment in renewables will be access to the seabed to deliver offshore wind.
A deal was also announced between the government and its owner, the Crown Estate, which Sir Keir claimed “could drive up to £60 billion” of private investment and deliver enough power for 20 million homes by 2030.
The partnership prompted one GB Energy critic, Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts, to call for greater devolution.
She said: “Devolution of the Crown Estate is also vital in Wales if we are to ensure that profits made from leasing land for energy projects are retained in Wales, as they are in Scotland.”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham warned: “Creating real, good-quality jobs must be right at the heart of it.
“We need serious investment in wind manufacturing and it is imperative that a huge increase in offshore wind power goes hand in hand with the creation of well-paid jobs in the renewable sector in the UK.
“Oil and gas workers are faced with an uncertain future which is not being helped by Labour’s policy on North Sea exploration licences.
“We must not allow them to become the coalminers of our generation.”
Welcoming the announcement, Donna Rowe-Merriman of Unison, the largest union in the energy sector, said “the new government is certainly hitting the ground running.”
And TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Finally, we have a government that understands it's common sense for the British public to own their energy and reap the rewards for generations to come.”
