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Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to bring a huge number of jobs and billions of pounds worth of investment to Scotland through its plans for a state-owned energy generation company.
Speaking in the former industrial heartland of Greenock, the Labour leader laid out a pitch for Scottish voters he hopes to lure away from the Scottish National party and secure dozens of seats that could form the bedrock of his government in Westminster.
He said on Friday that GB Energy, a public-owned energy producing company headquartered in Scotland, would help deliver the “massive prize” of lower bills, “maximising Scotland’s influence on the world stage” from the first days of any Labour administration.
Starmer also accused the Conservatives of complacency in the global race to develop clean power. “Rishi Sunak is in the changing room — I want to be in the race and I want to win the race,” he said. “Why not Scotland?”
The Labour leader described renewable energy as the “best opportunity we’ve had in a generation” for job creation and energy security, but he warned of competition from other countries in Europe and the US.
As he outlined plans to accelerate the energy transition, Starmer admitted that he had travelled to Scotland on a private jet, saying he needed to use the most efficient form of transport to speak to “as many people as possible”. The carbon emissions generated by his air travel had been offset, he added.
Ed Miliband, shadow energy secretary, said the endorsement of Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s former chief scientific adviser, showed Labour’s plan to decarbonise the energy grid by 2030 was “bold and credible”.
Labour has said GB Energy will produce clean energy and invest in the supply chain around the renewable energy industry, securing domestic jobs in an industry where much of the manufacturing takes place overseas. The £8bn company would be funded by a higher windfall tax on oil and gas companies.
SNP leader John Swinney said Labour’s plans for GB energy would be a “body blow for the Scottish economy”. The energy industry has warned that Labour’s strategy could destroy 100,000 jobs and deter billions of pounds of investment, added SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.
The Scottish Conservatives also attacked the plans on economic grounds, claiming they would devastate communities across the north-east.
“It’s economically and environmentally illiterate of Labour and the SNP to turn their back on oil and gas because it would leave us reliant on importing more expensive fossil fuels with a bigger carbon footprint,” said Andrew Bowie, Scottish Conservative candidate for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who has said GB Energy will deliver more than 50,000 clean energy jobs, rejected such industry claims, saying oil and gas would play a “significant role for decades to come”.
Starmer said pipelines from the energy industry could be repurposed for carbon capture technologies and the skills of workers in the region would be needed to help the transition that would provide decades’ worth of jobs.
He added that no decision had been taken on where to locate GB Energy, but noted that Aberdeen has “a powerful case”.
