Labour leader Keir Starmer is promising a renewable energy jobs boost under plans which put Scotland at the heart of efforts to transform the UK into a “clean energy superpower”. Starmer said Labour’s green prosperity plan would more than double the number of low-carbon jobs in Scotland.
He promised more than 50,000 new direct and indirect jobs will be created in the renewable energy sector in Scotland alone over a decade. Former First Minister Alex Salmond once famously pledged that Scotland would be the “Saudi Arabia of renewable marine energy”.
But Starmer said the SNP in power had “chased the headlines but not done the work”. He said: “Labour will deliver lower bills, good jobs, and energy security for Scotland, as Britain leads the world in the fight against climate change.”
The Labour leader was speaking as he visited the giant Beatrice wind farm off the Caithness coast in the far north of Scotland. Beatrice is Scotland’s largest operational offshore wind farm.
It has 84 turbines and is capable of generating enough electricity to power about 450,000 homes. Starmer visited the site along with Shadow Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
Speaking during his third visit north of the border in three weeks, Starmer said: “The route to making Britain a clean energy superpower, slashing energy bills and creating tens of thousands of quality jobs runs through Scotland.”
Labour’s green prosperity plan would also include setting up a public energy company. This is something the SNP previously committed to doing but has not achieved. The proposed GB Energy would invest in all four nations of the UK. Labour insisted it would see the people of Scotland benefit from the country’s natural resources.
The party said its plans could help households in Scotland save £84 billion on their power bills over the rest of this decade. This would be the equivalent of cutting £475 a year from bills for every family up to 2030.
Starmer said: “There should be no doubt – our energy plans will be made in Scotland, cutting energy bills for Scottish families, and delivering the jobs and investment in Scottish communities that for far too long have been let down by the SNP and Conservatives.
“When it comes to capitalising on Scotland’s energy resources, for 15 years the SNP Government has chased the headlines but not done the work. Labour will deliver lower bills, good jobs, and energy security for Scotland, as Britain leads the world in the fight against climate change.”
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