ENERGY minister Michael Shanks has insisted the UK Government’s ambition for GB Energy to deliver 1000 jobs “has not changed” despite reports two months ago showing a huge fall in the projected number of roles it will create.
Shanks appeared remotely in front of the Scottish Parliament’s energy committee on Tuesday where he was pressed for clarity by SNP MSP Kevin Stewart on how many jobs will be created by GB Energy.
There has been much confusion on the matter ever since GB Energy chair Juergen Maier told MPs in November that he expected between 200 and 300 jobs to be created in Aberdeen.
This estimate was less than one-third of what Maier had claimed the month before, when he told MPs discussing Labour’s Great British Energy Bill that the publicly owned firm would create more than 1000 jobs in the Scottish city.
Stewart, who represents Aberdeen, asked Shanks: “You said in your opening statement about partnership and partnership with communities and in order to have good partnership you have to have trust.
“The chair of GB Energy previously said that the headquarters in Aberdeen could mean more than 1000 jobs being created for the city I represent. That estimate has since been revised between 200 and 300. Can you provide clarity for us on what the reality of job numbers will be?”
Shanks (below) was unable to give any further clarity and even suggested Stewart was misrepresenting what Maier had said.
The minister said the UK Government had “not moved away” from an ambition of creating “over 1000 jobs”.
“We have to be clear that we’re setting this up from scratch. The government’s committed to £8.3 billion in the first Parliament, but setting up an organisation takes time.
“We want to make sure we’re delivering value for money and therefore every job will have to be justified.”
Stewart pointed out that given the change in numbers took place over a period of less than 50 days, the Government had lost the trust of some people in the city.
Shanks then accused Stewart of misquoting Maier.
“I do agree with you that trust is really important and I think that’s why we should be careful not to misquote,” he said.
“We have not changed from our ambition in terms of the jobs created by GB Energy.”
Shanks was also unable to give any definitive answer as to when GB Energy would start to bring down bills when grilled by Stewart.
Stewart highlighted that despite pledging to bring down energy bills by £300, bills had risen by an average of £449 since Labour came into office.
Asked by Stewart when lower energy bills would become a reality under GB Energy, Shanks said: “We are at the moment still far too exposed to volatile fossil fuel prices.
“We said this would be reducing bills in the long term, we didn’t say overnight that would be possible.
“We said in the long-term bills will come down, we see that is still a vital part of what we are aiming to do. GB Energy is a hugely important part of how we speed up that process.
“It’s a key part of how we bring jobs to Scotland, how we bring down bills in the long term and how we deliver on our climate obligations as well.”
Stewart bluntly ended their exchange saying: “Bills have gone up, you said they would go down. Thank you.”
Elsewhere Shanks confirmed that while Aberdeen will act as the sole headquarters “for some time,” there is a vision of having some specialities overseen by offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow further down the line, such as tech innovation in Glasgow and finance expertise in the capital.
Last year it was also revealed Maier will not be based in Scotland.
Despite numerous pledges to base the firm north of the Border, he will instead control the Labour project from a base in Manchester.
Shanks did confirm the chief executive of GB Energy will be based in Aberdeen.
The National has also revealed that GB Energy will not have its own headquarters in Aberdeen.
Instead, it will be based in the same building as an existing office for staff in the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). Oil giants including Shell and Dana Petroleum have offices in the same building.
