Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer sought to reassure industrial communities that his party’s green energy plans would not leave them behind, as he warned that the “moment for decisive action is now”.
The speech in Leith came as the party pledged to cut bills and create new jobs by removing planning barriers the party said stood in the way of green initiatives, as well as new targets to reduce the time taken to complete clean power projects from “years to months”.
Starmer said that 50,000 new jobs could be created in Scotland alone, amid a dispute with unions over his plans to ban new North Sea oil and gas exploration.
He said the programme “will power us forward towards net zero, generate growth right across the country, end the suffocating cost-of-living crisis, and get Putin’s boot off our throat with real energy security“, adding: “A stronger, more secure Britain, once again at the service of working people, with cheaper bills and clean electricity by 2030.”
Labour's proposed new public body, GB Energy, would collaborate with councils, communities and the private sector to bring down energy costs.
The power plan would be directly owned by local people, with profits from the energy sold to the grid from local renewable energy schemes being returned to the community through discounts on bills for households in need.
GB Energy would make available up to £600m in funding for councils and up to £400m in low-interest loans each year for communities, the party claimed.
The ban on new onshore wind would also be axed within months of a Labour government coming to power and measures would be introduced to ensure relevant regulators had a net zero mandate.
The party is pledging to take up to £1,400 off household bills and £53bn off energy bills for businesses by 2030 with its plans.
Starmer said that he understood the concerns of some working-class communities, but stressed that the shift to clean energy would bring new jobs and opportunities.
He admitted that the transition was “asking deep and difficult questions of all of us, and I fully accept, especially here, fossil fuel energy plays a huge role in the Scottish economy”, adding: “It’s also part of the social fabric. Communities depend on it. The jobs it provides, good jobs for working people, they’re precious.”
Starmer warned that a delay would be a “historic mistake”, as he made a pitch directly to voters in Scotland as Labour hopes to win back seats from the turmoil-ridden SNP at the next general election.
He called for Scotland to be ”once again the beating heart of Britain” and promised to headquarter GB Energy in Scotland.
“Let me say directly to those people in Scotland, nervous about the change this mission requires – I know the ghosts industrial change unearths … deep down, we all know this has to happen eventually and that the only question is when.
“So, in all candour, the reality is this, the moment for decisive action is now.
“If we wait until North Sea oil and gas runs out, the opportunities this change can bring for Scotland and your community will pass us by, and that would be a historic mistake.
“An error, for the future of Scotland, as big as the Thatcher government closing the coal mines, while frittering away the opportunity of the North Sea.”
Sarwar, who attended the event alongside shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband, said he would not discourage anyone from entering a career in the oil and gas industry.
Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce policy director Ryan Crighton responded: “Labour’s big ambition on renewables, grid infrastructure and de-risking new technologies is hugely welcome.
“However, it is completely overshadowed by a position on oil and gas which is not grounded in the realities of the energy transition and will drive away they very companies they want to partner with to make the UK a clean energy superpower.
“Their failure to meaningfully engage with the people, companies and regions delivering the energy transition is evident in this naïve policy, which has now placed jobs, investment and energy security at risk.
“We again urge Labour to work with us, with industry and with the unions, to make its energy strategy a prospectus for growth; a plan which will herald the beginning of a new era of global energy capital status for Scotland and the UK.
“The alternative path - one with a cliff-edge end to oil and gas - will decree decades of decline upon the regions which have powered the UK through the toughest of times.”
First Minister leader Humza Yousaf also said that Labour cannot be trusted on energy.
“I am not sure anybody will trust a Labour Party on the green economy just two weeks after they dump their £28bn green prosperity fund.”
He added that Labour governments had “squandered not tens but hundreds of billions of oil and gas revenue” and only invested a fraction of this in Scotland.
But he said Starmer’s party is now asking Scots to “somehow be thankful that they are going to set up a part of a government department if they win a general election”.
Yousaf went on to insist that the Scottish Government “don’t just talk the talk – we walk the walk” on green energy, pointing to the £500m Just Transition fund pledged to help areas such as the north east of Scotland transition from an economy based on fossil fuels to one focused on renewables.
He added: “The Scottish Government has been clear on this: we don’t believe in unlimited extraction of oil and gas, we don’t believe that Scotland’s future is in continued and indefinite extraction of the North Sea.
“We believe Scotland’s future is absolutely in renewables, green technologies.
“That is why we have not just invested in the likes of the Just Transition fund but of course set up the Scottish National Investment Bank which is going to unleash some of that capital which is going to be required to boost the green economy.”
Don't miss the latest headlines with our twice-daily newsletter - sign up here for free.
