Shadow Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has told how the Humber region can ensure the UK wins the race to making Net Zero an economic and environmental success.
The former Labour leader and highly influential figure in front bench opposition followed up his appearance at the House of Lords launch of the Humber 2030 Vision prospectus with a visit, meeting some of those behind the £15 billion cluster of decarbonisation projects.
And his enthusiasm for what can be achieved neighbouring his Doncaster North constituency was evident as he also explained more about his party’s proposed publicly-owned generating business - GB Energy.
Read more: Chamber backs Humber 2030 Vision as 'single message strategy' to bring investment in
Of the vision, compressed into a glossy document uniting 18 aligned projects to clean up the heavy industry with an unenviable emissions record across Europe, he said: “I think it is incredibly exciting. I think this is such an inspirational project, and that’s why I was so keen to come here and talk to some of the key businesses involved in it.
“You can see the jobs of the future in that project, you could see it in that room, and you could see also the global race that is on for those jobs. It is incredibly important that we win that global race as a country and I believe the Humber can absolutely be at the vanguard of us winning that race, because you have all of these businesses lined up who have developed this exciting vision, but it does need the government as an active partner.”
The current Conservative administration, while reviewing options, is focused on a ‘backing winners’ mentality, with competitive bidding rounds to take forward projects.
Labour wants to lead from the front. Mr Miliband said: “That’s where our plans fro GB Energy for example, our publicly-owned energy generation company, comes in, because that’s about us saying ‘we’re not going to have government hanging back, we’re going to be having government getting stuck in, and so we want to be a partner, an investor, with you when it comes to hydrogen and some of the other technologies’.
“If the government can play its role to give confidence to the private sector, then that’s great. It is always going to be that the private sector is the major investor, but what so many people in business say to me is ‘we need the government to show it is serious about this’. That’s the idea of GB Energy and some of the other plans we have got.”
Asked about reaction from those already investing in generation in the private sector - with the likes of Grimsby-focused Orsted leading in offshore wind and feeding into and piloting green hydrogen production, Mr Miliband said: “It is partnership not replacement. I had a really useful conversation with Orsted at COP27, and my colleague Alan Whitehead [Shadow Minister for Green New Deal and Energy] is talking to Vattenfall this week, just about what that does.
“We’ve looked at all of the successful countries when it comes, not just to renewable energy generation, but actually getting the jobs, and they all - apart from us - have a state-owned energy company, because that is a very important platform for making sure that you get the jobs, the procurement, the supply chain in your own country. It is not saying we are going to displace the private sector, because GB Energy is absolutely about working with the private sector.”
Northern Powerhouse Partnership director Henri Murison made a clear call to capture the supply chain when he addressed the Humber’s Waterline Summit last month, underling how only that would make the likes of carbon capture and storage a true success.
Mr Miliband said he had also been asked by a Humber investor if the government was “going a bit cold” on the wider agenda, as he met representatives at Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce.
“It is what I worry about with this government,” he said. “They are quite half-in and half-out when it comes to this green energy sprint that we need. We are going to be all-in. We are going to be saying this is the future, these are the jobs of the future.
“I’m incredibly proud that it was at the centre of [Labour leader] Keir Starmer’s conference speech; GB Energy, the National Wealth Fund, the 2030 Zero Carbon Energy System. Keir said in one of his previous conference speeches ‘I want when our manifesto arrives for it to be the sound of the future arriving’ and this is the sound of the future arriving. I think the Humber Net Zero project is the sound of the future arriving and we have got to support it.”
Now, while in opposition, Mr Miliband said speed was vital. “We need foot-to-the-floor, not looking like you are constantly trying to delay or cut some of the government investment in it. Of course it has got to be value for money, but we have got to recognise what’s going on elsewhere in the world.
“We have the Inflation Reduction Act in the US [domestic energy production investment], REPowerEU [the European Commission's plan to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels prior to 2030] - and what companies are saying to me is ‘other countries are stepping up, other countries are trying to win this race; is Britain serious or is it still just limbering up working out whether it wants to be in the race?’
“I think that’s the problem. We absolutely see this as the future, we know that for more than a decade, probably decades actually, there’s been this unmet demand among people for good jobs with good wages that we want for ourselves and for our kids. If I think about Doncaster and the vote on Brexit, I think a lot of it was about that. This is the future. This green economy is the future and somebody is going to win this race. I want it to be us.”
Dr Ian Kelly, chief executive of Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, welcomed him in Hull for discussions focused on investment between Drax in the west and East Coast terminals giving access to sub North Sea storage facilities, with power generation sites, steelworks and oil refineries between.
He said: “We have been fully signed up for the Net Zero agenda for some time and it is great to see the Humber no meaningfully moving from the dirtier cluster in the UK and indeed one of the dirtiest in Europe, to potentially being a pioneer of carbon capture and hydrogen as well as offshore wind. This is a key area and looks more important than ever.”
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