CLAIMS that Labour’s GB Energy plans will be “the powerhouse of a new Unionist project” prompted fury from the SNP.
Former Tony Blair aide John McTernan ruffled feathers with his claim last week that the proposed scheme would be a boon to Unionism.
Speaking as election results rolled in on Friday morning, McTernan said: “I think Great British Energy will be the powerhouse of a new Unionist project.”
Responding to his claims, SNP energy spokesperson Dave Doogan (below) told the Sunday National GB Energy was really a “hopeless re-branding exercise”.
He said: “McTernan's florid political hyperbole underscores the profound ignorance of the GB Energy sector that presides within this Labour government.”
"Gone is the headline £28 billion GB Energy budget to be replaced with a few billion that the Tories already had in the [Department for Energy Security and Net Zero] coffers.
“This represents merely a hopeless re-branding exercise which is fooling nobody.
“Bill payers and the wider sector will be amongst the first to succumb to, and raise the alarm over, the vacuum at the heart of Labour’s ‘change’ prospectus.”
The proposed scheme, which is to be based in Scotland, has already been met with criticism.
Labour came under fire before the election for scrapping a flagship pledge to spend £28bn on green infrastructure, which would have complemented plans for GB Energy.
It is expected to cost £8.3bn to set up and they also have plans to set up a “national wealth fund” worth £1.5bn per year part funded by a raid on oil and gas companies in Scotland.
That money is intended to be invested in ports, hydrogen and industrial clusters across the country, aimed at forcing the most energy intensive sectors to decarbonise.
But there has been confusion over the role of GB Energy. When it was first touted, it was compared with European state-owned energy firms which generate energy and sell it on the market.
During the election campaign, Keir Starmer said it was an “investment vehicle” and would rather be used to pump public money into private energy firms with the aim of fuelling green investment.
He said: “It’d be an investment vehicle, not an energy company, it’s an investment vehicle in the energy of the future.
“The money going into it would be public money but used to trigger private investment alongside it.”
The Labour leader said he expected it to be profitable and that he believed it would create jobs.
But his comments saw the SNP brand the plans “a sham”.
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: "Creating a new, publicly-owned clean energy company, headquartered in Scotland, will help us build an energy system fit for the future, a system that powers every British home with clean electricity.
"Great British Energy will be owned by the British people, and work for the British people. It will deliver wind, solar and clean power projects up and down Britain, cutting bills for good, strengthening our energy independence, and creating jobs across our country."
