SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has questioned the UK Government’s promises on GB Energy after reports showed a massive fall in the projected number of jobs it will create.
On Wednesday, GB Energy chair Juergen Maier told MPs on the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee that he expected between 200 and 300 jobs to be created in Aberdeen.
The estimate was less than one-third of what Maier had claimed just last month, 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.
Highlighting the discrepancy on social media, Flynn shared headlines containing the vastly different estimates side by side.
“700 fewer jobs in just 43 days,” the Aberdeen South MP wrote.
700 fewer jobs in just 43 days. pic.twitter.com/JM89zSj4oQ
— Stephen Flynn MP (@StephenFlynnSNP) November 20, 2024
Previously, the UK Government has refused to detail how many jobs it expects to create, saying only that the “exact number of roles in Great British Energy will be driven by the organisational structures and priorities”.
It comes after scrutiny of GB Energy in the media revealed that its chair 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.
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.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Maier told MPs that the first phase of investment from GB Energy would not happen until "well into" 2025, and that it would be "very modest".
The GB Energy chair said the first phase of investment would be worth just £125 million. Labour have earmarked £8.3 billion to fund GB Energy over the current Westminster parliament, which experts have previously told The National will not be enough.
