How the Tories are playing politics with jobs of North Sea energy workers

Oil and gas is an important part of our history and the sector has contributed much to our shared prosperity. It has powered our economy, and supported thousands of livelihoods. But there is no disagreement about its eventual future.

After six decades of drilling, the basin’s easily accessible resources have gone and what is left is difficult and expensive to extract. Even if new North Sea fields are developed, the UK would still face importing nearly all – 94 per cent – of its gas by 2050.

Under the Conservatives’ watch, 70,000 jobs were lost in the North Sea. They stood by while communities in the North East were hollowed out and workers were left with fewer and fewer options. Instead of investing in domestic manufacturing for renewables, they were happy to buy wind turbines from wherever had the lowest price, sending good manufacturing jobs overseas that should have been rooted in Scotland.

To pretend that job security for North Sea workers lies in new drilling is to do them a disservice. These men and women deserve honesty and, above all, they deserve a plan that secures their future.

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Reviving our industrial base

That is why Labour is changing course. We are determined to make the most of Scotland’s plentiful renewable resources and its skilled energy workforce, ensuring that the North Sea continues to provide jobs for many years to come.

From this year, wind farm developers that use UK-manufactured components in their new turbines will receive an incentive: the Clean Industry Bonus. For every pound we spend, we expect to attract £17 of private investment which will help to rebuild our supply chains, revive our industrial base and bring skilled, secure jobs back to places that have been failed by Conservative neglect.

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In Aberdeen, we are piloting an Oil and Gas Transition Training Fund which will support workers to build upon their existing skills and smooth their pathway into clean energy jobs.

And we have earmarked billions of pounds in investment from the National Wealth Fund to upgrade our ports, futureproofing them and enabling homegrown renewables manufacturing businesses to grow and thrive. The Port of Leith is a leading example of how investment can transform the economic future of a coastal community and enable jobs from new windfarms to stay in Scotland.

World leader in low-carbon tech

The backdrop to all of this is, of course, the climate crisis. We owe it to future generations to pursue a clean energy future so the worst consequences of global warming can be avoided. But it is also in their economic interests that we pursue clean energy and grasp the opportunities from new industry.

The UK Government’s recent support for the Acorn carbon-capture-and-storage project in the north of Scotland is a welcome step in this direction, helping to establish the region as a hub for world-leading, low-carbon technology, but we must go further.

Scotland’s energy workers and the communities they support need politicians who are serious about how to build the industries that will support their future – the hard stuff – not empty slogans or political games played at their expense.

Dr Scott Arthur is Labour MP for Edinburgh South West