Unite has urged Labour not to ban new North Sea oil and gas licences without a clear plan to safeguard jobs, warning that workers risk becoming “the coal miners of our generation”. The union’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, said the party must show it will protect jobs and communities or continue issuing new licences.
Unite is launching a billboard campaign in six Scottish constituencies with the slogan “No Ban Without A Plan”. Graham, whose family were miners, said: “They are at risk of becoming the coal miners of our generation. We only have to look at what’s happened in the coal towns. It’s decimation in some of these places. They’ve never recovered.”
Labour has promised to base its planned state-backed green power firm, Great British Energy, in Scotland and earmark part of a £7bn “wealth fund” for wind power. But Unite, Labour’s biggest donor in 2019, wants more specific pledges. Graham said £6bn over six years is needed to kickstart wind turbine manufacture in the north-east.
“You should not be letting go of one rope before you’ve got hold of another,” she said. “My main thing is that I cannot allow these workers to be sacrificed on the altar of net zero.” She claimed a clear offer on jobs and investment would help Labour make gains in Scotland.
Labour dropped its £28bn-a-year green investment pledge, sparking concerns among unions and environmental campaigners. A Labour source said: “Labour has a non-negotiable commitment to a proud future for the North Sea. We will deliver the most significant investment in the North Sea in a generation.”
According to industry estimates cited by campaign group Uplift, the sector supports 200,000 jobs directly or indirectly, a third fewer than a decade ago. Uplift director Tessa Khan said: “This part of the climate energy transition is going to require a huge amount of industrial change, and we absolutely cannot afford to victimise or throw communities under the bus.”
