Energy Secretary Ed Miliband will visit Aberdeen today as he pledges to speed up the delivery of a long overdue oil and gas skills passport to help North Sea workers move into renewables.
The senior Labour politician is making the trip with Great British Energy chair Juergen Maier for the first time since the city was announced as the firm’s headquarters.
Ahead of the visit, the UK Government has also confirmed it will accelerate delivery of a long overdue ‘skills passport’.
This would give offshore workers the ability to move more smoothly into careers in the renewables sector, including offshore wind.
A digital tool for workers is set to be piloted by January 2025.
The former Tory-led government first committed to deliver a skills passport in 2020 and it has been supported by the Scottish Government since 2022.
Meanwhile, the UK Government is also set to sign a new agreement on Thursday with the Scottish Government to help make available billions of pounds of funding to support clean energy supply chains.
It wants to develop partnerships with Scottish public bodies in the clean energy sector – including the Scottish National Investment Bank.
This will be done with the aim of boosting new private sector jobs and investment.
Ed Miliband promises ‘clean energy future’
Mr Miliband’s visit comes just two weeks before Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves sets the government’s budget on October 30.
She is being urged to abandon plans to raise and extend the windfall tax on oil and gas companies after widespread jobs fears.
Labour has also come under fire from trade unions and the industry for its plan to end new North Sea oil and gas licences without a clear jobs strategy.
Speaking ahead of his visit, Mr Miliband said: “Scottish energy workers will power the United Kingdom’s clean energy future – including in carbon capture and storage, in hydrogen, in wind, and with oil and gas for decades to come as part of a fair transition in the North Sea.
“Unlike in the past we’re also working closely with the Scottish Government with a new agreement to ensure our publicly owned company Great British Energy is primed to accelerate clean energy investment in Scotland.”
GB Energy has £8.3 billion of funding over this parliament to help develop clean energy projects across the UK.
Mr Maier, who is chairing the publicly-owned energy firm, last week revealed the ambition to create potentially up to 1,000 jobs or more at its Aberdeen headquarters.
But there are still questions around how it will lower energy bills for consumers, as promised by the Labour government.
Speaking ahead of the visit to Aberdeen, Mr Maier said: “By working closely with the Scottish Government, just as with the Crown Estate in England and Wales, we can help to drive forward investment and create jobs across the country.”
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