Sir Keir Starmer to visit Aberdeen this summer after oil and gas backlash

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to visit Aberdeen this summer to discuss controversial plans to end North Sea exploration.

The UK Labour leader has been under pressure from party colleagues in the north-east to visit the region to talk with industry and union figures, who are worried about the direction.

It is understood Sir Keir and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar will both make the trip north later this summer.

But business chiefs in the city have blasted the party for “appalling” engagement with the region and the wider industry.

Oil and gas concerns

Sir Keir unveiled his party’s big pitch to shift from fossil fuels to renewables in Edinburgh last month but it was met by widespread anger.  

The former Labour leader of Aberdeen City Council sensationally quit the party over its plan to end new exploration.

Barney Crockett, who is now an independent councillor, told the Press and Journal it is “essential” that Sir Keir addresses Aberdeen.

Speaking on Thursday from Rotterdam, where he is at a planning event for the World Energy Congress, he said: “It must go beyond the banalities of we will not repeat what Thatcher did and then repeat what Thatcher did.

“It must be a step back from no new developments in the North Sea.”

Councillor Tauqeer Malik, leader of the Aberdeen Labour group, met Mr Sarwar earlier in Glasgow on Thursday to share his concerns.

He has started to lobby the party to base a new publicly-owned energy company, GB Energy, in Aberdeen.

Cllr Malik said the Scottish Labour leader promised to listen and consider all the options but stressed the energy company plans were still at an early stage.

He added: “I had a very positive meeting with Anas Sarwar about how Aberdeen is at the heart of Labour’s plans for our economy.

“I look forward to seeing Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer in Aberdeen in the near future.”

Ryan Crighton, policy director at Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said the Labour leader must “urgently” meet industry leaders. 

He added: “We have invited the Labour front bench to Aberdeen on three occasions this year. Two of those invitations were personally accepted by Sir Keir, yet no visit has been forthcoming.

“The party’s engagement with both this region and with the wider industry has been appalling throughout what was, frankly, a disastrous energy policy launch.”

‘No cliff-edge’

Mr Sarwar defended his party’s energy strategy, claiming it would deliver “jobs and investment” for the city.

He said: “Labour’s plan to make Britain a clean energy superpower is based on clear principles – more jobs, not fewer jobs, lower bills for working families, energy security and climate leadership.

“There will be no cliff-edge. Oil and gas will play a vital role in the UK’s economy for decades to come. I look forward to engaging with the sector on this issue.

“Labour will deliver the jobs and investment that Aberdeen needs to flourish and grow.

“I look forward to visiting Aberdeen in the near future.”