The ex-Labour leader of Aberdeen City Council says GB Energy is an “empty promise” that won’t deliver a jobs boost for the region.
City councillor Barney Crockett spoke out following a row over the number of jobs which will be created at the Aberdeen headquarters.
On Wednesday, in an interview with the P&J, Scotland Office minister Kirsty McNeill insisted the scheme will be a “gamechanger” for the Granite City.
It came after the firm’s chairman Juergen Maier revealed it could take 20 years to meet a pledge to deliver 1,000 jobs at its Aberdeen HQ.
Ms McNeill admitted it will “take time” to reach that total but that more jobs will be delivered in the supply chain as a result of the firm’s clean energy investments.
She praised the UK government for “getting cracking” by setting up GB Energy and launching an Energy Skills Passport to help oil and gas workers transfer to renewables.
‘Empty promise’
Speaking to The P&J, Mr Crockett, who quit Labour in 2023 over their North Sea strategy, was sceptical about its impact, describing it as an “empty promise”.
“I don’t think there’s serious reason to think that anything dramatic is in sight for the city in terms of GB Energy”, he said.
“And on the other hand, we may have fairly dramatic decline if the energy department colleagues of the minister have anything to do with it.”
He added: “It’s comparing things that are totally unalike. The scale of the energy industry in the city, primarily oil and gas, is enormous, and nothing that’s in train with GB Energy will make any great difference to that.”
The Labour government says GB Energy will own, manage and operate clean power projects up and down the country, backed by £8.3 billion over the new parliament.
A significant proportion of the firm’s staff will be employed in Aberdeen, including the permanent chief executive and most of the senior executive team.
But the government’s plan to ban new oil and gas licences and increase and extend the windfall tax on oil and gas firms have been met with widespread opposition in the region.
Ed Miliband on Labour’s strategy
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband was quizzed about his government’s North Sea strategy during an interview with Times Radio on Friday.
He said: “Production is declining in the North Sea.
“We’re going to keep existing fields open for their lifetime but the future for Britain for energy security reasons, for jobs, and for climate is to invest in the new technologies like carbon capture, like offshore wind, like hydrogen.”
Aberdeen Conservative councillor Richard Brooks, who works in the oil and gas sector, said: “GB Energy is not only a red herring, it is a red flag for our energy sector workers.”
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokeswoman said: “Our aim is to build Great British Energy up to the size and scale of the world’s leading publicly owned energy companies. This won’t happen overnight, but our ambition is clear.
“We are already seeing the benefits in Aberdeen – Sarens PSG said Great British Energy’s presence was a “game changer” in making the city the ‘ideal location’ for their £1.6m training centre for wind farm workers.”
Conversation