Top trade unionist blasts Labour's GB Energy 'betrayal'
The state-owned company, which invests in green energy firms, has so far failed to bring down bills, despite Labour's election promises.
GMB general secretary Gary Smith told the Daily Record that the Government had 'overpromised' with GB Energy and that people felt 'disappointed'.
He also accused Labour of 'shutting down Aberdeen' in a fiery broadside against their plans to end new oil and gas exploitation in the North Sea.
Smith said: 'The risk is they are going to open a shiny new office with a dozen civil servants in Aberdeen on a high street full of charity shops because they are closing the city down.'
He added: 'There is a disappointment and a growing sense of betrayal around Great British Energy.'
(Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty)
The top trade unionist, whose organisation funds the Labour Party, described the UK Government's energy policy as 'bonkers'.
Smith said: 'Cutting off investment into oil and gas is bonkers. We could be getting investment into oil and gas that will allow us to create jobs.
'Just switching off investment in the North Sea is absolute madness. It's bad for national security, it's bad for jobs and the truth is it's catastrophic for the environment because we are importing oil and gas, which is far more carbon intensive than producing it ourselves.'
He said of net zero: 'We don't disagree with the destination. We realise that climate change is a huge threat. We want to build a low carbon future, but you do not do that by closing down Aberdeen, by shutting off domestic oil and gas production.'
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He also hit out at Keir Starmer's 'cruel' benefits cuts, adding: 'We have got members who get support in their work and they are literally terrified about what is coming around the corner.
'I worry that the way we are going to deal with disability benefits is actually going to be very damaging for society and very damaging for the individuals.'
Smith said: 'There have been mis-steps by the Labour Government. They are not great at communicating the stuff they do right and well. I am not sure that people fully understand their mission and story."
He added: 'They've got to accept that they've made a whole number of mistakes which has been to their detriment.'
(Image: PA)
SNP MSP Kevin Stewart (above) said: 'Labour promised that GB Energy would create 1,000 new jobs in the North-East. So far it has created none and the chair has admitted that it will take at least 20 years to create these roles.
'We were also told that GB Energy was going to help bring down energy bills by £300 but instead bills have gone in the opposite direction, soaring by nearly £300 since Labour came to power.
'Just this week the UK Labour Government gave the go-ahead to a carbon capture project in England whilst it continues to dither in giving backing to Project Acorn in Aberdeenshire.
'Scotland has the natural resources and skilled workforce required to be a renewables superpower but is continually treated as an afterthought by successive UK governments. We have the energy, we just need the power.'
A UK Government spokesperson said: 'The government is delivering the next generation of good jobs for North Sea workers, including in carbon capture, hydrogen and offshore wind.
'We have already taken rapid steps to deliver a fair and orderly transition, with the biggest ever investment in offshore wind and two first of a kind carbon capture and storage clusters.
'This comes alongside Great British Energy, headquartered in Aberdeen, which has already announced a £300m investment into British supply chains, unlocking significant investment and helping to create thousands of skilled jobs.'
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The Guardian
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The National
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Ruskell said this was due to a shared understanding that the 250m limit was too low – and that it would be addressed at a later stage. However, Ruskell further said that the bill in its current state was 'fundamentally not going to lead to a solution to the growing inequalities in land ownership that we have in Scotland'. Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell in the parliament chamber (Image: Holyrood TV)'This bill does not tackle that, full stop,' he went on. 'It gives communities a bit more power, it provides a bit more scrutiny as to what landowners are currently doing, but it's not clear that this is going to make any major difference in terms of getting a more diverse pattern of land ownership and really changing the answer to 'Who owns Scotland?'. 'Things will continue broadly as they have been for centuries, but with a wee bit more community involvement. It's a bill that's tweaking around the edges of existing systems rather than having a big bold vision.' He told the Sunday National that the Scottish Government could 'easily put forward a more radical vision into this bill and get support from Labour and the Greens, easily'. 'Every amendment would pass. Every single amendment would be unchallengeable. So it's their call because they have the votes for it and they have the consensus on the left – but they don't want to play to that. 'So they're getting support from the Tories to defeat anything that's taking a bill into a more radical place.' READ MORE: Lesley Riddoch: Scotland needs real action on land reform Villalba went a step further, saying the bill was not fit for purpose and would entrench inequality across Scotland. The Scottish Labour MSP went on: 'The SNP have demonstrated that their true allegiance is not with the Scottish people, but rather with wealthy private landowners who manage their property not in the public interest but to maximise their own profits. 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