As Labour's candidate for Aberdeen South in the forthcoming General Election, I have read with interest the Press and Journal headlines over the last few days alongside the hysterical comments from Aberdeen Grampian Chamber of Commerce.
I want to put the record straight by saying energy companies and those employed in the energy sector have nothing to fear from an incoming Labour government.
Aberdeen has suffered over the years with a boom and bust economy. What the energy sector asked Labour to do is to work with them on the long-term not the short-term to bring about transition. Labour, if given the opportunity, will make Britain a clean energy superpower. Labour is serious about a proper transition for the North Sea and jobs will increase not decrease.
Aberdeen is the Energy Capital of Europe and that will not change under Labour. Labour’s plans will enhance the city’s reputation because doing nothing means things stay the same. I am confident everybody in the energy sector wants to see Labour commit to deliver clean energy by 2030.
Labour will bring forward a publicly-owned energy company that will create jobs, it will invest in clean power jobs, it will incentivise to strengthen supply chains in Aberdeen and the North-east so that jobs are kept here in Aberdeen instead of being off-shored, it will reform the National Grid to accelerate energy projects and it will support decarbonisation.
In case anyone within the Energy sector has not noticed, we are in the middle of a “cost of living crisis” and hard-working families right across Aberdeen are struggling to pay their bills as the energy sector profits from the war in Ukraine. Household bills have shot up through financial incompetence by both SNP and Tory governments. Today we have learned that the UK is back in recession.
This hysteria of 100,000 job losses is simply not credible and discredits the Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce position because it's fantasy and not credible as no government Labour or Tory would allow such large-scale jobs to go not now, not ever.
Labour’s slogan is, it's time for change I say to the Energy sector work with Labour to make that change happen to ensure Aberdeen becomes a clean energy superpower by 2030. To do nothing and support the status quo will do more untold damage to the Energy sector, hasten its demise and ignore climate change.
Councillor M. Tauqeer Malik is a councillor on Aberdeen City Council and the Labour party candidate for the Aberdeen South seat.