New home-grown energy company to be based in Scotland
The "centre-piece" and "embodiment" of Labour's priorities will be a new home-grown energy company, Sir Keir says, a benefit enjoyed by Denmark and Sweden.
"If there is money to be made from
our resources, it must serve the British people, must invest in our
communities, and create British jobs," he maintains.
The Labour leader says at the moment, Malaysia and the city of Munich own
more of Britain's offshore wind assets than we do.
A "proper national champion", Great British
Energy, will be publicly-owned and "be a shared project
owned by all four nations on these islands," he says.
It will be "a national institution, a common cause" that will be "owned by the British people, shared by the British people".
Because of "Scottish ingenuity", he adds, it will be based in
Scotland.
British Jobs Bonus will 'attract new investment into deprived heartlands'
The current government "doesn’t get" that a public-private investment partnership "provides long-term certainty" and "is the game-changer", Sir Keir says..
Competition for clean energy
investment is fierce and "will only get fiercer", he says, especially in the wake of the American Inflation Reduction Act.
Britain has the second largest offshore wind capacity in the
world – second only to China - he says, yet Denmark have three times as many jobs in the field.
He says this will end with a Labour government, which will "transform the way we set the price for investors in clean energy".
Contracts for Difference auctions must deliver jobs as well as investment, he adds.
A British Jobs Bonus will attract new investment, new
jobs, new supply chains into deprived industrial heartlands, he says, rewarding companies that "bring security and hope back to Britain’s grassroots".
Analysis
'Resistance, reassurance and compromise'
Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor
Reducing emissions from oil and gas is part of the plan, requiring households to shift away from gas heating and petrol cars.
Putting a stop to new drilling licences in UK waters has met resistance from the oil and gas industry, which is a big employer.
Drillers say that will accelerate the growing dependence on imported energy, amid volatile geopolitics and emitting more carbon to get it here.
Sir Keir has sought to reassure the industry he would not reverse decisions to allow further drilling if they are made before the next election.
Labour has also had to compromise on the promise of a £28bn per year investment programme, saying that will only become possible after two years of the next government, if it is to stick to its self-imposed rules on spending and borrowing.
Labour to create a new National Wealth Fund in first year of government
PA MediaCopyright: PA Media
Sir Keir says tess
than a quarter of the jobs the SNP promised have materialised.
"The simple
reason for this is they don’t have a plan and never had a plan. In the case of
the Tories, they don’t believe in plans," he says.
Neither party are "truly invested in Scotland’s success", he says, and to win the race on green energy, new institutions and a "new mind-set" are required.
He says the first year of a Labour government would see the creation of a new National Wealth Fund.
This
will "crowd-in investment" for projects such as battery gigafactories, clean steel plants and ports that can "finally
handle large off-shore wind parts".
"Crucially, this will give the British people a
stake in the returns and businesses the stability they need," he adds.
There is money to be made from our resources - Starmer
Sir Keir insists that under a Labour government his party will "transform the way" the UK sets the price for investors in clean energy.
"We
will set new rules – as a condition of entry – on good work, decent pay and
union recognition, but we will also create a new incentive, a direct response
to the quickening pace the world is setting on the jobs of the future.
"The
argument is simple: if there is money to be made from our resources – it must
serve the British people, must invest in our communities, and create British
jobs.
"Right
now Malaysia and Munich - the city of Munich – own more of our offshore wind
assets than we do, and this makes it so much harder for us to turn clean
British power into good British jobs.
"No
more."
US creates more jobs in seven months than UK has in seven years - Starmer claims
Sir Keir believes the
American Inflation Reduction Act is setting the pace as he claims Americans have created more jobs in seven months than the UK has in seven years.
He adds: "Britain
has the second largest offshore wind capacity in the world – a close second only
to China, yet across the North Sea in Denmark, they’ve got three times as many
jobs. How do you explain that?
How do you explain Scottish wind turbines, built
in Spain, in Holland and Indonesia, as the workers in the fabrication yards in
Fife - working people who would be proud to build something great in their
country - look out their window and watch others putting them up in the Forth.
"There
is no justification."
Analysis
Will fine words be followed up with real delivery?
There was a lot of commentary and criticism of Sir Keir
Starmer’s energy plan before he had even unveiled it.
But in his speech in Leith, the Labour leader actually
leaned into a lot of the fears cited about his proposals, particularly over the
future of the oil and gas industry.
Those include the danger of increasing reliance on
foreign imports, but more than anything about the impact on jobs in the north
east of Scotland.
Both Sir Keir and Anas Sarwar actually cited Margaret
Thatcher when talking about “the ghosts of industrial change”.
Sir Keir was striving for “candour” - to level with
communities about the potential trade-offs, and to offer a “credible” plan to
move painlessly to a post-oil future which many suspect is inevitable.
He is also determined to look steady and sensible,
setting out “iron rules” for fully costed plans and “responsible government”.
The question for many - particularly in the north east -
will be whether fine words can be followed up with real delivery, at a time
when households already feel they are walking a tightrope.
Tory and SNP era has failed miserably - Starmer
Sir Keir says Labour would throw everything at energy including planning reform, procurement and long-term finance.
"People
are going to be sceptical about this," he admits. "I get that.
"Especially here in Scotland
people say ‘we’ve got the windfarms, we’ve got the hydro-electricity, we’ve
invested in clean energy, that’s all good, But the jobs boom we were promised,
it never came.’
"There’s
no denying this, it’s a fact. The Tory-SNP era has failed miserably."
Sticking plasters everywhere is part of the UK's problem - Starmer
PA MediaCopyright: PA Media
Sir Keir feels these values are the "bread and butter" of responsible government.
He insists Labour's rules are essential for people and investors all over the country as he sets out aims to "borrow for the infrastructure of tomorrow come firmly within those
rules".
"In
fact, they will save our public finances money in the long-run, Sir Keir adds.
"If we fail to
move quickly on this, we will increase debt as a share of our economy by 23% -
the OBR have said that.
"The
Tories can contest it, but look around the country – this is part of our
problem, sticking plasters everywhere."
Tories' 'ideas from the 1980s are finished' - Starmer
The ideology and impulses of the Tories are "totally out of step with the challenges of the modern world", Sir Keir says.
Their ideas about industrial strategy and "contempt for active government" came out of the 1980s," he says, but "these ideas are finished".
The Labour leader says crucial global supply chains "can be weaponised by tyrants" and a "sticking plaster approach to investment will only cost more in the long-run".
He says Rishi Sunak is "standing still" and "stubbornly clinging on to the ideas of the past as the opportunities of the future slip through our fingers".
"I won’t let that happen," he says, adding "this cannot be a re-run of the 1980s".
Analysis
Analysis: The UK risks being left behind
Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor
With expectations –
based on opinion polls - that he is heading for Downing Street next year, Sir Keir Starmer is staking a lot on his plan for the transition from oil and gas to renewable energy.
There’s cross-party agreement on the transition, but not on the means of getting there, or how fast.
Looking to renewable power, Labour is responding to international pressure to put very large government funds behind the changes required.
The US and EU governments aim to grasp as much of the green technology as they can.
The UK risks being left behind, and losing big investment projects – for battery factories, for instance.
There are major challenges to putting new energy infrastructure in place, including planning obstacles to onshore wind farms in England, the need for new high-voltage grid connections, and the supply chain necessary to build out offshore wind and battery technologies.
Britain has 'tremendous advantages' but 'has to get moving'
Sir Keir says clean energy is an opportunity to create jobs and bring back hope to communities that "got ripped apart" by deindustrialisation in
the 1980s.
Despite competition from the likes of France, Germany, and
the USA, Britain has "tremendous advantages" he says - including its coast, shallow waters, universities, creativity, technology - and "if you can believe
it, even our weather".
The Labour leader also cites the financial
strength of Edinburgh and the City of London, which is a "massive advantage for all of us".
He says there are "no grounds for defeatism" but at the same time, "we’ve got to get moving" rather than "standing
on the side-lines, wringing our hands".
Scotland can be the beating heart of Britain - Starmer
The Labour leader feels Scotland can be the "beating heart of Britain".
"I
know the ghosts industrial change unearths," Sir Keir says.
"As a young lawyer, I worked with mining
communities to challenge the Tories’ pit closure programme but deep down, we
all know this has to happen eventually and that the only question is
when."
Sir Keir warns if the UK waits for North Sea oil and gas to run out, it could be a historic mistake.
Quote Message: My offer, the Labour offer, is this; a credible plan to manage the change, protect good jobs and create good jobs. No cliff edges." from Sir Keir Starmer Labour leader
My offer, the Labour offer, is this; a credible plan to manage the change, protect good jobs and create good jobs. No cliff edges."
I see three different sides to Scotland
More from Sir Keir who says he sees the "contours of three different Scotlands".
He continues: "There is
the Scotland that the solidarity of working people built, that the Labour
movement built.
"The industrial strength, the sense of community, the social
housing, the welfare state, the NHS - all emerging from the rubble of the
Second World War and all providing security for working people, in defiance of
a volatile world.
"But there is also the scars of a second
Scotland.
"A Scotland born of 1979 onwards, when the Labour Party was turfed out
of power, in part – it has to be said - by the SNP, and the Tories got to
manage that period of enormous upheaval."
'What I offer is a plan'
Sir Keir highlights the twin risks of
climate change and energy security.
He says clean energy is
now essential for national security.
"What I offer is a plan: a new course through stormy waters, a bridge to a
better future."
'This is a race we have to win'
Labour's mission is "an ambitious goal", Sir Keir continues, which would put the UK "ahead of any major economy in the world".
"At the moment, we’re nowhere near the front of the pack and this is a race we
have to win," he says.
Sir Keir says the party will "relish" the chance to "face down an age of insecurity" and "embrace the harsh light of clear accountability".
He ponders whether it is still possible to achieve great things and get things done by building new
industries and new technologies.
"Around the world people want to know, are we
still a great nation?" he asks, adding: "If the question is about the British people, the answer
is emphatically: yes."
Labour to 'create half a million new jobs'
PA MediaCopyright: PA Media
Sir Keir begins his speech by saying that nobody should doubt "the tide in Scotland is turning".
He says the Labour Party's clean energy plans will create half a million new jobs, with 50,000 of them in Scotland.
These generate growth across the
country, he says, and "end the suffocating cost of living crisis and get Putin’s boot off our
throat with real energy security".
The plans will create a "stronger, more secure Britain", he adds, with cheaper bills and clean electricity by 2030.
Background: What is the Scottish government's policy?
Scotland's SNP government announced a "presumption" against new oil and gas exploration as part of its new energy strategy earlier this year.
Ministers have said they can no longer support the previous position of "maximising economic recovery" of fossil fuel reserves.
Licensing new developments in the sector is reserved to Westminster.
The Scottish government's plan for the energy sector over the next 20 years is focused on boosting renewables.
It supports "the fastest possible just transition" away from oil and gas, and has a long-standing opposition to new nuclear projects.
The proceedings get under way...
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has begun his introductory speech.
It should not be too long until Sir Keir Starmer steps up to the podium.
Delay to Sir Keir Starmer's speech
The speech was supposed to get under way at 10am this morning.
There are social media reports that the bus got lost in Edinburgh so we can expect some delay.
Live Reporting
Edited by Catherine Lyst
All times stated are UK
New home-grown energy company to be based in Scotland
The "centre-piece" and "embodiment" of Labour's priorities will be a new home-grown energy company, Sir Keir says, a benefit enjoyed by Denmark and Sweden.
"If there is money to be made from our resources, it must serve the British people, must invest in our communities, and create British jobs," he maintains.
The Labour leader says at the moment, Malaysia and the city of Munich own more of Britain's offshore wind assets than we do.
A "proper national champion", Great British Energy, will be publicly-owned and "be a shared project owned by all four nations on these islands," he says.
It will be "a national institution, a common cause" that will be "owned by the British people, shared by the British people".
Because of "Scottish ingenuity", he adds, it will be based in Scotland.
British Jobs Bonus will 'attract new investment into deprived heartlands'
The current government "doesn’t get" that a public-private investment partnership "provides long-term certainty" and "is the game-changer", Sir Keir says..
Competition for clean energy investment is fierce and "will only get fiercer", he says, especially in the wake of the American Inflation Reduction Act.
Britain has the second largest offshore wind capacity in the world – second only to China - he says, yet Denmark have three times as many jobs in the field.
He says this will end with a Labour government, which will "transform the way we set the price for investors in clean energy".
Contracts for Difference auctions must deliver jobs as well as investment, he adds.
A British Jobs Bonus will attract new investment, new jobs, new supply chains into deprived industrial heartlands, he says, rewarding companies that "bring security and hope back to Britain’s grassroots".
'Resistance, reassurance and compromise'
Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor
Reducing emissions from oil and gas is part of the plan, requiring households to shift away from gas heating and petrol cars.
Putting a stop to new drilling licences in UK waters has met resistance from the oil and gas industry, which is a big employer.
Drillers say that will accelerate the growing dependence on imported energy, amid volatile geopolitics and emitting more carbon to get it here.
Sir Keir has sought to reassure the industry he would not reverse decisions to allow further drilling if they are made before the next election.
Labour has also had to compromise on the promise of a £28bn per year investment programme, saying that will only become possible after two years of the next government, if it is to stick to its self-imposed rules on spending and borrowing.
Labour to create a new National Wealth Fund in first year of government
Sir Keir says tess than a quarter of the jobs the SNP promised have materialised.
"The simple reason for this is they don’t have a plan and never had a plan. In the case of the Tories, they don’t believe in plans," he says.
Neither party are "truly invested in Scotland’s success", he says, and to win the race on green energy, new institutions and a "new mind-set" are required.
He says the first year of a Labour government would see the creation of a new National Wealth Fund.
This will "crowd-in investment" for projects such as battery gigafactories, clean steel plants and ports that can "finally handle large off-shore wind parts".
"Crucially, this will give the British people a stake in the returns and businesses the stability they need," he adds.
There is money to be made from our resources - Starmer
Sir Keir insists that under a Labour government his party will "transform the way" the UK sets the price for investors in clean energy.
"We will set new rules – as a condition of entry – on good work, decent pay and union recognition, but we will also create a new incentive, a direct response to the quickening pace the world is setting on the jobs of the future.
"The argument is simple: if there is money to be made from our resources – it must serve the British people, must invest in our communities, and create British jobs.
"Right now Malaysia and Munich - the city of Munich – own more of our offshore wind assets than we do, and this makes it so much harder for us to turn clean British power into good British jobs.
"No more."
US creates more jobs in seven months than UK has in seven years - Starmer claims
Sir Keir believes the American Inflation Reduction Act is setting the pace as he claims Americans have created more jobs in seven months than the UK has in seven years.
He adds: "Britain has the second largest offshore wind capacity in the world – a close second only to China, yet across the North Sea in Denmark, they’ve got three times as many jobs. How do you explain that?
How do you explain Scottish wind turbines, built in Spain, in Holland and Indonesia, as the workers in the fabrication yards in Fife - working people who would be proud to build something great in their country - look out their window and watch others putting them up in the Forth.
"There is no justification."
Will fine words be followed up with real delivery?
Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent
There was a lot of commentary and criticism of Sir Keir Starmer’s energy plan before he had even unveiled it.
But in his speech in Leith, the Labour leader actually leaned into a lot of the fears cited about his proposals, particularly over the future of the oil and gas industry.
Those include the danger of increasing reliance on foreign imports, but more than anything about the impact on jobs in the north east of Scotland.
Both Sir Keir and Anas Sarwar actually cited Margaret Thatcher when talking about “the ghosts of industrial change”.
Sir Keir was striving for “candour” - to level with communities about the potential trade-offs, and to offer a “credible” plan to move painlessly to a post-oil future which many suspect is inevitable.
He is also determined to look steady and sensible, setting out “iron rules” for fully costed plans and “responsible government”.
The question for many - particularly in the north east - will be whether fine words can be followed up with real delivery, at a time when households already feel they are walking a tightrope.
Tory and SNP era has failed miserably - Starmer
Sir Keir says Labour would throw everything at energy including planning reform, procurement and long-term finance.
"People are going to be sceptical about this," he admits. "I get that.
"Especially here in Scotland people say ‘we’ve got the windfarms, we’ve got the hydro-electricity, we’ve invested in clean energy, that’s all good, But the jobs boom we were promised, it never came.’
"There’s no denying this, it’s a fact. The Tory-SNP era has failed miserably."
Sticking plasters everywhere is part of the UK's problem - Starmer
Sir Keir feels these values are the "bread and butter" of responsible government.
He insists Labour's rules are essential for people and investors all over the country as he sets out aims to "borrow for the infrastructure of tomorrow come firmly within those rules".
"In fact, they will save our public finances money in the long-run, Sir Keir adds.
"If we fail to move quickly on this, we will increase debt as a share of our economy by 23% - the OBR have said that.
"The Tories can contest it, but look around the country – this is part of our problem, sticking plasters everywhere."
Tories' 'ideas from the 1980s are finished' - Starmer
The ideology and impulses of the Tories are "totally out of step with the challenges of the modern world", Sir Keir says.
Their ideas about industrial strategy and "contempt for active government" came out of the 1980s," he says, but "these ideas are finished".
The Labour leader says crucial global supply chains "can be weaponised by tyrants" and a "sticking plaster approach to investment will only cost more in the long-run".
He says Rishi Sunak is "standing still" and "stubbornly clinging on to the ideas of the past as the opportunities of the future slip through our fingers".
"I won’t let that happen," he says, adding "this cannot be a re-run of the 1980s".
Analysis: The UK risks being left behind
Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor
With expectations – based on opinion polls - that he is heading for Downing Street next year, Sir Keir Starmer is staking a lot on his plan for the transition from oil and gas to renewable energy.
There’s cross-party agreement on the transition, but not on the means of getting there, or how fast.
Looking to renewable power, Labour is responding to international pressure to put very large government funds behind the changes required.
The US and EU governments aim to grasp as much of the green technology as they can.
The UK risks being left behind, and losing big investment projects – for battery factories, for instance.
There are major challenges to putting new energy infrastructure in place, including planning obstacles to onshore wind farms in England, the need for new high-voltage grid connections, and the supply chain necessary to build out offshore wind and battery technologies.
Britain has 'tremendous advantages' but 'has to get moving'
Sir Keir says clean energy is an opportunity to create jobs and bring back hope to communities that "got ripped apart" by deindustrialisation in the 1980s.
Despite competition from the likes of France, Germany, and the USA, Britain has "tremendous advantages" he says - including its coast, shallow waters, universities, creativity, technology - and "if you can believe it, even our weather".
The Labour leader also cites the financial strength of Edinburgh and the City of London, which is a "massive advantage for all of us".
He says there are "no grounds for defeatism" but at the same time, "we’ve got to get moving" rather than "standing on the side-lines, wringing our hands".
Scotland can be the beating heart of Britain - Starmer
The Labour leader feels Scotland can be the "beating heart of Britain".
"I know the ghosts industrial change unearths," Sir Keir says.
"As a young lawyer, I worked with mining communities to challenge the Tories’ pit closure programme but deep down, we all know this has to happen eventually and that the only question is when."
Sir Keir warns if the UK waits for North Sea oil and gas to run out, it could be a historic mistake.
I see three different sides to Scotland
More from Sir Keir who says he sees the "contours of three different Scotlands".
He continues: "There is the Scotland that the solidarity of working people built, that the Labour movement built.
"The industrial strength, the sense of community, the social housing, the welfare state, the NHS - all emerging from the rubble of the Second World War and all providing security for working people, in defiance of a volatile world.
"But there is also the scars of a second Scotland.
"A Scotland born of 1979 onwards, when the Labour Party was turfed out of power, in part – it has to be said - by the SNP, and the Tories got to manage that period of enormous upheaval."
'What I offer is a plan'
Sir Keir highlights the twin risks of climate change and energy security.
He says clean energy is now essential for national security.
"What I offer is a plan: a new course through stormy waters, a bridge to a better future."
'This is a race we have to win'
Labour's mission is "an ambitious goal", Sir Keir continues, which would put the UK "ahead of any major economy in the world".
"At the moment, we’re nowhere near the front of the pack and this is a race we have to win," he says.
Sir Keir says the party will "relish" the chance to "face down an age of insecurity" and "embrace the harsh light of clear accountability".
He ponders whether it is still possible to achieve great things and get things done by building new industries and new technologies.
"Around the world people want to know, are we still a great nation?" he asks, adding: "If the question is about the British people, the answer is emphatically: yes."
Labour to 'create half a million new jobs'
Sir Keir begins his speech by saying that nobody should doubt "the tide in Scotland is turning".
He says the Labour Party's clean energy plans will create half a million new jobs, with 50,000 of them in Scotland.
These generate growth across the country, he says, and "end the suffocating cost of living crisis and get Putin’s boot off our throat with real energy security".
The plans will create a "stronger, more secure Britain", he adds, with cheaper bills and clean electricity by 2030.
Background: What is the Scottish government's policy?
Scotland's SNP government announced a "presumption" against new oil and gas exploration as part of its new energy strategy earlier this year.
Ministers have said they can no longer support the previous position of "maximising economic recovery" of fossil fuel reserves.
Licensing new developments in the sector is reserved to Westminster.
The Scottish government's plan for the energy sector over the next 20 years is focused on boosting renewables.
It supports "the fastest possible just transition" away from oil and gas, and has a long-standing opposition to new nuclear projects.
The proceedings get under way...
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has begun his introductory speech.
It should not be too long until Sir Keir Starmer steps up to the podium.
Delay to Sir Keir Starmer's speech
The speech was supposed to get under way at 10am this morning.
There are social media reports that the bus got lost in Edinburgh so we can expect some delay.