Businesses sign up to union campaign against Labour North Sea stance

Nearly 200 businesses have signed up to a union’s campaign against Labour’s policy of refusing to grant new oil and gas licences in the North Sea.

A giant version of Unite’s joint letter will be unveiled in Aberdeen on Thursday as part of their “no ban without a plan” campaign.

Labour have said they will not grant new licences in the North Sea, but they would continue with any licences already in operation.

Sir Keir Starmer has rejected claims this would endanger North Sea jobs and shadow energy Secretary Ed Miliband says Labour’s commitment to the sector is “non-negotiable”.

The letter includes local businesses from north east Scotland, Falkirk and Bo’ness.

It says: “The oil and gas industry is a hugely important employer, providing good quality jobs for local people, on whose custom businesses like ours depend. Its future represents the future of our community.

“UK Labour’s current policy on net zero for the North Sea is to ban all new licences but, currently, they have no detailed plan on a fair, workers’ transition to greener energy and to save 30,000 jobs in Scotland.

“This could lead to us importing more oil and gas when we have it on our doorstep.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Until Labour has a concrete plan for replacing North Sea jobs and ensuring energy security, the ban on new oil and gas exploration licences should not go ahead.

“Labour must not allow oil and gas workers to become this generation’s coal miners. Scotland’s oil and gas communities are crying out for a secure future and that is what Labour must deliver.”

Labour’s manifesto states that the party will deliver a “green prosperity plan” to invest in the climate transition, which it claims will create green jobs, cut bills and secure energy independence.

Shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray said: “The skills and expertise of the North Sea are at the heart of Labour’s transformative clean energy plans.

“The industry’s workers have been failed time and time again by the SNP and the Tories, who have let energy jobs go abroad and have no plan to bring the jobs of the future to Scotland.

“It’s absolutely right that there needs to be a comprehensive plan on jobs, and that’s exactly what Labour is delivering.

“Workers are at the heart of our transformative plans for a publicly owned GB Energy company, a National Wealth Fund, a British Jobs Bonus, and a New Deal for Working People.”

He added: “Together with workers, industry and trade unions, Labour will deliver the greatest investment in the future of the North Sea in a generation.

“Only Labour has a plan to unlock Scotland’s potential as a clean energy superpower and deliver good jobs, lower bills and greater energy security for Scotland.”

Meanwhile, green groups and unions have also urged the next government to provide a “clear and funded” transition plan for workers in the offshore oil and gas industry.

More than 60 climate organisations signed an open letter sent to all party leaders on Thursday based on a report backed by leading trade unions.

Signatories – which include Greenpeace, Oxfam and Friends of the Earth – are calling for a UK-wide industrial strategy, including substantial investment in domestic manufacturing and skills, expansion of publicly owned energy, and reorganising the tax system for public good.

The groups also urged the next government to expand sectoral collective bargaining across the energy industry and supply chain, and provide a jobs guarantee to ensure every oil and gas worker can find equivalent, alternative employment or funded retraining.

“The climate movement stands in solidarity with these workers and unions,” they wrote.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), which backed the report, said the union will work with environmental groups and governments “to guarantee fair treatment, job security, and new opportunities for oil and gas workers”.

“We firmly believe that a just transition in the offshore energy sector is not just a necessity but a moral imperative to secure all our futures,” he said. “As we move towards greener energy, it is crucial that the valuable skills and expertise of our members working in the oil and gas sector supply chain are not lost.”

The letter is also calling for a phase-out of oil and gas in the North Sea as a “crucial step” to meet the UK’s “binding climate commitments, address the UK’s historic role as a disproportionate producer of emissions, and prevent further devastating loss and damage”.

Elsewhere, the signatories said oil and gas industry jobs have halved in the last decade with around 227,000 lost since 2013, despite the government issuing hundreds of new drilling licences and energy firms recording record profits.

They also pointed to job losses already forecast at the Grangemouth oil refinery and Port Talbot Steelworks.

The letter reads: “Industry bosses have been left to determine the terms of the decline, prioritising shareholder profits over affordable energy, green investment or job creation.

“The longer we wait to implement a worker-led just transition in the North Sea – and other high carbon industries – the worse off communities that rely on these industries will be.”

Analysis by the Trade Unions Congress suggests action to meet the UK’s climate commitments has the potential to create over a million good new jobs.

Mel Evans, Greenpeace UK climate team leader, said: “There is no such thing as climate justice without worker justice.

“We urgently need the next government to bring forward a bold green industrial strategy and transition plan to support workers into low-carbon jobs.”

A spokesperson for Unite the Union said it “welcomes support from the climate movement”.

“We are fully behind a transition to greener energy, but this must be a fair transition, one that has workers and communities at its heart,” they added.

Other signatories include Extinction Rebellion UK, Green New Deal Rising, Global Witness, Global Justice Now, StopRosebank and Greener Jobs Alliance.

The report created in consultation with workers in the offshore oil and gas industry, was also backed by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), Unite the Union Scotland and Unison Scotland.

Offshore Energies UK said the industry can support jobs, grow the economy and cut emissions by investing in £200bn in energy projects in the UK through a transition backed by “homegrown companies”.

The trade body on Wednesday backed a declaration signed by five former cross-party ministers, including Amber Rudd and Brian Wilson, advocating the need for “critical” private investment by offshore energy companies, including oil and gas producers.

A spokesman said: “These investments matter to the 200,000 people whose jobs are supported by domestic offshore energy production and whose future relies on the national energy transition being a success.

“All parties have recognised the sheer scale of investment needed to reach net zero means private investment will be critical.

“As OEUK’s manifesto sets out, with a partnership approach and community engagement, the UK can deliver a transition which leaves no individual or community behind.”

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “These campaign groups highlight the danger that the Labour Party poses to our energy security and Britain’s 200,000 oil and gas workers through their ideological and ‘infeasible’ energy proposals that will shut down the North Sea oil and gas industry.

“Only Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives have a pragmatic plan that will bolster Britain’s energy security whilst delivering net zero without saddling families with the cost.”

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: “We welcome this letter from leading climate organisations on a just transition, and the backing this has from unions.

“It is dangerous and reckless to continue extracting more oil and gas and elected Green MPs will push for phasing out fossil fuels.”

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