STUC comment on the announced Labour Party Green Prosperity Plan
STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer said:
“The Labour Party’s plans for a publicly owned energy company headquartered in Scotland are welcome. This cannot be done on the cheap and it must form part of a long-term strategy to take our energy infrastructure back into public control. To properly tackle climate change, reduce energy bills, and create green jobs, we estimate this will need to be backed by £40 billion in the next Parliamentary term.
“While we will engage on the detail, a National Wealth Fund which properly captures economic benefit, a Warm Homes Plan which supports local authority-led retrofitting programmes and a British Jobs Bonus which requires renewables developers to create jobs locally and recognise trade unions, are all welcome proposals.
“While this plan falls short of taking our grid and wider energy system back into democratic control, as it already is in much of Europe, it represents a positive, more interventionist approach. We hope this marks the beginning of a genuine effort to put people before the energy profiteers.
“With the Scottish Government’s Energy Strategy under review, we need similar initiatives now to build an energy system that works for people first in Scotland. A public energy company, concrete measures for local authority retrofit programmes and guaranteed jobs in the low carbon supply chain through ScotWind licensing must be central to the revised Energy Strategy.”
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