ALBA have held a protest outside of the UK Government’s Aberdeen offices, renaming it as the “department for energy insecurity and net job losses”.
Party leader Kenny MacAskill slammed the “unjust transition”, adding that Labour has “failed to deliver” on the promises it made at the General Election.
Alba held the protest outside the offices of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) on Friday.
McAskill was pictured holding a sign with the department’s name, with red pen highlighting the changes in a dig at the Government’s energy policy.
Speaking outside the offices, MacAskill said: "We are here today outside the UK Government Office in Aberdeen to highlight the 'unjust transition' taking place.
“Labour has failed to deliver on the promises made before the UK Election to make Aberdeen and the North East an energy powerhouse.
"Keir Starmer promised to put Scotland at the 'beating heart of the UK.'
“Instead we are facing the prospect of losing 400 jobs, the equivalent of Grangemouth closing, every fortnight and the loss of 115,000 jobs over five years.”
“The lack of activity is startling,” he added.
“This should be renamed the Department of Energy Insecurity and Net Job Losses.
"The suits are coming into Aberdeen, a few dozen, maybe even a few more than that but what we are seeing are thousands of workers laid off in the North Sea.
“It’s suits in, boiler suits out under this Labour Government.
"The oil in the North Sea should be Scotland's resource.
“The North Sea should be booming, Scotland requires it and yet what we are seeing is the North Sea being shut down with Aberdeen and the North East paying the price and few suits in will not replace the tens of thousands of boiler suits being lost.
“It’s time for independence. It’s time we controlled our own North Sea oil and it’s time we got the North Sea booming once again.”
Ann Joss, RMT regional organiser, said: "What we have in real terms is what feels like total abandonment of a highly skilled workforce who feel badly let down and the continuous job losses are a reflection of that, not just directly in the sector but across the supply chain and our communities.
“A lot of focus needs to be on the progress of the skills passport, the new jobs in green energy, collective bargaining rights across the whole sector, so in a way we are talking about advancement in all of these things for our workers in the North Sea.”
A DESNZ spokesperson said: “We have taken rapid steps to deliver the next generation of good jobs for North Sea workers in a fair and orderly transition as part of our Plan for Change, including by making the biggest investment in offshore wind and two first-of-a-kind carbon capture storage clusters.
“We have published new guidance for oil and gas developers on environmental impact assessments to bring greater clarity and stability to the sector, which will continue to play an important role as the world embraces the drive to clean energy, with the North Sea in a prime position to lead the way with its vast offshore expertise.
“And Great British Energy, headquartered in Aberdeen, has already announced a £300 million investment into British supply chains, unlocking significant investment and helping to create thousands of skilled jobs.”
We previously told how £2.5 billion of investment that was due to go to clean energy projects via GB Energy was to go to funding nuclear energy instead.
UK energy minister Michael Shanks refused to apologise after the funding cut emerged.
Labour politicians have refused to confirm how many, if any, jobs GB Energy has created.
