SNP WESTMINSTER leader Stephen Flynn has called on the Prime Minister to meet with energy workers during his visit to the North East to meet Donald Trump.
Flynn wrote a letter to Keir Starmer inviting him to the meeting with workers and those in the wider industry, noting that it shouldn’t have taken a visit from Trump to “drag [him] up to Aberdeen”.
Starmer has not visited Aberdeen since before the election, despite the UK Government’s latest energy policies affecting roles within Scotland’s energy sector. In the letter, Flynn warned that the Labour Government's fiscal regime has cost thousands of jobs with net zero and energy security now at risk.
Starmer and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband have faced widespread backlash over the scrapping of zonal pricing, as well as the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery.
Flynn’s letter continues: “The just transition is being put in jeopardy by your government that chooses to sit silent as workers lose their jobs, energy security is put at risk, economic growth is lost, supply chains are offshored and net zero targets are missed.
“The independent expert advice is clear - we will see a Grangemouth scale of job losses each and every fortnight if your government does not shift from its misguided position and protect the energy industry of today so that the workforce can use their skills and expertise to develop the net zero industries of tomorrow.
“The opportunities of net zero are enormous, but they will not be realised if the Labour Government continues with its current fiscal regime that deters stability, confidence and investment in existing industries and we therefore lose our best people, and world-class supply chain, to nations elsewhere.
“Whether it is the impact of the Energy Profits Levy or your misguided investment in nuclear energy south of the border, we run the real risk of being in a ‘worst of all worlds’ type scenario and that would be unforgivable.”
