Britain’s main unions have criticised offshore wind commitments made by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson during his speech at the Conservative Party Conference.
GMB national secretary Jude Brimble said the UK “desperately needs huge investment” in green energy infrastructure and the millions of jobs that would create.
“The Prime Minister is relying on powers the UK may or may not have post-Brexit. Once again his promises look like nothing more than hot air,” said Brimble.
Unite Scotland secretary Pat Rafferty (pictured) described the announcement by the Prime Minister that the UK will commit to 60% of turbines to be manufactured domestically as “rehashed rhetoric”.
Earlier today Boris Johnson announced plans for a £160m boost for the UK offshore wind industry in his Conservative Party conference speech.
Johnson reiterated the government is committed to raising its target for offshore wind power capacity by 2030 from 30GW to 40GW as part of a plan to “Build Back Greener”.
The £160m will be invested in upgrades to ports and factories, in northern England as well as Wales and Scotland, for building turbines and will create up to 2000 jobs in construction.
Rafferty said: “The UK government has repeatedly failed to act on recommendations for years and belatedly adopting this target only serves to highlight their years of inaction and abandonment of the domestic supply chain.
“The onshore and offshore wind sector in Scotland is on life support. We have the BiFab yards and CS Wind in Campbeltown sitting idle.
“The Prime Minister’s pledge is hollow words for these communities. SSE is awarding work everywhere but Scotland. EDF awarding scraps from the table.
“CS Wind’s Korean owners have mothballed its factory. Talk is cheap. We need action and we need that right now.
Rafferty said the Contracts for Difference Scheme requires reforming to “legally ensure” that domestic companies are “guaranteed work from the billions of pounds being poured into the on and offshore wind sector”.
“The reality is that the people of Fife, Lewis and Argyll and Bute haven’t seen a penny of it,” said Rafferty.
Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail said: “We welcome the prime minister’s conversion to offshore wind farms, but what it reveals is the poverty of ambition compared with France and Germany.
“The spending proposed by Boris Johnson pales into significance with the vast sums that our main European competitors have invested in this sector.
“The commitment for 60% of the turbines to be manufactured in the UK only highlights that much more could have been done to invest in this sector and the jobs boost that would have been created. This was highlighted by the closure of Vestas on the Isle of Wight a decade ago.
“The Johnson rhetoric will turn out to be a mirage without a strong economy, retention of skilled jobs and investment in apprenticeships – and this means that chancellor Rishi Sunak needs to continue to do much more to protect employment as we go through the coronavirus pandemic.”