Meeting of the Parliament 11 November 2025
I congratulate Liam Kerr on securing the debate and on his very logical contribution. I thank Professor Paul de Leeuw and Sumin Kim of the Robert Gordon University Energy Transition Institute for their work in putting together the “Striking the Balance” report.
As an Aberdonian—a north-east loon—who has many family members and friends working in oil and gas, I know how vital the energy industry is to the area that I represent and beyond. As the report tells us, in 2024 there were around 154,000 energy jobs in the UK, with 75 per cent of the people in them working in oil and gas and the remaining 25 per cent in renewables. In the UK, about one person in every 215 among the working population has an energy-related job. In the north-east of Scotland, one person in every six who are in work is employed by the energy industry. Striking the balance is, therefore, absolutely essential to protect jobs, the economy and the communities of the north-east. If that balance is not struck, the people I represent will be left to the same fate as miners and mining communities were in years past, and there will be no just transition.
We know from the report that, between 2023 and 2024, a balance was struck. About 5,000 oil and gas jobs went, but the renewables workforce increased by about the same amount. The report highlights that a just transition can be achieved, but that it will not be easy. It says that a balance can be achieved with the possibility of growth in the offshore workforce.
However, my fear is that the worst-case scenario—the loss of 82,000 oil and gas jobs, with only 45,000 renewables jobs gained—is more likely than the best-case scenario in which there would be jobs growth. Why do I say that? Well, the UK Labour Government is ignoring the experts—academics, industry, the workforce, the trade unions and communities. UK Labour is wedded to the energy profits levy, which is impeding North Sea investment; it is thirled to halting further exploration; and it is failing to invest enough in the renewables sector.
The report says that, in order to strike the balance,
“Planning the plan requires coordinated action”,
but the problem is that Labour has no plan. Shutting down the North Sea prematurely and importing oil and gas from elsewhere is not a plan. Stopping the likes of the Jackdaw gas development would mean no St Fergus and no Mossmorran, and it would make it nigh-on impossible to get the Acorn carbon capture project off the ground.