GMB Calls For Subsidy Reform Amid Reports Of More Renewables Manufacturing Misery
GMB Calls For Subsidy Reform Amid Reports Of More Renewables Manufacturing Misery
GMB Scotland has today (Wednesday 27 May) called on Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack MP to press for urgent reform of the UK Government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) arrangements, and to help bring desperately needed jobs to the UK renewables manufacturing supply chain.
In a joint letter, co-signed by GMB Scotland’s Gary Smith and Unite Scotland’s Pat Rafferty, unions have warned against the prospect of more manufacturing misery amid speculation that work for the £5.7 billion Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm, originally awarded to China, will be reallocated to European yards by the project owner, Perth-based SSE.
Billions of pounds in manufacturing contracts and thousands of potential manufacturing jobs to Scotland’s offshore wind sector were lost to international competitors in 2019, with firms in Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and Spain securing the bulk of work from the Moray East, Kincardine and Neart na Gaoithe projects.
The letter has also been copied to the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work & Culture, Fiona Hyslop MSP.
GMB Scotland Secretary Gary Smith said: “Any credible chance of a “green recovery” depends on urgent reform of the controversial Contracts for Difference scheme.
“Billions of pounds of bill payers money is being trousered by sovereign wealth funds, private equity vultures, Far East financiers and state-backed international competitors, taking the bulk of jobs abroad while Scotland’s struggling supply chain gets scraps from our own projects.
“The withdrawal of the Seagreen manufacturing contracts from China is a second chance for Scotland but instead of doing the right thing and giving the domestic economy some much needed hope, speculation is rising that SSE will award this work to yards across Northern Europe.
“An intervention is needed to end this scandal but Alister Jack has been missing in action. Rather than acting like an absentee landlord he needs to start making the case for CfD reform to help bring desperately needed jobs and investment into our renewables manufacturing supply chains.”
ENDS
Contact: GMB Scotland Communications, on 07976 447077.
Joint Union Letter to Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack MP
