Labour leader Keir Starmer has said he will deliver “cheaper bills with clean electricity by 2030” in a speech setting out his green prosperity plans if Labour win the next election.
He said his target of 2030 is an “ambitious goal” but “it is a race we have to win.”
Labour has recently come under pressure from environmentalists as the party made a U-turn on its pledge to invest £28 billion a year in green industries if it wins power.
In his speech, Starmer also announced that Great British Energy, the publicly-owned clean energy company, will be based in Scotland.
Subscribe to Sustainability Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest sustainability news sent straight to your inbox each morning
It will play a key role in ensuring that Labour will “deliver lower bills, good jobs, and energy security for Scotland and the whole UK, as Britain leads the world in the fight against climate change.”
Starmer acknowledged that although fossil fuels currently play a “huge role” in Scotland, a move away from them must “happen eventually.”
“If we wait until North Sea oil and gas runs out, the opportunities this change can bring for Scotland and your community will pass us by, and that would be a historic mistake,” he said.
Instead, the clean energy plan will “harness the wealth that is in our air, in our seas, in our skies” and promises to create 50,000 new jobs in Scotland.
