Boosting Scotland’s future with GB Energy - Ian Murray

Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar on a tour of St Fergus Gas Terminal in Peterhead

This is the publicly-owned energy company that a UK Labour government will deliver if elected into office in July. It will be transformational for Scotland, as it will be headquartered here.

The SNP is all talk and no action when it comes to our nation’s renewable potential, with the Scottish Government consistently failing to deliver. That will fundamentally change with a Labour government at Westminster.

First, GB Energy will generate 53,000 new clean energy jobs in Scotland – along with another 16,000 through a Warm Homes Plan to insulate hundreds of thousands of Scottish homes.

GB Energy will work by bringing billions of pounds of private investment into the energy sector – something the SNP can’t seem to get its head around, with its candidates displaying a complete lack of understanding of how industry works.

But as well as thousands of new jobs, Labour’s plan will also bring down energy bills permanently.

Families have paid an extra £1880 on their energy bills over the last two years. That’s why we need greater energy security at home so we don’t have to rely on imports, enabling us to bring down these bills.

And all this will be funded by a proper windfall tax on the huge excess profits of energy giants.

Remarkably, in one of the most extraordinary political decisions of modern times, the SNP continues to oppose this.

John Swinney believes that nurses and teachers earning £29,000-a-year should be taxed more, but doesn’t want the giant energy companies which are making billions in profit to pay any more tax. It’s a policy that would make even the most right-wing Tory blush.

So Scotland cannot afford to miss this opportunity to build a greener country under Labour.

Last week, Anas Sarwar set out the first six steps for a Labour government if the people of the UK and Scotland put their trust in us.

We will focus on what matters to Scots – delivering economic stability, maximising Scotland’s influence, cutting NHS waiting times, driving down bills, creating jobs and boosting pay for working families.

By closing the Tories’ non-dom tax loophole and cracking down on tax avoidance we will create 160,000 more NHS appointments every single year in Scotland.

And to help families even more, we will also make work pay – with a genuine living wage that will deliver a pay rise for 200,000 Scots.

We will make sure our young people have the skills they need for the jobs of tomorrow.

And we will seize the opportunity to maximise Scotland’s influence. A UK Labour government with Scotland at its heart and Scottish Labour MPs driving it.

Scotland cannot afford five more years of this rotten Tory government. Imagine waking up on July 5 to the prospect of another five years of Rishi Sunak. We can’t take that risk.

This is an opportunity we can’t afford to miss. Only by voting Labour can we make sure the Tories are booted out of power.