Don’t throw workers ‘on the scrapheap’ in pursuit of net zero, union chief says

The head of a union has said workers cannot be thrown “on the scrapheap” in the pursuit of net zero after former prime minister Sir Tony Blair criticised efforts to limit fossil fuels.

Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, said the Government needs a joined up industrial strategy to decarbonise the UK economy “and also secure jobs”.

Sir Tony’s intervention earlier this week was seized on by political opponents as an attack on Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to achieve net zero by 2050.

Asked whether she agreed with Sir Tony’s comments, Ms Graham told Times Radio: “Workers want net zero, my members have no problem with net zero. The problem that we’ve got is that there is no investment currently about how we get to that and also secure jobs.”

She pointed to developments at Grangemouth, where oil refining ended earlier this week, and added: “The problem is that the jobs part of this is not being discussed.

“There hasn’t been one single thing done so far that I can see in terms of investments on wind manufacture, in terms of investments into areas like sustainable air fuel… all of those things have not happened, and you cannot just plough on regardless and throw all of these workers on the scrapheap.

“I have said to the Labour Government that they need to have a joined up industrial strategy.

“You cannot offshore your carbon responsibility. It’s the planet we’re trying to save, not a part of Scotland.”

In a foreword to a report by his think tank the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) published on Tuesday, the New Labour prime minister argued the current climate approach “isn’t working”.

Downing Street rejected his claim that “hysteria” is playing a part in the international debate on climate change.

Asked about her confidence in Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Ms Graham said: “I’m not going to get into the personalities of individual ministers, but what I will say is that there is an absolute lack of a plan.

“We have a plan to transition to wind manufacture, carbon capture, hydrogen, ready sitting and waiting, costed properly… and you get ‘computer says no, let’s discuss it another time’.

“Somebody needs to be in that post that believes in Britain, believes in these skills, believes in the national security of the country.”

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said the Government’s net zero policy would help with jobs growth and investing in the industries of the future, adding: “The PM has said previously that we will deliver net zero in a way that treads lightly on people’s lives, not telling them how to live or behave.

“We are focused on our mission to be a clean-energy superpower.”

Meanwhile, crossbench peer Lord Stern, who wrote a review of climate change’s economic impact for Sir Tony’s New Labour administration nearly 20 years ago, criticised the TBI’s report as “muddled and misleading”.

In a robust show of support for the Government’s approach to net zero, he said: “There is far more progress being made around the world to decarbonise the global economy than it suggests.

“The UK’s leadership on climate change, particularly the elimination of coal from its power sector, is providing an influential example to other countries.”