NEW REPORT: IT’S TIME TO PUT SCOTTISH WORKERS FIRST

• Today, the Conservative Environment has launched a new report that offers a credible approach to the North Sea, ensuring Scotland’s energy security and at-risk workers are protected.

• For too long, Reform, the SNP, and Labour have treated North Sea oil and gas workers as a political football, instead of addressing the challenges they face as job losses have mounted.

• This report goes to the heart of these challenges with policies to unlock private investment into renewable supply chains, geothermal, and nuclear, and to help former oil and gas workers transition into these new, well-paid jobs. 

The Conservative Environment Network has launched a new report, Securing Scotland's future: a conservative plan for a responsible energy transition. The report responds to the decline of North Sea oil and gas and the 1,000 jobs per month that are being lost, and offers credible policies to safeguard our long-term energy security, boost employment within Scotland’s energy sector, and protect existing oil and gas workers.

The report argues Labour and the SNP are accelerating the decline of the North Sea through their policies, but stresses that the mature basin is heavily depleted and the costs for companies to extract oil and gas are high by international standards. As a result, although Labour’s windfall tax is causing unnecessary pain for workers, the North Sea oil and gas sector, which once employed 440,000 Scottish workers, will continue to decline in the decades ahead. Reform has no plan to secure workers’ future beyond oil and gas.

A plan to attract new investment in the energy industry and protect Scottish workers is essential. Inaction will have a devastating impact on the Scottish economy and Scottish families. Therefore, CEN puts forward several key policies to support employment, investment, and energy security: 

• Expand the energy skills passport to recognise the expertise of oil and gas workers. 

  • Strengthening the energy skills passport, a digital platform designed for professionals across the energy sector, will make it easier for oil and gas workers to find new work within the energy sector and reduce the burden on them to complete new training. Their oil and gas qualifications should automatically be recognised in renewable energy industries, to save them money on expensive new courses.

• Equip young people with the skills they need for careers in the energy sector.

  • Reprioritising teacher training funding towards STEM subjects.

  • Reprioritising tertiary education funding towards apprenticeships.

  • Streamlining bureaucracy for institutions looking to create new vocational courses.

• Help unleash new energy investment in Scotland. 

  • Lifting the ban on new nuclear in Scotland.

  • Expanding Permitted Development Rights for small-scale geothermal heat networks, thereby expediting the planning process for new geothermal projects.

  • Designate more Energy Transition Zones within the North East of Scotland Investment Zone to onshore renewable supply chains.

Potential of geothermal: 

The Scottish government should support the development of geothermal, a reliable energy source which harnesses renewable heat from the Earth’s core. There is substantial potential for geothermal in Scotland, in particular from abandoned mineworkings (such as in the Midland Valley), hot sedimentary aquifers, and hot dry rocks. 

Geothermal could make a sizeable contribution to Scotland’s energy security: the heat trapped in the 600 cubic kilometres of disused mines throughout Scotland’s central belt could meet up to 8% of domestic heating demand. Geothermal could provide reliable energy to Scotland in a number of ways, for instance by: providing homes with a stable heating supply through ground-source heat pumps; heating entire cities through geothermal-powered heat networks; and producing electricity with the steam produced through the drilling of deep boreholes powering turbines. There is currently just one deep geothermal project being explored to help NHS Grampian lower its operating costs and emissions. 

Director of the Conservative Environment Network Sam Hall said:

“Labour, Reform, and SNP are failing to take the transition in the North Sea seriously. Labour and the SNP are exacerbating the pain of Scottish communities by over-taxing oil and gas, whilst Reform is ignoring reality and failing to offer long-term solutions. They are letting Scottish workers down.

“The next Scottish government needs a credible plan to safeguard energy security and protect jobs. Oil and gas workers are the backbone of communities in the North East of Scotland, and have skills that are critical for the energy transition. To stop them going to work abroad, we need to cut the red tape that prevents their expertise and qualifications being recognised in other energy industries. This will help us protect the workforce of today whilst generating the energy of tomorrow. 

“It is also time to lift unnecessary barriers to new energy investment in Scotland. This is vital for creating new energy jobs as oil and gas production declines. The SNP’s nonsensical ban on building new nuclear plants is depriving Scotland of a reliable source of clean energy, private investment, and well-paid jobs. Additionally, geothermal is an untapped resource in Scotland; more pilot projects and streamlining of regulation could offer Scotland a much needed boost to both its energy security and economy.” 

Former Secretary of State for Scotland John Lamont said: 

"Oil and gas jobs are disappearing in Scotland at an alarming rate. The current approach to the energy transition is not realistic, and the SNP government refuses to embrace alternatives, such as the renewal of nuclear power to support our energy needs.

“Labour and the SNP’s policies are causing thousands to lose their jobs, leaving many unable to find new ones due to a lack of reskilling opportunities. Reform is also failing to recognise the geological reality that the oil and gas sector is in decline and has no plan to support Scottish workers in securing long-term employment.

“Scotland’s workers and the communities built on oil and gas deserve a realistic plan to secure their future. CEN’s paper proposes positive ideas, helping those who have powered our nation to access reskilling courses and move into new jobs in the energy sector. These roles are essential for supporting communities, delivering the energy transition and securing Scotland’s economic future."