Green energy will one day be as totemic to our North East identity as coal mining and ship building.
That’s our vision and it’s one backed by workers right across the region - they can see that we’re positioning our region to lead the way, especially in offshore.
As we celebrate 25 years of the industry, with the first turbines established in Blyth in my region in 2000, there is no better time to reflect on what we’ve achieved and look forward to what’s still to come.
With our unrivalled access to the North Sea, we’ve already attracted global and national clean energy companies keen to tap into our skilled workforce, but I want to grow rapidly.
Our efforts won’t just benefit our North East communities, it will help ensure the energy security our nation needs now more than ever as we face up to both climate change and Russian aggression.
Despite the doom and gloom headlines of Reform, our renewable energy sector is growing and I couldn’t be more optimistic about what the North East has to offer and the path we’re on.
Around 1,000 renewable energy companies already have a base in the North East, employing around 25,000 people, that’s 3% percent of the UK total. Most importantly, that’s pay packets for families right across my region.
If we grasp the offshore wind opportunity, over the next ten years the North East can double the amount of green energy jobs in the region. To me, it seems like a no brainer. However, not everyone shares that desire for a future powered by green energy.
The comments we hear repeatedly from Reform around Net Zero would risk the 25,000 green energy jobs in my region and the thousands more we’re planning to create.
They’ll make the grave error, as we transition away from fossil fuels, of doing what Margaret Thatcher did and denying workers a just transition. Back then, miners and shipbuilders in their droves, including my dad, lost their jobs with no clear idea of what the future held.
Given the opportunities renewables can bring for our communities, we turn our back on offshore, and green energy more widely, at our peril.
We haven’t forgotten the damage those job losses did to our tight-knit communities who relied on those sectors, but we have the opportunity to make sure we don’t see history repeat itself.
We find ourselves at a crossroads, with one path leading us towards a green industrial shock for thousands of households in the North East and beyond. Where we turn our back on climate change and our future is shaped by reliance on Russia rather than standing on our own two feet.
However, there is another path. One that will create a positive future where we grow our green energy sector fast so we tackle climate change while creating real jobs for our communities and give our workers a just transition.
The latter is the path that I will continue to work hard towards, championing our offshore sector, so the North East can become the English home of green energy.
