Ed Miliband has said the government will “win this fight” against critics of Britain’s net zero plan, in part by creating more offshore wind jobs in the country’s former industrial heartlands.
The energy secretary appeared to take aim at his political opponents in the Conservative and Reform UK parties as he launched a £1bn investment scheme to bolster job opportunities in the offshore wind supply chain.
He told an energy industry conference on Tuesday that the investment would usher in a “green industrial revolution” for workers in manufacturing heartlands such as Teesside, Scotland, south Wales and East Anglia.
Britain’s former industrial towns have shown growing support for the Reform party, which has promised to scrap Britain’s net zero agenda if it comes to power in the next election in 2029.
The Conservative party’s leader, Kemi Badenoch, has also vowed to drop her party’s commitment to reaching net zero by 2050 after describing the legally binding climate target as “impossible”.
Miliband told journalists at Tuesday’s event: “We’re going to win this fight, and we’re going to win this fight partly because of all the jobs that these companies are creating with us.
“The forces that want to take us backwards, the forces that oppose net zero, will have to reckon not just with the government. They will have to reckon with all these companies that are creating jobs.”
The government’s £1bn investment in the supply chain companies that support the offshore wind industry includes £300m funding from Great British Energy and match funding of £300m from the offshore wind industry. This will come alongside a £400m investment from the crown estate.
The government expects the funding to support thousands of long-term additional jobs, including the electricians manufacturing the turbines and blades used by offshore windfarm developers to the engineers responsible for the construction and maintenance of windfarms.
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A report by the industry trade group RenewableUK has found that 55,000 people now work in the UK wind industry, including 40,000 in offshore wind – an increase of almost a quarter in the last two years.
The report found that between 74,000 and 95,000 people will be needed to meet the government’s plan to quadruple Britain’s offshore wind capacity by the end of the decade, which would take the total UK wind workforce to more than 112,000 by 2030.
The highest numbers of new jobs are expected to be created in the east of England and in Yorkshire and the Humber, where there was growing support for the Reform party in the recent council elections. New offshore wind jobs are also expected in Scotland, which will hold its local elections in 2027.
