Exclusive:Labour to equip Scotland with ‘renewable-ready ports’ to scale up green energy ambitions

Scotland will see key ports upgraded to ensure renewables and other green technologies are manufactured at home under a Labour government.

An incoming Labour government will equip Scotland with a fleet of “renewable-ready ports” to boost the county’s renewable energy future by injecting £1.8 billion of investment across the UK in the first five years of Keir Starmer coming to power.

The party says the strategy will prepare Scotland to step up its renewables revolution and place Scotland’s coastal communities at the centre of Labour’s green energy plans.

New upgrades to Scottish ports could include constructing new quays, quay reinforcement, more laydown space, deeper access and more functional space, according to the party - which will help accelerate Scotland’s offshore technologies over the next decade.

The Port of Nigg is already supporting pre-assembly construction of wind turbine components

Labour bosses believe the policy will overturn the “stagnation and offshoring of British jobs and manufacturing”, with a lack of investment from the current UK government set to “strangle the capacity to deliver on offshore wind targets” amid fears Scotland “could lose the global race for floating offshore wind”.

It comes as Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told Scotland on Sunday that he aims to return Holyrood to a “sensible grown-up politics” by winning the 2026 Scottish Parliament election and leading a minority government in Edinburgh - working in tandem with Sir Keir, who is set to enter Downing Street later this year.

On Friday, SNP First Minister John Swinney opened the door to a collaborative working relationship with an incoming Labour government at Westminster, hoping Sir Keir “will be willing to engage constructively with us”.

Labour's shadow business and industrial strategy secretary Jonathan Reynolds (Photo by Lucy North/PA Wire)

Scotland will play a crucial part in Labour’s flagship green prosperity plan - with publicly-owned clean energy company, GB Energy, to be based north of the Border while Scotland holds a lot of the UK’s renewables potential - not just in wind but emerging technologies such as tidal and hydrogen.

But Scotland’s ports will receive an early overhaul as part of the strategy that will help coastal communities to start manufacturing renewable technologies on a scale not seen before, according to the party. Labour hopes its proposed national wealth fund will invest £1.8 billion in upgrading ports across the UK, with the party’s strategy pointing to the Forth, Tayside and North East of Scotland for investment.

Sir Keir’s team believes the investments, alongside the British Jobs Bonus, will create thousands of jobs in renewable energy manufacturing at ports, as well as in fabrication, operations and maintenance of renewables assets.

The party has come under fire around its policy for oil gas, with the Unite the union launching a major campaign this weekend warning North Sea workers will be “betrayed” if an estimated 30,000 jobs are pushed “over a cliff edge”. It has said Scottish communities would be “devastated” if Labour pulls the plug on new oil and gas licences without a plan.

Seagreen, which will generate enough renewable electricity to supply 1.6 million homes, is currently under construction in the North Sea. Turbines have been shipped from the Port of Nigg to their final location, around 17 miles off the Angus coastline

Labour is confident there are big opportunities from the wider net zero transition for Scottish ports - including in green hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructure and the decarbonisation of shipping. It is hoped the cash boost will also help support jobs in green industries and manufacturing so that parts of wind turbines and other technologies can be built and constructed in the UK and Scotland instead of overseas.

Labour shadow business and industrial strategy secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, told Scotland on Sunday that businesses “need to see more political stability across all parts of the UK to be able to invest for the future” as he set out the importance of Scotland’s ports to his party’s blueprint.

He added: “They need to see the UK recognise it has to be more competitive, particularly in an era when you’ve got the Inflation Reduction Act in the US and you’ve got the response in the EU. It’s about recognising that unless we are ambitious for the future, and frankly it is an ambitious strategy, we are going to miss out on opportunities that we could otherwise have.”

“I think that the case for an ambitious, long-term industrial strategy that realises the potential that there is in Scotland is exciting and is the only real way you do realise that potential.”

British-made turbine blades at Moray West are 108m long, the same length as a professional football pitch and the longest on any offshore wind farm in the UK

Mr Reynolds acknowledged Scotland’s offshore wind potential but also pointed to “hydrogen, nuclear, carbon capture and storage” as other potential industries that will scale up. in the years ahead.

The shadow secretary said the party will create “renewable-ready ports” across Scotland.

He said: “We’re going to need a level of infrastructure in coastal communities, in those ports, to enable some of this potential. It’s one of the more immediate things people will be able to see - they will not only recognise the investment that will come into those ports but what it is enabling.

“It will be the first time in some time where those coastal port communities will get that sense of how integral they are to the national and Scottish story and prosperity for the future.”

The First Minister has also recognised the potential of Scotland’s ports to scale up the green transition - using his first key speech on the economy to highlight the establishment of the Scottish Offshore Wind Ports Alliance that will fast-track the required expertise to support the UK’s burgeoning offshore wind industry and optimise large-scale operations and address common and complex industry challenges.

Mr Swinney said: “This initiative shows the strong appetite of the sector to work strategically and collaboratively. That approach will be crucial to delivering transformational opportunities at scale and pace.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar (Photo by Lisa Ferguson)

He added: “The fact that we are now beginning to see major manufacturing for offshore wind projects here on Scottish soil is the start of a new era. It is hard to over-estimate the potential prize.”

Mr Sarwar told Scotland on Sunday that Labour will place “economic growth front and centre” of its vision.

He said: “A key part of that economic growth is around the green revolution - there’s a disproportionate benefit and opportunity in Scotland around maximising the opportunities of that.

“GB Energy, which will be headquartered here in Scotland that will use the force of a UK-wide Treasury to help drive the revolution that we will see up here. We’ve got opportunities around onshore wind, offshore wind, tidal, solar, micro nuclear, carbon capture and storage.”

He added: “The UK can give us stability, but so many of the levers we need to pull to maximise fully those opportunities are fully devolved and exist either in the Scottish Parliament or our local authorities.

“We need to get back to a politics where we have two governments that are working together in the national interest rather than two governments that are frustrating, fighting, faking fights for their own political end rather than maximising the opportunities that come from Scotland.

“Skills is fully devolved here, our planning system is fully devolved and we have to make huge advances in planning. We have to declutter our economic landscape and make it more fit for purpose. Our tax system is also fully devolved here - that’s about attracting talent, retaining talent, encouraging talent to come forward.”

Mr Sarwar is setting his sights on 2026 and potentially leading a minority Labour government, which he insists would step up action for Scotland in partnership with his party’s UK government.

He said: “What we want to do and what we’ll seek to do is take the Scottish Parliament back to its founding principles - a parliament of minorities seeking to cooperate when it’s in the national interest to get things done for Scotland.

“Coming out of that election, we would seek to form a minority government and the nature of minority government is on individual issues to seek agreement with individual politicians or parties - that doesn’t require any formal agreement or formal coalitions - what it requires is sensible grown-up politics and putting the national interest first.”