Offshore windfarm Boris Johnson visited a ‘political failure’, union claims

Boris Johnson faced criticism from opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer and a union boss as he visited an offshore wind farm on the final day of his Scotland trip.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Fraserburgh Harbour on Thursday

The Prime Minister and business minister Kwasi Kwarteng boarded the Esvagt Alba in Fraserburgh Harbour, Aberdeenshire, on Thursday morning before heading several miles out into the Moray Firth to the Moray East Offshore Wind Farm.

As the Esvagt Alba travelled towards the windfarm, the Prime Minister was given a tour by operations manager Gary McGougan and spoke to technicians on board.

As he visited the bridge, which he said was “like the Enterprise”, captain John Christiansen showed him the controls of the ship.

Police on patrol in Fraserburgh Harbour

The 100-turbine development is under construction but began exporting its first power to the National Grid in June.

The development sparked controversy when BiFab fabrication yards in Scotland were overlooked for manufacturing contracts, with jobs going overseas.

GMB General Secretary Gary Smith said: “Boris Johnson will see first-hand what political failure looks like – a massive offshore wind farm worth billions, subsidised by the bill payer, but manufactured and delivered almost exclusively in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

“Moray East is a monument to the broken promises of the political leaders who promised us a ‘Saudi Arabia of renewables’ and it should serve as an important lesson to this Prime Minister.

“If he wants a genuine green jobs revolution across the nations and regions of the UK, then he must stop the mass export of the jobs we need to deliver it.

“Let’s build the future here instead.”

Sir Keir, also on the second day of a two-day visit to Scotland, called for action not “soundbites” from the Prime Minister on climate change.

He said: “We’ve got a UK Prime Minister who bundles around with a cabaret of soundbites, with targets about climate change but doesn’t put in place the action.

“We all know that hydrogen and wind are part of the future, we haven’t got an industrial strategy, we haven’t got a hydrogen strategy.

“Get your head out of the sand, stop the soundbites, let’s have some action.”

Speaking on a visit to the UK’s largest on-shore windfarm, Whitelee just outside of Glasgow, Sir Keir also criticised the Scottish Government claiming it had delivered just one in 20 of the jobs expected from offshore renewables.

He urged both governments “to take their heads of out the sand and make the necessary investment and commitment in next generation energy”.

His comments come as preparations continue for the UK hosting the international climate change summit Cop26 which is being held in Glasgow in autumn.

Earlier, Mr Johnson met with fishing industry leaders in Fraserburgh where he was urged to “stem the haemorrhage” of foreign workers in the fishing industry following Brexit.

He was also told the Brexit deal for the industry “had fallen far short of expectations”.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister visited Police Scotland’s training college at Tulliallan, Fife, and promised “all the money that is needed” will be given to fund the thousands of officers required to police Cop26.

He declined an invitation to meet Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during his trip to discuss coronavirus recovery, which she said was a “missed opportunity”.

About the wind farm visited by Boris Johnson

The wind farm visited by Boris Johnson will be able to provide 40 per cent of Scotland’s energy.

But it has been criticised for snubbing UK manufacturers when awarding contracts to build the 100 turbines off the Scottish coast.

The Prime Minister, joined by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, set out into the Moray Firth to see the wind farm, which is still under construction, as it nears completion.

The Moray East Offshore Wind Farm will be able to provide 950MW of electricity to the National Grid network from the energy generated by its offshore wind turbines.

There are 100 turbines throughout the 295km2 site, built at least 22km off the Scottish coast.

The wind farm boasts that it will be able to provide 40% of Scotland’s electricity, or power up to 950,000 homes across the UK.

Construction began in 2010 and is expected to be completed by the end of August, although the wind farm started exporting power in June. Electricity will be sold at the equivalent of 5.75p/kWhr.

It also claims that 1.7 million tonnes of CO2 emissions will be saved annually.

But the windfarm courted controversy when Scottish BiFab yards were overlooked for manufacturing contracts, with jobs going overseas.

Unions previously described the awarding of contracts for 100 turbine jackets to UAE fabricators Lamprell and Belgian steel constructors Smulders as an “absolute scandal”.

In a joint statement, GMB Scotland Secretary Gary Smith and Unite Scotland Secretary Pat Rafferty said the BiFab yards in Fife “could end up with nothing” from the Moray East and Kincardine projects because of a “spaghetti bowl of vested interest groups with established supply chains of preference”.

They added: “The truth is that state-funded European energy and engineering firms, backed by Far East finance and Middle East sovereign wealth funds, are carving-up thousands of jobs and billions of pounds from our renewables sector.”