Every major party has turned their back on North East oil and gas workers, despite the fact that revenues from North Sea windfall taxes are currently keeping the whole UK finances solvent.
It seems like some politicians would rather import hydrocarbons from overseas than sustain jobs at home in the North Sea. It is a position which will do nothing to help Scotland’s net zero ambitions and will simply export jobs internationally.
We believe in the continuation of North Sea Oil on the condition that all new oil and gas licences should require a specific field commitment of a zero net carbon footprint achieved largely by investment in the developing carbon capture network.
It is vital that the people of Scotland feel the benefits of our great natural wealth, therefore we believe that there should be a minimum 20 per cent public share in all offshore wind energy projects administered by a public Scottish Energy Company.
The ALBA Party will make The Acorn Project a number one priority, part of a daily demand to move forward with carbon capture. Instead of freezing developing the North Sea we will support new offshore developments on the basis that they have a carbon capture proposal as a licence condition.
In that way we can reconcile the saving of Scottish jobs with the future of the planet. No government supported by The ALBA Party will ever again sell out North Sea workers.
The question is not whether we get to net zero – we have no choice to meet this planetary imperative – but how we get there. I say we get there by using technology and our brains and not by turning our backs on the North Sea workforce.