Key Points
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Keir Starmer confirms GB Energy HQ will be based in Aberdeen - Edinburgh and Glasgow will host two smaller sites
- Labour leader delivers news during his first party conference speech as Prime Minister
- Starmer tells an audience in Liverpool he will ‘build a new Britain’ but says it will take time
- GB Energy will primarily be used as an investment vehicle to power renewable energy projects
- It’s expected to bring tens of thousands of jobs to Scotland and billions in investment
- Speech briefly interrupted after protester shouts at Prime Minister
The UK Government’s new state-owned energy company will be based in Aberdeen, Keir Starmer has confirmed.
Two additional sites will open in Edinburgh and Glasgow, once Great British Energy is up and running.
STV News reported in September that GB Energy will be based in the North East city but ministers had refused to be drawn on the location.
On Tuesday though, the Prime Minister told the party’s conference in Liverpool: “We said GB Energy, our publicly owned national champion, the vehicle will drive forward our mission on clean energy, we said it belonged in Scotland, and it does.
“But the truth is, it could only really ever be based in one place in Scotland.
“So today, I can confirm that the future of British energy will be powered as it has been for decades, by the talent and skills of the working people in the Granite City with GB Energy based in Aberdeen.”
GB Energy won’t supply power to homes but it will invest in new renewable technology as well as green power projects.
Starmer has said it would be crucial to Labour’s pledge to cut annual energy bills by £300, although it’s not yet clear how and when that will happen.
He pledged to “build a new Britain” and fix its foundations but warned it would take time. It’s his first conference speech as Prime Minister following Labour’s landslide victory at the General Election victory.
He said his government would get the economy back on track and deliver for communities throughout Britain.
A heckler who interrupted his speech was met with a prepared joke about the Jeremy Corbyn era from the Prime Minister, following an incident at last year’s annual conference when he was sprayed with glitter by a protester during his speech, with Sir Keir responding on Tuesday: “This guy’s obviously got a pass to the 2019 conference.”
But a renewed appeal for the release of hostages in Gaza was delivered less smoothly, with the Prime Minister instead calling for the release of the “sausages” in remarks that were swiftly clipped up on social media by the Tories.
Sir Keir joined Chancellor Rachel Reeves in doubling down on the Government’s decision to means-test the winter fuel payment, insisting “every pensioner will be better off with Labour”, but adding that he understands people’s concerns.
The PM told members that GB Energy will bring tens of thousands of jobs to Scotland and billions in investment while making the nation a leader in the “clean energy revolution”.
It was widely expected Aberdeen would be the headquarters of GB Energy due to its status as the oil capital of the UK.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn have publicly called on Starmer to make the north east the main base of the firm.
GB Energy will help Scotland and the wider UK move away from fossil fuels by investing in renewable energy.
It will be funded through a windfall tax on oil and gas corporations which Labour says will raise about £8.3bn over the next five years.
But the party wants the majority of the investment to come from the private sector.
Experts have previously told STV News that more clarity is needed on GB Energy.
Professor Gioia Falcone, a sustainable energy expert at the University of Glasgow, said the public “still needs to know what exactly GB Energy will do” and what the long-term plan is.
“My understanding is still, unfortunately, very limited,” she told STV News. “I am still confused as to what decisional power GB Energy may have in a partnership where the cash available from GB Energy will be incredibly small compared to the cash from the other partners in the project.
“I don’t see GB Energy leading from a financial perspective but I am also confused how it can lead from a diplomatic perspective.
“And ultimately how GB Energy can or cannot contribute to fixing prices to the end customer, I am still unsure.”
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