STORY
A senior trade union leader has criticised Labour’s net zero approach, warning that the transition risks damaging jobs in traditional industrial and energy communities. Gary Smith, the general secretary of the GMB union, reportedly accused the Government of pursuing policies that could cost employment in North Sea oil and gas and related sectors.
The criticism is politically awkward for Labour because the GMB is one of the party’s most important affiliated unions. Smith argued that clean energy policy must create secure domestic employment rather than rely heavily on imported infrastructure, and warned that some working-class voters were being pushed towards Reform UK by economic insecurity.
The Government has argued that clean energy investment will create new jobs and strengthen Britain’s long-term energy security. However, the intervention highlights the challenge facing ministers as they try to combine climate commitments with industrial policy, union support and the politics of communities that fear being left behind.