Put north of England ‘front and centre’ of net zero strategy, Reeves urged | Green politics
Rachel Reeves has been urged to put the north of England at the heart of the UK’s net zero strategy as research shows the sector contributes a larger share of the region’s economy than nationally.
Labour’s Julie Elliott said the North should be “front and centre” of the Treasury’s clean energy growth strategy.
Analysis published by business group Northern Powerhouse Partnership shows that net zero accounts for a higher share of regional output in the north of England than across Britain, with the north accounting for just over a fifth of the country’s net zero output.
In Sunderland, where the strategy accounts for a higher share of economic output than anywhere else in the north, Labor leaders have warned that Reform England would dismantle the sector if it comes to power at the next general election.
Nigel Farage’s party is expected to take control of hundreds of council seats in the north of England in local elections in May, which could break Labour’s decades-long stranglehold on Sunderland city council.
Reform UK has pledged to abandon “net stupid zero” policies, which it claims are eliminating jobs in the oil and gas sector.
Chancellor Reeves described clean energy as the “industrial opportunity of the 21st century” and said the UK’s net zero sector was growing three times faster than the wider economy.
Ministers expect the UK’s clean energy workforce to more than double to 800,000 people by 2030.
A report by The Data City, an analytics firm, shows net zero would support 140,000 jobs in the north of England; this – at just under 2% of the total – is in line with the UK average.
But net zero accounts for a higher share of the region’s economic output, with Sunderland, Tyneside, Warrington, Darlington and Cumberland all growing rapidly in this relatively new industry.
In these areas, net zero contributes 6-7% of gross value added (GVA), a measure of how much value companies add to the goods and services they produce. They include high-paying jobs producing electric vehicles and batteries, renovating buildings, and working on wind turbines and solar energy.
Lady Elliott, the former Labor MP for Sunderland Central who now chairs the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said it was vital Reeves set up a clean energy strategy in the north of England.
He said: “If making the north a leader in the energy transition is not front and center of the growth strategy, how can we expect the sovereign wealth fund or GB Energy to allocate more of their investment to the north when the Treasury has not clearly instructed them to do so (as the evidence shows they should do).”
The transition to net zero poses both an opportunity and a risk for the north of England, experts have said. With Treasury support, it will support re-industrialization, increase productivity and strengthen long-term investments in regions trying to recover after the loss of heavy industry. However, if net zero jobs were prioritized elsewhere it would “reinforce existing inequalities” and leave cities and towns such as Sunderland and Warrington behind.
Northern leaders last week welcomed the government’s long-promised commitment to Northern Powerhouse Rail, an improved east-west link to replace the region’s creaking Victorian railways. But many will not see these upgrades until the early 2030s, leading many to urge the Treasury to commit to clean energy in the north to deliver economic recovery sooner.
Michael Mordey, the Labor leader of Sunderland city council, said he feared Reform UK would “implement Trump-like climate change denial policies” that would harm the economy if elected.
He said: “If we set up a Labor council in Sunderland in May, we will continue to attract more of these good-paying jobs for local people to our city.”
