The push for net zero threatens jobs and endangers pedestrian safety, according to reports.
Labour and Unite are at loggerheads over North sea oil policy. Battles between unions and Labour governments are nothing new, but could a Starmer administration face a surprising union rebellion?
In a largely under-reported move in England, the union Unite has launched the ‘No Ban Without a Plan’ campaign against Labour’s policy of refusing new oil and gas extraction licenses in the North Sea.
The campaign demands that Labour suspend this policy. If successful, it would mean a future Labour government, like the Conservatives, would continue granting new licenses until it creates at least 35,000 new ‘energy transition jobs’ in Scotland, matching the current number of oil industry roles.
According to Unite, the goal is to persuade a future Labour government to abandon its planned ban on new oil and gas exploration licenses in the North Sea until a genuine program for a just transition of work is in place.
‘Britain to be held to ransom’
The General Secretary of Unite, Sharon Graham has accused Keir Starmer of following a policy which would allow Britain to ‘be held to ransom by Saudi Arabia or other nations’ and adds:
‘Labour needs to pull back from this irresponsible policy. There is clearly no viable plan for the replacement of North Sea jobs or energy security… Unite will not stand by and let workers be thrown on the scrapheap. North Sea workers cannot be sacrificed on the altar of net zero’.
The union believes that Labour’s current plan to ban all future licences in the North Sea is premature and irresponsible, as there is currently no viable strategy for alternative commensurate green jobs for North Sea workers.
Opposition to Labour’s environmental policy is often assumed to come primarily from the right, including the Conservative right and Reform. Labour typically dismisses critics of net zero measures as outdated. However, the Unite campaign shatters this assumption, revealing growing unrest among workers in the oil and gas sector. These workers are increasingly concerned about job losses and sceptical of the unfulfilled promise of ‘green jobs’ to replace those in fossil fuels.
The Bible says,
Deuteronomy 28:12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
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The Northern sea oil deal
The North Sea Transition Deal is an agreement between industry and government to deliver an orderly energy transition.
Through the deal, the oil and gas sector, largely based in Scotland and the North East, government and trade unions will work together over the next decade and beyond to deliver the skills, innovation and new infrastructure required to decarbonise North Sea production.
The government claims that ‘Not only will the deal support existing companies to decarbonise in preparation for a net zero future by 2050, but it will also create the right business environment to attract new industrial sectors to base themselves in the UK, develop new export opportunities for British business, and secure new high-value jobs for the long-term’.
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Job losses
According to Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), the number of jobs in the oil and gas sector has declined significantly over the past decade, dropping from 117,900 to 74,100. During the same period, employment in Scotland’s low carbon and renewables sector has seen only modest growth, increasing from 23,200 to 25,700 jobs.
OEUK Chief Executive David Whitehouse said: ‘Labour either can’t do the maths or haven’t considered the alarming jobs impact that will be felt up and down the country. With no new investment, 42,000 jobs will go, and we could start to see the effects as early as this year. These are not faceless numbers but decent, hardworking people working across the UK to provide the energy we will need today and in the future.
‘The impact of no new investment will be felt across the whole economy – today we estimate the UK will lose £26 billion of economic value. It will undermine the very industry which can and must play a critical role in delivering a homegrown energy transition.
Meanwhile,Unite’s campaign is particularly pertinent in Scotland, where the Labour Party aims to capitalise on the SNP’s vulnerabilities.
The Bible says,
Proverbs 12:11 He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.
‘Electric cars more likely to hit pedestrians than petrol vehicles’
Electric and Hybrid cars are more likely to hit pedestrians than petrol or diesel vehicles, especially in urban areas, according to an analysis of British road traffic accidents.
Data covering 32 billion miles of battery-powered car travel and 3 trillion miles of petrol and diesel car trips showed that, mile-for-mile, electric and hybrid cars were twice as likely to strike pedestrians as fossil fuel-powered cars, and three times more likely to do so in cities.
The reasons for the increased hazard posed by eco-friendly cars are unclear, but researchers suspect several factors.
The researchers suggested the vehicles’ quieter engines were a significant factor in higher fatality rates and called on the Government to mitigate the risks as it phases out petrol and diesel cars in pursuit of net zero.
Pedestrian casualties
The study examined road collision casualties in Britain from 2013 to 2017 using Road Safety Data. It analysed the number of pedestrians hit by various types of vehicles.
During this period, 96,285 pedestrians were hit by a car or taxi. While three-quarters of these incidents involved cars with combustion engines, this was because they covered considerably more miles.
On average, the study found that 5.16 people were hit by an electric or hybrid car for every 100 million miles driven by that type of vehicle, compared to 2.4 people for petrol and diesel cars.
The road accident data were cross-referenced with annual mileage figures from the National Travel Survey, with 32 billion miles of electric and hybrid vehicle travel and three trillion miles of petrol and diesel vehicle travel included in the analysis.
Two per cent of the pedestrian casualties were caused by an electric vehicle, while 24 per cent of the accidents did not have a record of the engine type.
The researchers said that even in an “extreme case” scenario where all of these were accidents involving traditional combustion engine cars, the casualty rate would have been 3.16 per 100 million miles, still 63 per cent lower than seen with electric cars.
‘Less audible’
There was also a threefold greater risk of being hit by an electric car in cities than in rural areas.
Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young people, and one in four road traffic deaths are of pedestrians, the researchers said.
Dr Phil J Edwards, lead author from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, suggested the results were because electric cars are ‘less audible to pedestrians in urban areas’ where there is more background noise.
He said the risk posed to pedestrians by electric and hybrid cars ‘needs to be mitigated as governments proceed to phase out petrol and diesel cars’.
Since 2021, electric vehicles have been required to have sound generators installed, but the minimum requirement of 56 decibels is still significantly quieter than that of a petrol or diesel engine.
While 56 decibels is akin to a refrigerator or an office computer, combustion engines make a noise of around 70 decibels which is the equivalent of a busy office, washing machine or vacuum cleaner. The findings were published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
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