North East uniquely placed to be the home of the green energy revolution

Cramlington and Killingworth Labour and Co-operative MP, Emma Foody, has spoken in Parliament about how the North East can be ‘the home of the green energy revolution’. 

The North East Local Growth Plan places clean energy as its number one growth priority for the region, with the government’s recently announced Infrastructure Plan setting out how the UK can be a global leader in clean energy by 2035.

In Parliament, Ms Foody spoke about how “the North East is uniquely placed to be the home of the green energy revolution, including the expansion of the Energy Academy in North Tyneside providing a skills pipeline” before asking “how will the Clean Energy Industries Plan help to provide the long-term certainty for investment and deliver good-quality jobs for communities across my Cramlington and Killingworth constituency and the North East?”

In response, the Secretary of State, Ed Miliband stated:

“I see the North East as an absolute powerhouse of the clean energy jobs that we want to create. Early on in this government we did something that had been talked about for years and delivered the East Coast CCUS cluster, projected to create thousands of jobs. And it’s not just the direct jobs, it’s the jobs in the supply chain. We have an absolute opportunity, and the North East will be at the heart of it, to lead in the clean energy jobs of the future”.

Following the exchange, Ms Foody added:

“The North East has enormous potential to be a leader in clean energy generation and, with this government recognises our region’s huge potential and is committed to supporting and growing our clean power sector.

“The North East Growth Plan, alongside the government’s Infrastructure Plan and Clean Energy Industries Plan all provide the certainly for investment in the North East and enable us to be the home of the green energy revolution, just as we helped to power the industrial revolution.

“This means we can create those good, high skilled jobs right here, and invest in jobs for local people”.