Loss of critical infrastructure endangers just transition – Carmichael speaks in North Sea debate

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, has today spoken in a parliamentary debate on the oil and gas industry to warn that there will be “no just transition” if critical North Sea infrastructure and jobs are lost too quickly. Mr Carmichael noted his strong support for wave and tidal energy innovation and jobs in the Northern Isles, but reinforced the need to maintain a “critical mass” of energy jobs while these new technologies come to full commercial viability.

Speaking in the debate, Mr Carmichael said:

“The hon. Gentleman comes to the crux of what we mean by a “transition”. The difficulty for the Government is that, on the current trajectory of development, we risk reducing at a speed that means we will lose the critical infrastructure and end up pushing the whole industry off a cliff. If we do that, we will have no just transition.”

Responding, Torcuil Crichton, MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar said:

“I thank the right hon. Member for that intervention. I hear him and I hope Ministers hear him as well. In that transition, we on the west coast and he in the Northern Isles have a privileged vantage point. We look eastwards to the North sea and the jobs and fortunes that it has provided to our islands, and we look westwards into the Atlantic and see the wealth of wind, the promise of renewable energy and the next chapter of our country’s story.”

Later in the debate, Mr Carmichael added:

“Marine renewable technology is developing and will be able to provide jobs for my constituents and others in the future, but it is important that we keep the critical mass of the oil and gas industry, because if these people lose their jobs now, they are not going to sit on their hands and wait for AR9, AR10, AR11 or whenever it is that we can actually get commercially exploitable marine renewable energy.”