Douglas Alexander has been slammed after claiming Labour ‘never’ intended to create 1,000 jobs at the headquarters of GB Energy in Aberdeen.
The Scottish Secretary was accused of a ‘shameful attempt at rewriting history’ after telling a Commons committee the plan was always to boost the energy sector UK-wide.
The Scottish Conservatives said it was now clear GB Energy and Labour’s promise of it cutting £300 off household bills had been a ‘pre-election gimmick’.
Mr Alexander’s claim was wildly at odds with the chair of the flagship £8.3 billion public company, Jurgen Maier, who last year told MPs it would bring ‘hundreds’ of jobs to the city, adding: ‘It may eventually be 1,000 or more in the HQ.’
He later admitted delivering 1,000 jobs could take 20 years.
By September, only 69 people had been employed by GB Energy, just 13 in Aberdeen, but 31 in London.
Angus SNP MP Dave Doogan asked Mr Alexander at the Commons Scottish Affairs Committee how long all the jobs would take to arrive in Aberdeen.
Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander accused of ‘shameful attempt at rewriting history’
SNP MSP Dave Doogan questions how long it will take jobs to arrive in Aberdeen
Mr Alexander replied: ‘The intention was never to create jobs for a thousand civil servants working in a large office in Aberdeen.
‘The ambition was never to judge the effectiveness of UK government spend by the number of civil servants that we employ or the number of bureaucrats who are working on public policy.
‘The opportunity was to scale hundreds, indeed thousands, of jobs across the country as part of the [just] transition.’
Scottish Tory energy spokesman Douglas Lumsden said: ‘This is a shameful attempt at rewriting history from Douglas Alexander.
‘Keir Starmer’s chair of GB Energy promised these 1,000 jobs would be delivered – albeit over 20 years – but now that has been directly contradicted by the Scottish Secretary.
‘Labour’s flagship promise that they said would create jobs and reduce energy bills is turning into nothing more than a shameful pre-election gimmick.’
Mr Doogan said: ‘It’s no wonder Scottish Labour are utterly maligned in the North East. The weasel words of Douglas Alexander are no surprise to anyone.’