Labour will “Build it in Britain” with the most significant investment in Britain’s ports in a generation, as part of Green Prosperity Plan to support the creation of 650,000 good jobs across the country

A Labour Government will “Build it in Britain” Keir Starmer will today pledge, as he visits the North East of England to highlight Labour's plans to deliver the most significant upgrade of Britain's ports in a generation. 

Visiting a port in the North East, Labour Leader Keir Starmer, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and Shadow Energy Secretary Ed Miliband will set out how Labour's £1.8 billion investment in Britain's port infrastructure will help crowd billions more of private sector investment into the UK's energy industry.

Labour's plan for ports will help reverse fourteen years of industrial decline under the Conservatives and support domestic manufacturing across the country. The pledge is funded through Labour's Green Prosperity Plan, which includes a proper windfall tax on the oil and gas giants making record profits, to fund investment in British industries.

The visit comes as Labour confirms that its Green Prosperity Plan will help support the creation of up to 650,000 good jobs in Britain's industrial heartlands, by crowding billions of private investment into industries such as Britain's nuclear, steel, automotive, and construction industries.  Labour's plan will include investments to drive local and economic growth in every region of the country, giving opportunities to plumbers, electricians, welders, and workers in every single nation and region of the country. 

The last Labour government led the way on upgrading Britain's ports, providing funding for the development of port sites to support offshore wind turbine manufacturing. Investments by the last Labour government led directly to the establishment of the Siemens Gamesa blade factory in Hull, one of only two British blade factories. This industrial advantage has been squandered after fourteen years of the Conservatives, with recent research showing the UK could have created almost 100,000 more jobs in the wind industry if it had followed Denmark's example in recent years and built up domestic supply chains in clean energy.

Speaking ahead of the visit, Labour Leader Keir Starmer outlined the choice facing millions of voters: continued industrial decline after 14 years of Conservative rule, or national economic renewal with Labour, saying:

“The legacy of fourteen years of Conservative rule is Britain's industrial strength reduced to the rubble and rust of closed-down factories. They have let good jobs go overseas and done nothing about it- and every community has paid the price. 

“A Labour government will reindustrialise Britain- from the biggest investment in our ports in a generation, to a British Jobs Bonus to crowd billions of investment into our industrial heartlands and coastal communities.

“The wealth of Britain was once built on a bedrock of industrial jobs that offered security and a good wage. By investing in Britain's homegrown energy sector, we can rebuild this dream for the twenty-first century- good jobs, higher wages, and the pride that comes from good work for all.”

Through policies such as Great British Energy, the National Wealth Fund, and the mission for Clean Power by 2030, a Labour government will invest in technologies like floating offshore wind, hydrogen, nuclear, and carbon capture and storage, which will help secure Britain's energy independence. This will create a new generation of skilled jobs in growing industries, which will offer people good wages, give confidence in their job security, and provide them with opportunities to progress. 

This policy is part of Labour's Green Prosperity Plan, to cut energy bills for families, make Britain energy independent, and rebuild the strength of British industry. This historic investment in working people and their communities is the only way out of the high energy bills, energy insecurity, and the doom loop of low growth, high taxes and crumbling public services under Rishi Sunak's Conservatives.

Commenting on Labour's plan to support over half a million good jobs, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said:

“Labour's green prosperity plan is central in our mission to grow the economy. It will deliver tens of billions of pounds of private sector investment in the industries of the future, create hundreds of thousands of well-paid jobs across the country and put more money in people's pockets.”

“Ports are critical hubs for our nation: providing over 90% of trade into the country, connecting people, providing services for maritime energy facilities, and delivering value for local communities. Ports will be at the centre of Labour's plans to make Britain a clean energy superpower.

Commenting on Labour's landmark plan to invest in Britain's port infrastructure, Shadow Energy Secretary Ed Miliband MP said:

“Making Britain a clean energy superpower requires flourishing national ports. Whilst the Conservatives are letting other countries plunder jobs that could be ours here in Britain, Labour has a plan to help win the race for the industries of the future.

“This is what Labour's Green Prosperity Plan will do for every community in Britain- slash energy bills, create good jobs, boost our national energy independence, and help to tackle the climate crisis.”

Ends. 

Notes:

Labour's Green Prosperity Plan

• Labour's Green Prosperity Plan is the party's landmark plan to grow the UK economy, cut energy bills once and for all, and make Britain energy independent. This historic investment in working people and their communities is the only way out of the high energy bills, energy insecurity, and the doom-loop of low growth, high taxes and crumbling public services under Rishi Sunak's Conservatives.
• Labour's Green Prosperity Plan will:
• • Cut energy bills for good, saving families hundreds of pounds on their annual household energy costs.
  • Create up to half a million jobs in every part of the country, including our industrial heartlands and coastal communities.
  • Boost Britain's energy independence by using our abundant natural resources to free ourselves from the manipulations of Vladimir Putin and petrostates.
  • Deliver climate leadership to protect our children from the threat and costs of the climate emergency.

Labour's Ports Plan

• Labour will establish a National Wealth Fund, a new strategic body to ensure that when public money is spent building British businesses, the British people will benefit from the long-term return that those investments produce. This is about ensuring that the whole country benefits from the wealth and talent that is created in our nation, so that with every investment, wealth and jobs flow into our communities, and the British people benefit from the returns on those investments
• A Labour Government will invest public money to drive forward projects that are necessary to the energy transition and our industrial future, crowding in further private investment in crucial infrastructure. We have also indicated that investments through the National Wealth Fund should have a 3:1 ratio of private investment.
• Labour will drive forward offshore and floating wind through major investments to our ports, providing £1.8bn over 5 years to ensure we construct, manufacture, deploy and maintain offshore wind and marine renewables from UK harbours. Upgrades could include new quays, quay reinforcement, more laydown space, deeper access and more functional space.These upgrades will facilitate the acceleration in UK offshore renewables, as well as other green industries of the future.
• We anticipate these major investments, alongside the British Jobs Bonus, will create thousands of jobs in renewable energy manufacturing at our ports, as well as in fabrication, operations and maintenance of renewables assets. There is also vast opportunity from the wider net zero transition for UK ports - including in green hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, decommissioning of oil and gas and the decarbonisation of shipping.
• This will ensure we reach clean power by 2030 and that we can make, buy and sell more in Britain. It will also overturn the stagnation and offshoring of British jobs and manufacturing, caused by 14 years of Tory neglect of the British wind industry.
• UK ports bosses have raised concerns about the Conservative government's lack of investment in infrastructure, which will strangle the capacity to deliver on offshore wind targets. ller each turbine blade taller than Big Ben. Industry experts have warned that without investment in ports in Scotland and the Celtic Sea, we could lose the global race for floating offshore wind.

Jobs Methodology

• Labour's Green Prosperity Plan will create jobs in two main ways:
• • 1. Labour's National Wealth Fund will help to create up to half a million jobs in Britain's industrial heartlands, giving opportunities to engineers, welders, and workers in every single nation and region of the country. This policy will crowd in billions of additional private investment, providing a significant boost to Britain's steel, automotive, energy, and manufacturing industries.
  • • These policies will support the creation of over 200,000 direct jobs and up to 260,000-300,000 indirect jobs over the decade. (Internal workings based on BEIS and National Grid Future Energy Scenarios)
    • Labour's plans could mean, over the next decade, more than 35,000 jobs in the North East. (Jobs estimate in methodology above applied proportionately by nation and region based on (a) ONS, Low carbon and renewable energy economy estimates, Employment (by country) and (b) LGA, ‘Local green jobs – accelerating a sustainable economic recovery', % share of low-carbon jobs by region in 2050 (England only)). 
  • 2. Labour's Warm Homes' Plan will drive jobs for construction workers, plumbers, and retrofitters across the country. 
  • • Labour's Warm Homes Plan will support just under 200,000 direct jobs by 2030, creating new opportunities for electricians, plumbers, and construction workers. 
    • Total jobs estimate calculated by rebasing the Construction Industry Training Board's additional jobs projections produced for the sixth carbon budget according to the investment profile of Labour's Warm Homes Plan (£13.2bn + £5bn through the supplier obligation, as well as regulatory drivers of private investment - in particular minimum energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector).