Nearly six-months since Sir Keir Starmer promised to visit Aberdeen, Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC) is challenging the Labour leader to commit to headquartering Great British Energy in Aberdeen.
Sir Keir used his speech at the Labour Party conference a fortnight ago to restate the case for a publicly owned energy company, based in Scotland.
Labour claim the publicly-owned GB Energy will reduce household bills, help deliver energy security through clean power and create thousands of high-quality jobs, although they've yet to set out how this model would operate.
Commenting 160-days after getting Sir Keir to promise to visit the region, Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Russell Borthwick said: "With a series of by-elections and party conference season behind him, Keir Starmer can turn his focus to putting some much needed meat on the bones of one of his key policy priorities.
"That should start with a visit to Aberdeen."
Restoring trust
Mr Borthwick continued: "Great British Energy could see the government take a bigger stake in the energy transition and directly create a significant number of jobs in the renewables sector.
"However, the only place where the necessary expertise exists to ensure it is successful is right here in the North East of Scotland.
"We are the UK’s central hub for offshore engineering expertise, home to the greatest concentration of supply chain companies and globally recognised leaders in subsea technology — developed over decades of oil and gas and now primed and ready to make the switch to renewables.
"We have the lion’s share of Scotland’s North Sea wind projects off our shores, a new £400 million south harbour, an adjacent Energy Transition Zone to anchor major companies and an Investment Zone currently in design to help attract new development.
"We have two world-class universities with strong industry partnerships and great research and teaching staff.
"All parties have shaken the confidence of the North East energy sector over the past two years — the SNP with their ‘presumption against’ oil and gas, the Conservatives with the ‘windfall tax’ and Labour’s determination to block new licences.
"Keir Starmer could show he’s got the industry’s back by announcing in the coming weeks that Aberdeen will be GB Energy’s new home and setting out the scale of investment and new jobs."
Aberdeen Labour leader 'hopeful' of a visit
M Tauqeer Malik, the leader of the Aberdeen Labour group, told the Press and Journal he is hoping his leader will visit next month, adding that he is lobbying his party to home GB Energy in Aberdeen.
He said: "Labour understands the needs of Aberdeen and the North-east.
"That is why our green energy policy has been welcomed right across the UK."
Stephen Flynn, MP for Aberdeen South, said: "Of course any proposed new public energy company should be based in Aberdeen. Who would seriously disagree?"
Mr Flynn previously accused Sir Keir of "running scared" by not visiting the region this summer.
He added: "But given that Labour have already rowed back on their investment in net zero, I imagine the public will be sceptical as to whether it will even happen at all."
A Scottish Labour spokesperson would not confirm a date.
The spokesperson said: "Labour’s transformative plans will utilise the skills and experience of the north-east to unleash Scotland’s potential as a world-leader in green energy, and workers will be at the heart of everything we do.
"Labour will set up a publicly owned GB Energy company based in Scotland which will create jobs, drive down bills, and deliver energy security."