Sir Keir Starmer eyes Welsh natural resources for green energy transition

Sir Keir Starmer is eyeing Wales’s natural resources and shallow seas as part of his Government’s pledge to accelerate renewable energy production.

The Prime Minister visited a hillside wind farm around seven miles north of Carmarthen on Tuesday, where he described green power as a “massive opportunity” for the nation.

He also vowed to do “everything we can” to safeguard jobs in Port Talbot, the seaside town where Tata Steel UK is set to close a blast furnace in September as part of a move to electric arc steelmaking, a £1.25 billion investment which could cut direct CO2 emissions by 90%.

Speaking at the 57.4-megawatt Brechfa Forest West Wind Farm, Sir Keir told journalists: “There’s a huge opportunity here for Wales which has got the resources, it’s got the natural resources, it’s got the shallow seas, and it’s got the skilled people here in Wales that can operate this.

Wham! make chart history as Last Christmas takes second festive number one crown

“This is a massive opportunity and we intend to work together to take that opportunity on behalf of everybody living in Wales.”

The Prime Minister took a selfie with apprentices during the visit.

He and Welsh First Minister Baroness Eluned Morgan saw inside one of the turbines, which are up to 100m tall, after a technician stopped it for safety reasons.

“They’re bigger than you think,” Sir Keir said.

He later said: “We’re here today looking at a particular project which is very successful in the energy that it generates but also in what it does for local communities – the work that it’s doing for communities near here is hugely important. That’s a model that we want to build on.”

The Prime Minister said GB Energy – a Scotland-based, Government-owned investment vehicle – will “sit alongside that” once the Bill to create it is passed, and added Whitehall is able to “talk about what we can do offshore” after ministers struck a deal with the Crown Estate, a company which claimed to have generated enough electricity offshore in 2023 to power 50% of UK homes.

Sir Keir has previously stood by Labour’s claim the firm will help slash household bills by £300 a year.

But Conservative shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho previously cast doubt on it, saying voters had been “sold a lie” that their energy bills will drop by that amount.

“Now that they’ve won the election they’ve tried to brush that figure under the carpet, showing us the truth that GB Energy is nothing but a gimmick that will end up costing families, not cutting bills,” she said.

The Prime Minister also took questions about steelworks in Port Talbot, 29 miles east of Carmarthen.

“I don’t want to give false hope,” he said.

The Westminster Government released £13.5 million in funding to support supply chain businesses and workers affected by the transition to lower-carbon steelmaking at Tata.

The firm could shed around 2,800 posts as part of the transition, including the closure of its final blast furnace in September, with a new electric arc furnace due by 2027.

Money will go towards supply chain companies which rely on Tata as their primary customer, to help them turn towards new markets and customers, according to the Government, with cash available for affected workers to aid in their searches for new jobs, training and qualifications.

Sir Keir added: “We’re working really hard on this, both the First Minister and myself jointly on this, because it’s so important that we do everything we can to preserve those jobs.

“We were working on this when I was in opposition – we’ve turbocharged that since we’ve been in power.

“Of course it’s difficult, I think everybody understands that.

“We’ve been able to put some money down just in the last week or so, particularly with the supply chain side of it, but we will do everything we can to preserve those jobs.”

The Prime Minister had discussed steelmaking with the First Minister at a meeting in Cardiff on Monday.

“We’re going to need more steel,” Sir Keir pledged.

Rajesh Nair, Tata Steel UK chief executive, visited Aberavon in Port Talbot last week to meet community members.

“What we are doing here is a huge transformation of the steelworks to electric arc furnace, low CO2 steelmaking, which has implications to the entire community,” he said.

“People want to know how it is going to affect their day-to-day lives in terms of dust, noise and so on. We’ve been able to help them understand how this new investment and new technology will make a significant difference to these environmental issues in particular.

“We have been putting out a lot of communication out around what this transition is about – including details on planning, environmental impact, technology choices and our future product range.”