Jackdaw Gasfield

Wera Hobhouse Excerpts

Wednesday 21st October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Michael Shanks]

My hon. Friend’s point about postcodes is really important for us. I hope that through the transition we can collectively get to a similar place, where there is not a single postcode in the country that does not have jobs associated with clean energy. That is our aim in driving forward the supply chain investment and everything else.

My hon. Friend is right to centre the whole conversation on the workers. For 60 years, workers have done incredibly difficult and dangerous work in the North sea to bring energy ashore. I pay tribute to all of them, some of whom lost their lives in that process. It is our duty to ensure that there is a long-term legacy for that workforce in oil and gas, in decommissioning and in other technologies that we need to invest in now. That is the prize if we get it right—but, frankly, it is also our responsibility to that workforce now and the workforce of the future.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

Today is not a good day for any campaigner pressing for urgent action on climate change. I know that many of my Bath constituents—particularly young people—will be deeply concerned and disappointed. The Government have justified their position by saying that Jackdaw will create new jobs and boost growth. Will they clarify which jobs will boost growth? I do not mean jobs that rely on a Jackdaw worker buying a sandwich—anybody working in any sector can buy a sandwich—but jobs that will be directly created by Jackdaw and otherwise would not exist.

[Michael Shanks]

I am sorry; I am hurriedly trying to work out what the Lib Dems’ position is. I am sure that I will have clarity at some point. On the point about jobs—these are the developer’s figures—there are 27 direct jobs from the project, but it is also about safeguarding 273 existing jobs. It is actually about something much broader than that: it is about an industry that is in transition, and we have to do what we can to protect that industry while we build what comes next. I have been clear on that throughout my time as Energy Minister.

I gently say that we should accept that the wider economic impact of jobs does go down to the person buying a sandwich in the shop. When we see big industry leave towns—I am a Lanarkshire MP, and I know the impact of coalmine closures and steel closures in my constituency—we do see those small businesses leave and, with them, the important jobs that a community relies on. I do not think we should talk down the importance of the wider economic impact of this decision.