… ‘Except for workers in Scotland’ …
by Andy Burnham recently took to social media with the grand declaration that “Britain should be a country that makes things“.
It is a warm, reassuring sentiment – the kind of wholesome, back-to-basics rhetoric that sounds marvellous when delivered from a podium or typed out on TikTok. Who could possibly argue with it?
Yet, when you look at Labour’s actual track record in government, that grand vision for British manufacturing turns out to come with a very strict, unwritten geographical disclaimer: ‘Terms and conditions apply north of the border’.
The sheer irony of Andy Burnham’s statement was laid bare when his Westminster Labour government made the extraordinary decision to block a massive £1.5 billion investment in Inverness.
The project would have built the UK’s largest wind turbine factory right there in Inverness, creating 1,500 high-skilled, green manufacturing jobs in one fell swoop.
The developers weren’t even given a heads-up – Labour slammed the door in their faces like an overzealous bouncer on a Friday night, leaving a multibillion-pound industrial boom standing out on the porch in the pouring Highland rain.
A Westminster Labour government minister – and also a Scottish MP – even admitted his government had made “no detailed assessment” about how much of a “key part of the UK’s energy system” is Chinese-owned, despite this decision.
What makes this industrial sabotage even more glaringly hypocritical is Labour’s sudden, miraculous change of heart the moment you cross the border into England.
While McLaren’s £500m expansion and Chinese-backed projects down south are hailed by Labour as glorious examples of “reindustrialising Britain”, Scotland gets the cold shoulder.
When Chinese-backed capital wants to finance major infrastructure projects in England, Labour ministers behave like overly eager maître d’s pulling out chairs and laying out the finest silverware. It’s all the more astonishing considering how connected to the Chinese state these investors are.
From eye-wateringly expensive nuclear power plants to London’s sprawling embassy developments, Heathrow Airport upgrades, power grid connections, and battery storage projects – Westminster flings open the doors with a welcoming smile. Yet, the second that very same capital tries to set up shop in the Scottish Highlands to construct actual wind turbines, Westminster suddenly develops the heebie-jeebies.
To say Labour’s green industrial policy is inconsistent would be an understatement. Expecting Labour to deliver an equal manufacturing strategy across the UK is like expecting a seagull to share a chip.
For Scotland, Labour’s energy policy has all the finesse and constructiveness of a sledgehammer inside a delicate glassworks.
While turning away 1,500 fresh manufacturing jobs in Inverness, they continue to preside over the destruction of 1,000 jobs a month in our traditional energy sectors, sitting idly on their hands as the Grangemouth refinery is shuttered, allowing Mossmorran to close, and choking Scottish renewable developers with crippling grid transmission charges.
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leaders have turned political gymnastics into a tragicomedy. Confronted with hard questions about why Highland workers are being systematically short-changed, their response offers all the structural integrity and substance of a single marshmallow caught in a gale.
Rather than standing up for Scottish manufacturing, Labour’s Scottish representatives sit in the House of Commons, resembling a chorus of Oliver Twists begging Westminster for less.
The truth behind Andy Burnham’s fresh proclamation is now completely unavoidable.
Under the current system, Westminster views Scottish industry as little more than an afterthought – a convenient, windy parkland meant to generate clean power for the south, but strictly forbidden from building the supply chain, owning the manufacturing, or reaping the high-value economic rewards at home.
If Scotland truly wants to be a nation that “makes things” – from wind turbines and wave tech to sustainable, high-tech infrastructure – we cannot leave our economic destiny in the hands of a Westminster government that treats our industrial ambitions like an unwelcome nuisance.
This whole saga is a textbook reminder of why Scotland needs the full powers of independence.
Only by making our own decisions can we ensure that when world-leading green investments come knocking, we open the door, roll up our sleeves, and build a prosperous, sustainable future right here in Scotland.