The Acorn Project will be one of the first acts of the UK Labour government, says Colin Smyth

Giving the go ahead to the Acorn Project will be one of the first acts of the UK Labour government if the UK Government does not give the scheme the green light before the next general election, according to Colin Smyth.  

Speaking at Holyrood fringe event, in partnership with OEUK, at Scottish Labour spring conference, the party’s spokesperson on net zero was critical of the Scottish Government’s efforts to lobby the UK Government over the Acorn Project, which would be Scotland’s first carbon capture facility.   

Smyth said “there was very little effort” by the government into lobbying, and then used it as a “constitutional opportunity to give the UK Government a bash on the head” when it missed on backing in 2021. He said that Labour, if elected, would “take the politics out of some of those actions”.   

“We are now seeing support from the Scottish Government. Labour have very consistently supported the Acorn Project, and if the UK Government doesn’t ok that scheme before the next general election, it will be one of the first acts of the next UK Labour Government.”  

Smyth told conference delegates that the project is “absolutely the jobs-lead just transition in action”, which will be Labour’s approach to achieving net zero if in government.   

“It’s in the Northeast of Scotland, where we have so many important jobs in the energy sector and there is opportunity to transition a lot of those jobs into the carbon capture area.  

“It is not the solution, but I think it is part of it.”