Report

Green jobs, red wall

Think tank: Onward

Author(s): Ed Birkett; Alex Luke; Phoebe Bunt

December 16, 2022

This report from UK think tank Onward looks at why green industrial jobs are critical to Levelling Up.

In the report, we argue that the Government has only five years to secure green factories and bring high skilled jobs to parts of the country most in need of levelling up. These jobs will be crucial to secure the future of the nearly 250,000 jobs currently at risk in carbon-intensive industries concentrated in Red Wall seats. We have found that if the Government does not take urgent action, key seats like Hartlepool, Scunthorpe, and Redcar risk losing out permanently on the green industries of the future to competitors in the EU, the USA, and Asia. And any failure to secure green factories could undermine the Levelling Up agenda and damage the Government’s electoral prospects in key constituencies. The report is backed by 24 Conservative MPs from the North and Midlands, who have highlighted the importance of energy security and of securing skilled industrial jobs in their areas. Their endorsements focus on the importance of net zero to the levelling up agenda, and the need to “act fast” with “bold action” to “turn ambition into reality”. Onward business-focused recommendations for securing green industrial jobs include: Offering targeted tax breaks for companies investing in green factories, including cutting business rates; providing cheaper energy costs for heavy industries, matching prices on offer in France and Germany; changing rules in renewable energy competitions to help UK-based manufacturers by securing demand for their products; matching cash incentives offered by the US and the EU for companies to build battery “gigafactories” and other green factories; stopping UK steel producers being undercut by competitors in places with lower environmental standards, like China and India, by introducing a carbon border tax and banning imports of the highest-carbon goods.