THE prospect of a publicly-owned Scottish-based energy generation company would be a great boost for sites in West Fife, a Labour candidate has claimed.

Graeme Downie, who is councillor for the West Fife villages, said the idea would bring "huge opportunity" for places including Longannet and Rosyth.

He was reacting to the announcement by Labour leader Keir Starmer that they would their plans to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030 would be “made in Scotland” as GB Energy, Labour’s publicly-owned energy company, would be headquartered in Scotland.  Mr. Downie believes Longannet could be a perfect opportunity for investment and delivering thousands of jobs under the next UK Labour government.

The site was once the largest power station in Scotland, opening in 1970, closing in 2016. The 80,000m2 site is owned by Scottish Power and while there were attempts to bring train manufacturer, Talgo, to the site in previous years, Scottish Enterprise confirmed this option has lapsed.

"Today’s announcement shows what a UK Labour government can deliver for Dunfermline and the rest of Fife, creating opportunities and meeting the aspirations and ambitions of people across the Kingdom," said Cllr Downie.

"Previous Labour governments took decisions in the interest of Fife, saving sites such as Rosyth dockyard, while both the Tories and SNP have failed to deliver renewable energy jobs or attract investment for sites such as Longannet, which has such huge potential to reinvigorate the regional economy.

“The Tories have no plan to attract investment to Scotland, while the SNP failed to plan for the use of a major site like Longannet, with promises of train factories and offshore wind jobs all falling away."

Mr. Downie has written to Jonathan Reynolds MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Industrial Strategy, inviting him to visit Fife to meet local businesses and skills providers to understand the full potential of the Longannet and other sites.