{"id":15445,"date":"2018-06-26T16:01:54","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T15:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15445"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:40","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:40","slug":"swansea-tidal-lagoon-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15445","title":{"rendered":"‘Short-sighted jobs killer’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision yesterday (June 25) to scrap the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project is a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bshort-sighted jobs killer\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and must be reversed, Unite said.<\/p>\n

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The decision to pull the plug on the programme, which would have been the first \u00e2\u20ac\u0098green energy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 tidal power scheme in the UK, will deprive the Welsh economy of a \u00c2\u0141500m boost and 2,000 jobs.<\/p>\n

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Business and energy secretary Greg Clark said<\/a> the \u00c2\u01411.3bn project did not offer value for money \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a claim Unite, Labour and the Welsh government refuted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As well as depriving the UK of a renewable energy<\/a> source, the move throws into doubt the future of Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s turbine engineering capacity at GE Power Conversion Ltd\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Midlands\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 sites \u00e2\u20ac\u201c where the project\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s turbines would have been made \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and could result in hundreds of highly skilled jobs potentially being lost.<\/p>\n

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Unite said not progressing with the tidal lagoon could mean that the UK will lose the ability to build similar turbines in the future to countries such as France.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The project had found significant cross-party support in Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, with the Welsh government pledging \u00c2\u0141200m for the scheme.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First Minister of Wales<\/a>, Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Carwyn Jones said the Welsh government had recognised the transformational potential of the tidal lagoon from \u00e2\u20ac\u015bday one\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSadly, the UK government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s short-sightedness and complete lack of ambition has thwarted this project, which could have positioned the UK as a world leader in a new global industry.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite Wales deputy secretary Gareth Jones called the decision to pull the plug on the tidal lagoon a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bshort-sighted job killer\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 that would have severe ramifications for the Welsh economy and the wider UK manufacturing and construction<\/a> sectors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Calling for the decision to be reversed, Jones said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNot backing the tidal bay lagoon denies Wales the opportunity of being at the forefront of green energy innovation, while at the same jeopardises hundreds of jobs in turbine production at GE at its sites in the Midlands.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is a project which would give Wales an opportunity to build a new industry based upon its unique tidal resource. Instead of securing a source of green energy for the next 120 years, the government has turned its back on Wales and made a mockery of its industrial strategy<\/a>.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said the Tories had failed to make the right choice for the economy, the Welsh people and \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe future of our planet\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThousands of workers will now miss out on high-quality employment and thousands of households will miss out on the benefits of zero-carbon energy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe next Labour government will back low-carbon projects like the Swansea tidal lagoon, supporting manufacturing, creating jobs and working to meet our climate targets.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision yesterday (June 25) to scrap the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project is a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bshort-sighted jobs killer\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and must be reversed, Unite said.   The decision to pull the plug on the programme, which would have been the first \u00e2\u20ac\u0098green energy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 tidal power scheme in the UK, will deprive the Welsh economy of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[54,844,943,944,53],"wps_subtitle":"Unite slams decision to scrap Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15445"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15445"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26110,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15445\/revisions\/26110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}