Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey launches Labour's Green Industrial Revolution in Scarborough

On a visit to the seaside town the Shadow Secretary for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy said: "Labour is committed to kick starting a Green Industrial Revolution. We pushed Parliament to declare a climate emergency last week. But that is just the first step.

"The great task ahead is building a detailed plan for implementation, with a mass movement of people to make it happen. And that’s why we’re here in Scarborough, to hear about the new sectors and technologies that will be at the heart of the Green Industrial Revolution."

The meeting was open to the public and was billed as a chance for local activists, councillors, students and businesses to have their say on what a green industrial future should look like in Scarborough, Whitby and the wider region.

Local student Murray Robinson, who was active in the recent Youth Strike for Climate, spoke of how “fear had led him to act” and reiterated that “we only have 10 years left to drastically reduce our carbon footprint if we are to stay within safe planetary boundaries.”

Labour’s local Parliamentary Candidate, Hugo Fearnley, spoke of the area’s rich maritime heritage of fishing and shipbuilding stretching back hundreds of years.

“If we are to thrive in an environmentally sustainable future, we must build on this historical legacy and make sure we are at the forefront of things like the offshore wind industry. We should be creating employment opportunities for not only the riggers and engineers building and maintaining the turbines but also the support vessels, their crews and the wider supply chain.”

The majority of the event was focussed on the attendees getting together in groups and mapping out the big challenges and potential solutions to climate change in the region, looking at areas such as energy, transport, education & skills, healthcare and others.