Sunak’s £57m for jobs and green growth
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to announce more than £57 million of investment in jobs and green energy in Scotland in his Budget tomorrow.
The biggest slice will see £27m go to a North-east energy scheme.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to announce more than £57 million of investment in jobs and green energy in Scotland in his Budget tomorrow.
Mr Sunak is expected to commit £27m for the Aberdeen Energy Transition Zone, which aims to transform North-east Scotland into a globally competitive hub for cleaner energies such as offshore wind and hydrogen as the industry decarbonises and diversifies. Recent industry reports suggest that the Aberdeen region supports more than 20,000 direct jobs in the oil and gas sector.
In his Budget tomorrow, the Chancellor is also expected to announce up to £2m to support the continued development of industry proposals for the North Sea Transition Deal and a further £5m for the Global Underwater Hub in Aberdeen, building on last year's £1.3m commitment.
The Treasury said the North Sea Transition Deal will support jobs as the oil and gas industry decarbonises and diversifies to cleaner energies.
Mr Sunak said: “It's vital that as we deliver our Plan for Jobs and level-up across the whole UK we build back better in a sustainable way.
“The measures set out in tomorrow's Budget will boost Scotland's transformation into a green energy hub, deliver on our commitment to Net Zero, and deliver a boost that cities and industry need.”
The Treasury said that Scotland is also expected to receive an investment boost that rein
energises sectors such as infrastructure, aerospace, digital and tourism through the acceleration of £25.8m in funding over the next five years for the Ayrshire, Argyll and Bute, and Falkirk Growth Deals.
It said that reprofiling these deals so they are delivered over ten rather than 15 years will mean that the Ayrshire Growth Deal will receive an extra £3.4m per year from 2021-22 for the remaining ten
years of the deal. The deal has a focus on regeneration, infrastructure and aerospace technology.
The Argyll and Bute Growth Deal will receive an extra £800,000 per year from 202223 for the remaining ten years of the deal, while the Falkirk Growth Deal will receive an extra £1.3m per year from 2022-23 for the remaining ten years of the deal.
Meanwhile, Mr Sunak is facing calls from several quarters
the business community to extend the furlough scheme in the Budget.
The push follows Mr Sunak suggesting that he could extend the initiative – beyond the current end date of 30 April. A new survey has found 71 per cent of leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES) are calling for the support scheme, which is available across the UK, to be in place for longer.
The report from flexible funding specialist Nucleus Commercial Finance (NCF) also found larger businesses with between 50 and 249 employees reported feeling the pressure the most, with 83 per cent calling for an extension. NCF chief executive Chirag Shah, deemed the furlough scheme a “lifeline” to SMES in a period of heightened uncertainty.