Reform dismiss mayor’s warning of huge job losses

THE North East's mayor has warned of “a Thatcher-level of job losses” in the region's growing clean energy sector if Reform UK wins the next General Election.

- ROB PARSONS Executive Editor, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Labour's Kim McGuinness is expected to use an event at her party’s annual conference today to claim a Reform government would “mean 17,000 job losses in the North East renewable energy sector within just a few years”.

Nigel Farage’s party, which leads national opinion polls and could take control of more councils in the North East at next May’s local elections, has pledged to scrap the UK’s net-zero target and introduce taxes on the renewables sector. And in comments described by Reform as “nothing more than Project Fear 2.0 from a desperate Labour Party’, Ms McGuinness is set to say the party's stance on clean energy will mean widespread local job losses.