The boss of GB Energy has told Sky News it could take 20 years to deliver a Labour government pledge of 1,000 jobs for Aberdeen.

Sir Keir Starmer promised voters his flagship green initiative, which will be headquartered in the northeast of Scotland, would cut consumer energy bills by as much as £300.

It is one of Labour’s five key missions for this parliament after a manifesto commitment to “save families hundreds of pounds on their bills, not just in the short term, but for good”.

In his first broadcast interview, Juergen Maier, appointed by Downing Street as GB Energy’s start-up chairman, suggested this was a “very long-term project” spanning decades and repeatedly refused to say when household prices would be slashed.

“I know that you are asking me for a date as to when I can bring that, but GB Energy has only just been brought into creation and we will bring energy bills down,” Mr Maier said.

The state-owned company will not supply power to homes but it will invest in new renewable projects while attempting to attract private investors.

Aberdeen HQ ‘nervous’

Labour hopes GB Energy will help workers move from oil and gas and has pledged 1,000 jobs for Aberdeen, where the initiative will be based.

Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce told Sky News the estimated 50,000 local people currently employed in the industry are “nervous”.

Chief executive Russell Borthwick said: “I think the [GB Energy] ambition is good. It needs some quick wins.

“Right now, this city is nervous. We need to give the industry more confidence that things are going to start moving more quickly.

“What we do have is not a great deal of progress. We’ve had a lot of positive meetings with GB Energy. I think we are really looking over the next six months for that to be delivered on.”

1,000 jobs in 20 years? ‘Absolutely’

It comes after Energy Minister Michael Shanks MP recently said the UK government had “not moved away” from an ambition of creating “over 1,000 jobs”.

Sky News pushed Mr Maier for clarity on this pledge given the looming crisis in the North Sea industry.

He said: “Great British Energy itself is going to create over the next five years, 200 or 300 jobs in Aberdeen. That will be the size of our team. I have said in the very long term when we become a major energy champion it may be many more than that.”

Pressed to define “long term”, he replied: “Look, we grow these companies. Energy companies grow over 10 or 20 years, and we are going to be around in 20 years.”

He said “absolutely” when asked directly if it could take two decades to fulfil the commitment of 1,000 jobs.

‘Huge risk of not delivering’

Unions told Sky News there is a risk of GB Energy over-promising and under-delivering.

Unite’s Scottish Secretary Derek Thomson said: “If you look at how many jobs are going to go in the northeast, if GB energy does not pick up the pace and start to move workers in there and start to create proper green jobs, then I’m afraid we could be looking at a desolation of the northeast.”

Read more:
GB Energy: The burning question facing ministers on UK-owned clean power
Cut taxes to get people buying electric cars – motor industry
Details on plan for Great British Energy

Prospect, which represents more than 22,000 workers across the energy industry, said the current vision seems risky.

Richard Hardy, Scotland secretary, said: “I don’t want to be accused of cynicism, but I do want to see a plan.

“If what happens is that it only creates 200 or 300 jobs, then I think most people would see that as being a failure. There is a huge risk for them in not actually delivering.

“They must understand the political risk they are taking in doing this. It has to be a success for them because otherwise it is going to be a stick to beat them with.”

The sister of a headteacher who took her own life has said Ofsted’s new school inspection proposals are a “rehash” of the same “dangerous” system they are meant to change.

One-word grades were scrapped by the government after Ruth Perry’s death in 2023 following the downgrading of her Caversham Primary School in Reading from “outstanding” to “inadequate”.

Schools in England could instead be judged across a variety of different areas – including attendance and inclusion – using a colour-coded five-point scale.

But Mrs Perry‘s sister Professor Julia Waters said: “I am worried that this proposal is a rehash of the discredited and dangerous system it is meant to replace.”

She said while the new model has some improvements, it “retains many of the dangerous features of the previous system, while introducing a series of changes with potential new risks to the wellbeing of teachers and headteachers”.

“My sister Ruth Perry died as the result of a rude and intimidating Ofsted inspection, and its disproportionate consequences on her and her school,” she said.

“Ofsted says it has listened, but it still does not appear to have adequately learned.”

A 12-week consultation on the inspection process for schools teaching pupils of all ages, including further education institutions, was launched on Monday.

The proposals include a new report card format to replace the single-word grade system, where schools were given an “Outstanding”, “Good”, “Requires Improvement”, or “Inadequate” rating.

Instead, judgements will be made using a 1-5 grading system using the terms: “Exemplary”, “Strong”, “Secure”, “Attention Needed”, and “Causing Concern”.

The previous judgements will remain valid until schools undergo another inspection under the new model.

Safeguarding will be assessed as a standalone category and will be classified as either met or not met.

The number of inspection areas in schools will expand from four to nine, or ten for those with a sixth form.

Under the new proposal, the areas of inspection will be Achievement, Attendance, Behaviour and Attitudes, Curriculum, Developing Teaching, Inclusion, Leadership and Governance, Personal Development and Well-Being, Sixth Form, and Safeguarding.

Ofsted has already started training inspectors to facilitate the changes for the new style inspections.

Chief inspector of Ofsted Sir Martyn Oliver said: “The new report card will give parents a clearer picture, while helping schools focus on meaningful improvements.

“We will make sure that we deliver for parents regardless of what we do.

“Our mission is to improve education for all children, particularly the most disadvantaged.”

Read more:
Children experiencing ‘unorthodox’ schooling
School hygiene poverty on the rise
Parents want tougher mobile measures

But Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said Sir Martyn “has failed to deliver”.

“The proposals outlined in today’s consultation will make matters worse, not better,” he said.

“The secretary of state was right to remove one-word judgements, because she recognised the damage that they cause.

“Instead, the 1 to 5 grading scale proposed for the report card maintains the current blunt, reductive approach that cannot capture the complexity of school life nor provide more meaningful information to parents.”

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Our proposals will swap single headline grades for the rich, granular insight of school report cards.

“Raising the bar on what we expect from schools, shining a light on all the areas that matter, each given their own grade.”

Four university students who died when a car crashed into a building have been named by Essex Police.

The crash happened at around 4.40am on Saturday morning on Magdalen Street in Colchester.

Police have named the victims as University of Essex students Makyle Bayley, 22, Eva Darold-Tchikaya, 21, Anthony Hibbert, 24, and Daljang Wol, 22.

The university’s acting vice-chancellor Professor Maria Fasli said they “played an active role in our community through clubs and societies” and had “young lives filled with hope, promise, talent, and dreams for the future”.

“Anthony and Daljang were outstanding members of our Essex Rebels men’s basketball first team, Makyle was a talented basketball player who was a member of our BUCS basketball team and Eva undertook several roles in our Essex Blades Dance Club and was active in many other clubs and societies,” she said in a statement.

“Their loss will be felt by their families and closest friends and by all our university community. In classrooms, in halls, in shared moments of laughter and learning – they were part of us, and their absence will be felt profoundly.”

Professor Fasli said the university would share details in the coming days of “a time and place for our university community to gather in remembrance”.

The University of Essex said in a statement “our whole university is in mourning”, adding: “They touched the lives of so many of us at Essex; their friends, classmates, the teams they played for, and the staff with whom they spent time.

“It is impossible to imagine the loss being felt by their families and many friends. Our thoughts are with everyone who knew them at this terrible time.”

Essex Police asked anyone who saw a black Ford Focus being driven along Magdalen Street or in the near vicinity around the time of the crash, or who has any CCTV, dash-cam or doorbell footage, to contact them.

Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Hooper said: “I want to extend my condolences to the friends and family of Makyle, Eva, Anthony and Daljang.

“This will be an incredibly difficult time for them and we have specialist officers supporting them.

“Our specialist serious collision investigation unit is investigating what led up to the collision but at this stage we do not believe any other vehicles were involved.”