Plenty of people commute to work. Plenty of senior executives commute long distances. Big deal, you might think. But Great British Energy comes with an additional level of scrutiny because of the politics surrounding it.
In opposition and in power the Labour party has made much of its promise to root the organisation in Scotland, even though at times it has struggled to articulate exactly how GB Energy would work.
In Aberdeen, therefore, questions about where the big boss is based feed into wider scepticism about the UK government’s plans for the North Sea.
In August, Steve Bowyer, North Sea general manager of oil and gas producer, EnQuest, told me “resources, key equipment, drilling rigs and personnel” were already leaving the area because of high taxes, adding that his firm would be watching chancellor Rachel Reeves’ budget “very closely.”
Many in the industry are unhappy about Ms Reeves’ plan to increase the headline tax rate on energy firms to 78 per cent, external. Some lobbyists have been trying to persuade her to water down a commitment to remove tax breaks for investment which the Treasury has called “unjustifiably generous.”
But the chancellor doesn’t just have those firms to consider. She must also weigh up the potential impact on the transition to renewable energy, on consumer bills, on UK energy security and on climate change.
Her statement could tell us quite a bit about Labour’s priorities in office.
