Labour’s pledge to create thousands of green jobs in Scotland won’t cut much ice amid the legacy of distrust bequeathed by the SNP Government after years of inflated claims.

Keir Starmer put the plan to create a new GB Energy with headquarters somewhere in Scotland at the heart of the Labour party’s election strategy last week on a visit to Scotland as campaigning for the July 4 UK general election got under way.

He promised that Labour would almost double the number of low carbon jobs in Scotland to 50,000 by 2030 by unlocking investment in offshore wind and the like while delivering big savings for consumers.

The numbers were meant to sound impressive and Labour clearly felt the focus on energy would resonate in Scotland given the importance of the wider sector to the country’s economy.

But the figures probably had a familiar ring to many in Scotland. People have got used to SNP ministers bandying around exaggerated estimates of the jobs potential of the renewables revolution and of their own ability to tackle the energy crisis affecting households.

READ MORE: SNP Government new energy jobs boast insults electors

Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon said the Scottish Government she led would set up a state-owned firm to sell energy at affordable prices by 2021 but the claim came to nothing.

Consumers were instead left facing huge increases in their energy bills after Russia’s war on Ukraine fuelled the surge in inflation which started amid the recovery from the pandemic.

Ms Sturgeon rehearsed claims about Scotland’s potential to become a renewables powerhouse after turning her back on the oil and gas industry, which she and Alex Salmond had claimed in the 2014 independence campaign could power prosperity in Scotland.

After calling for the Cambo oil field development West of Shetland to be blocked, Ms Sturgeon presided over the development of an energy strategy which recommended a presumption against exploration in the North Sea.........

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