Over 400 jobs were lost in August when Vestas Blades, the British subsidiary of the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, axed plant at Newport, Isle of Wight, and Southampton. At the same time, the parent company created 5,000 new jobs in the US, Spain and China.
From 20 July to 7 August 11 Vestas workers occupied the factory at Newport until evicted by police. The company is now refusing to pay redundancy pay to the 11.
The government has promised that a “green revolution” will create 1.2 million jobs here by 2020. (The wind industry itself says 60,000.) But it is not investing to make it happen.
The government has said that wind and other renewables will provide 30 per cent of all our electricity by 2020. Currently, renewables provide just 5 per cent, with 2,500 wind turbines – almost all made in Germany and Denmark.