Reacting to the news today to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement on the location of the GB Energy in Aberdeen, Mark Brown, Partner, MHA, Aberdeen, said: “This announcement is something to be welcomed for Aberdeen. It cements the city’s drive to be at the heart of the UK renewable sector.

“Based on daily discussion with our clients, we see some positive sentiment towards this, however, we simply need the UK government to communicate its policy and fiscal approach with the sector.

“This should become apparent over the next three months and will allow the sector to meaningfully budget and decide which projects – short-term oil & gas versus renewable opportunities – should attract their investment capital and resource.

“It remains to be seen if GB Energy in Aberdeen will lead to the retention of the skilled energy workers in the area.

“That will largely depend on how much of the £8.3bn investment budget expected to be raised over the next five years (from the Energy Levy) is to be invested and how quickly it translates into renewables job opportunities locally.

“We await Labour’s budget on October 30 that will provide further information on how the sector is to be taxed as well as more detail on Labour’s Energy Policy.”

Mark Brown is a Partner with MHA. He has more than 30 years’ industry expertise. His primary role is to provide accountancy and related advisory services to clients in the north-east of Scotland.

This includes corporate finance support and general business advice supported by tax colleagues locally and other specialists within MHA.

His portfolio of clients is primarily limited companies, with most of these involved in the energy sector in or around Aberdeen.

MHA is ranked the 13th largest accountancy group in the UK and has a strong SME focus in the construction, manufacturing, consumer, agriculture, food and drink, charity and energy sectors.

It provides a full complement of accountancy services for clients in the capital and across Scotland, including corporate finance, business tax and audit and assurance. It also supports larger firms with international operations.

The practice has 1,820 staff and partners and 24 offices across the UK. For more information on MHA, please visit https://www.mha.co.uk/