The UK’s oil and gas workers risk becoming “the coal miners of our generation,” Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, has warned, urging Labour not to ban new North Sea licences without a clear plan to safeguard jobs. Unite is launching a billboard campaign in six Scottish constituencies aimed at persuading Keir Starmer to commit more investment to north-east Scotland, the centre of the offshore oil and gas industry. Unless Labour can show it will protect jobs and communities, it should be willing to continue issuing new licences for oil and gas exploration, Unite argues. The slogan for the union’s campaign is “No Ban Without A Plan”. “They are at risk of becoming the coal miners of our generation,” Graham said. “We only have to look at what’s happened in the coal towns. I’m the daughter of mining stock – my family’s from the north-east, lots of them were miners. And it’s decimation in some of these places. They’ve never recovered. And the difference is, we know this time – we can see it coming down the track.” The shadow climate secretary, Ed Miliband, has promised to base Labour’s planned state-backed green power firm, Great British Energy, in Scotland. And part...