Lib Dem bid to make turbines in shipyards

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was today announcing plans to create 57,000 jobs by upgrading disused shipyards into centres for the production of off-shore wind turbines.

Mr Clegg said it was a "scandal" that 90 per cent of the 1.75bn contract for a wind farm off the coast of Kent was going to foreign contractors, because there were no facilities to build the giant turbines in the UK.

Under the Lib Dem plans, all port authorities on the North Sea and Irish Sea would be able to bid for a share of a 400m pot to convert seven shipyards, with towns such as Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Middlesbrough, Edinburgh and Glasgow expected to be in the running.

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Mr Clegg said that the scheme would not only help the Lib Dems meet their target of increasing the proportion of UK electricity that comes from renewables to 40 per cent by 2020, but also create tens of thousands of jobs in cities hard hit by unemployment.

Launching the plan during a visit to a former shipyard in Newcastle today, the Lib Dem leader will say: "We need to make sure we come out of this recession with a rebalanced and green economy.

"Our plans would act as a huge boost for Britain's budding wind industry and create nearly 60,000 jobs in many shipyard cities where unemployment is a huge problem."