Scottish Greens MSP hails ‘massive’ jobs opportunity for Inverclyde

Ross Greer told the Tele there is “significant potential” for the creation of new jobs in the renewables sector in Inverclyde.

He also said plans to introduce a cruise ship levy would help the district get a direct return from the thousands of passengers that visit on large vessels each year.

Senior figures from the Scottish Greens were in town for their autumn conference at the Beacon Arts Centre on Saturday and Sunday, including Mr Greer, who took time to speak to the Telegraph ahead of the event.

The West of Scotland MSP hopes that plans to give local authorities the power to put a charge on each cruise ship passenger who stops off in their town or city would benefit the area, but says it is important that any legislation that is passed is carefully designed.

Ross Greer on stage at the Beacon during the Scottish Greens’ autumn conference. (Image: Alex Craig)

Finance secretary Shona Robison told MSPs earlier this month that the Scottish Government was looking to bring in the new powers before the end of the current parliament in May 2026.

Mr Greer said: “It was the Greens who brought in the visitor levy power for councils and we were really proud of that because it means communities that get huge numbers of visitors – like Edinburgh or the Highlands – can actually start getting a direct return on that.

“We were really conscious, though, that the visitor levy isn’t of as much benefit to a community like Inverclyde, where you’ve not got as many people staying on land or in hotels, but you do have the pretty unique factor of a huge number of people on cruise ships.

“The next step was bringing in the cruise ship levy. We secured that last year and we’re now in the process of making sure that the government lives up to that commitment and that we get it right.

“There’s loads of different ways you could construct a cruise ship levy, we want to see one that reflects not just passenger numbers but also the environmental harm that the ships do, particularly the local issues that we’ve got with the air pollution off the ships.

“We want to make sure how this levy is designed is led by what communities like Greenock and Inverclyde more widely actually need.”

Scottish Greens, including co-leader Lorna Slater, gathered in Greenock over two days. (Image: Alex Craig)

Mr Greer believes that if a cruise ship levy is structured correctly, it could also be used to force cruise ship operators to take action to curb the amount of emissions their vessels release into the atmosphere.

He added: “The most obvious way to deal with that through the cruise ship levy is to set a much higher rate for the most polluting ships.

“That will act as an incentive for the cruise ship operators to either upgrade their ships or to use less polluting ones in the first place as they’re buying new ones.

“If we design that nationally, as part of the legislation for a cruise ship levy, that means that every port in Scotland where a cruise ship levy is brought in locally could apply the same rules.

“If we were just saying that to dock in Greenock you had to meet much higher environmental standards, but you didn’t in Leith or Orkney, then that might result in operators just skipping Greenock and going to those other places.

“Our priority is to make sure that the national legislation that goes through parliament applies those same standards everywhere.”

Co-leader Patrick Harvie addresses delegates at the Greenock conference. (Image: Alex Craig)

The Scottish Greens politician also said that Inverclyde could benefit from new manufacturing jobs created by the growing renewables sector, which could include roles building wind turbines or designing components for solar panels.

He added: “For the Greens, our focus has been on the really practical side of what we can do to speed up the process of bringing renewable energy projects online, and making sure that the supply chain is a local one.

“The manufacturing of the equipment – the jackets for the wind turbines, the packets for the solar arrays – if we can build them here in Scotland as well, the jobs potential for that is absolutely massive.”