Labour pressed to stop Rough gas store shutting with 450 jobs at risk

Labour is being told to step in and stop Britain’s biggest gas storage facility from closing, with Unite the Union warning that 450 jobs and the country’s ability to keep the lights on are on the line. The Rough site, a depleted field converted for storage 18 miles off the Yorkshire coast, holds around half of the UK’s gas storage capacity. Operator Centrica has said it will not continue beyond April 2027 without firm government backing.

Centrica has a £2 billion redevelopment plan ready but wants a cap-and-floor pricing deal that guarantees minimum earnings while capping the upside. Chief executive Chris O’Shea has made plain that without that support the facility is already at the limit of what it can deliver. He insists the future of Rough is too important to dismiss as a simple commercial choice.

Unite, which has more than one million members, has now joined the call for action. General secretary Sharon Graham said threats of closure endanger jobs and the ability to heat homes. The union claims Rough is currently empty because of the dispute and that the UK has only 12 days of gas in storage, the lowest level in recent history. It backs every option to keep the site open, including public ownership if no funding deal can be reached.

National officer Simon Coop said Rough is critical infrastructure vital to energy security supply and that government must work with all parties. If that fails, Unite will push for the site to be kept open at all costs. The union also notes the facility could later store hydrogen and play a part in the shift away from fossil fuels.

Defence minister Luke Pollard has already signalled the Government is not choosing to invest, calling it a commercial decision for the company and pointing instead to renewables. That stance leaves Britain more exposed just as European storage levels run low and competition for gas rises. GB News understands ministers have been contacted for comment, yet the strategic asset still sits empty while winter approaches and hundreds of direct and supply-chain jobs hang in the balance.

Original source: GB News