'Visit Hull' invitation to Trump after social post

Donald Trump is being invited to Hull to see for himself the impact of renewable energy on the region after the US president-elect criticised the UK's move away from oil and gas production.

Posting on social media, Trump urged the government to open up the North Sea and "get rid of windmills" after the chancellor raised a windfall tax on oil and gas companies in October.

Dave Laister, director of Humber Marine and Renewables, said the industry, including offshore wind, had reinvigorated the maritime economy and created hundreds of jobs in the region.

However, Lincolnshire MP Richard Tice agreed with Trump, saying the "growth in renewable wind turbines has been a catastrophe".

Trump said Britain was "making a very big mistake" on its energy policy and had posted a link to an article about Labour's decision to increase taxes for North Sea oil and gas producers.

In October, the government said it would raise the tax on companies drilling in the North Sea to 38% from 35% in a bid to generate money for more renewable energy projects.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has said gas production in the North Sea will be around for decades.

Responding to Trump's post, Mr Laister, who co-runs a company supporting businesses in the maritime and offshore sectors, said: "I'd really like to invite Donald Trump to Hull to come... understand what offshore wind has done for the Humber region.

"I'd like him to hear first hand from countless leaders in the industry about what it means to the area, what it's delivered and what the opportunities are.

"I know for a fact that the east coast, certainly in the US, is looking very hard at offshore wind."

Mr Laister said the sector had created "thousands of opportunities" for people on both sides of the Humber Estuary, including Grimsby and Immingham, with Siemens Gamesa one of the major employers in Hull, manufacturing blades for wind turbines.

Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace, said renewable energy was much cheaper than fossil fuels but Tice, the Reform MP for Boston and Skegness, said the growth in wind turbines was "directly linked to the increase in electricity bills".

He said: "Explain to me why our electricity bills are now the highest in the western world and those countries who have not got lots of renewable energy have got much lower bills?

"Why has America got electricity bills a third of ours? I will tell you why, because they use their own gas."

Colin Davie, councillor for economy, environment and strategic planning at Lincolnshire County Council, said he supported offshore turbines but believed Trump was right to question the UK's policy.

He said: "We should use oil and gas in the short term while we transition to more nuclear reactors and an investment in nuclear to make sure we have a zero carbon future."

A DESNZ spokesperson said: "Our priority is a fair, orderly and prosperous transition in the North Sea in line with our climate and legal obligations, and we will work with the sector to protect current and future generations of good jobs.

"We need to replace our dependency on unstable fossil fuel markets with clean, homegrown power controlled in Britain, which is the best way to protect billpayers and boost our energy independence."

Paul Murphy, environment correspondent

BBC Yorkshire & Lincolnshire

For some time now, Donald Trump has had a bee in his bonnet over wind turbines.

He once railed against their visual impact on his coastal golf course in Scotland.

He has blamed turbines for killing whales and for causing serious harm to human health and he did so without offering a shred of credible evidence.

The trigger for Trump's latest outburst has been the retreat of a US oil and gas company from the North Sea in response to the UK government's increase in fossil fuel taxation.

But his views could not be more out-of-step with the policies of the UK government, which has placed the offshore wind industry at the centre of its green energy and employment strategies.

According to a new report, wind energy generated 29% of the UK's power in 2024.

What Mr Trump sneeringly calls "windmills" are pretty important right now for keeping the UK's lights on.

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