Climate change is enormous opportunity, says McFadden

Junior business minister says UK has choice of being green technology from abroad or 'being part of its creation'
Hélène Mulholland
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 27 September 2009 17.38 BST
Pat McFadden, the junior business minister, said today that the government's policies on climate change represented "an enormous industrial opportunity" for creating jobs.
McFadden portrayed the Conservatives as a party that had "absolutely nothing to say" on creating a low carbon economy.
"It's an enormous industrial opportunity. How we produce our energy, how we build and heat our homes, how we travel from A to B ... all of these are going to undergo huge change," he told delegates at the Labour conference in Brighton.
"It's a new industrial revolution. And as a country we have a simple choice. We either buy the new technologies involved from elsewhere or vow to be part of their creation. So when it comes to green energy, when it comes to low carbon vehicles, let our ambition be that the term 'Made in Britain' is at the heart of our economic future."
McFadden also announced that the government would secure 20,000 apprenticeships through procurement contracts.
As an organisation that spends "billions every year on goods and services", the government would use the lever of procurement contracts to secure 20,000 apprenticeships over the next three years: "It's a fair bargain. If you want to work for government, make expanding the life chances of your workforce part of your mission."
This will be part of the government's overall target of securing 250,000 apprenticeships at the start of each year from 2020.
McFadden, chair of Labour's national policy forum, said the manifesto being drawn up for the next general election would present "ambition for Britain" as the country comes out of recession.
In a further sideswipe to the Tories, McFadden said Labour was committed to giving people the chance to do these jobs by increasing opportunity, social mobility, and "not just lifting the glass ceiling but breaking it".
"We don't believe in the tired notion that there is a restricted lump of educational excellence and that more always means worse," he said.
"No, for us, it is about taking away the barriers that stop people being what they can be, lifting ambition and making sure there is a platform on which everyone can achieve no matter who you are, no matter where you come from."