Plumbers, electricians and welders will be in huge demand as part of a national plan to train people for an extra 400,000 green jobs in the next five years, Ed Miliband has said.

The energy secretary revealed a new scheme to double those working in green industries by 2030, with a particular focus on training those coming from fossil fuel jobs, school leavers, the unemployed, veterans and ex-offenders.

He said the plan would involve measures to ensure companies receiving public grants and contracts need to create good jobs across the clean energy sector. It will also promote greater trade union recognition and collective bargaining in the clean energy sector, including when jobs are offshore.

Miliband’s announcement was welcomed by unions from Unite to the GMB, which have long been pushing for a more detailed plan for how people will switch from old fossil fuel industries to those in clean energy in the future.

As part of the plan, 31 professions will be designated as priorities for recruitment and training, with plumbers, heating and ventilating installers at the top of the list with an additional 8,000 to 10,000 needed by 2030. Carpenters, electricians and welders are the next highest in demand on the list, with 4,000 to 8,500 extra of each required.

Miliband said the national plan “answers a key question about where the good jobs of the future will come from”.

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, says the national plan makes clear what jobs are needed for the green energy transition. Photograph: James Glossop/Reuters

As well as flagging to jobseekers what kind of green jobs are needed, the energy secretary said it would “send a signal to the mayors, regional mayors, who have lots of responsibilities in this area about where they need to be directing their further education colleges and others where the big opportunities are.

“It sends a signal to industry, who have been saying … set out what are the needs going be and how are we going to fill them.”

Miliband said the promise of hundreds of thousands of new roles in the renewables and clean energy sector would show that Reform UK is “waging war on jobs” by challenging the switch to net zero.

“Obviously, this is a massive fight with Reform,” he said. “Reformers said they’ll wage war on clean energy. Well, that’s waging war on these jobs … It’s all part of their attempt at a culture war, but I actually think they’re out of tune with the British people because I think people recognise that we need, that we want the jobs from clean energy.

“We want the lower bills that it can bring. So let’s have the argument as a country about what we’re going to do. I’m really confident we can win this argument.”

He said estimates show jobs in wind, nuclear, and electricity networks all advertise average salaries of more than £50,000, compared with the UK average of £37,000, and are spread across coastal and post-industrial communities.

Other announcements in the plan include five new technical excellence colleges that will help train young people into essential roles, with skills pilots in Cheshire, Lincolnshire and Pembrokeshire to be backed by £2.5m towards new training centres, courses or career advisers.

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There will also be a new programme to match veterans up with careers in solar panel installation, wind turbine factories and nuclear power stations, with other tailored schemes for ex-offenders, school leavers and the unemployed.

Government research suggests that 13,700 people who were out of work possessed many of the skills required for key roles in the clean energy sector, such as engineering and skilled trades.

There will also be a focus on upskilling existing oil and gas workers, who will benefit from up to £20m in total from the UK and Scottish governments to provide bespoke careers training for thousands of new roles in clean energy.

Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, said: “Well paid, secure work must be at the heart of any green transition. Unite members will welcome the commitment to 400,000 green jobs with strong collective bargaining rights. The actions set out in this plan are initial steps in what must be an ambitious strategy for tangible jobs, backed by an equally ambitious programme of public investment.”

Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, a national officer at the GMB, said: “GMB has long campaigned for a jobs-first transition. The government is listening and having a jobs plan to underpin the industrial strategy is exactly what this country needs.”