Meeting of the Parliament 10 January 2023
The member has raised a number of points, and I will try to deal with them in turn.
Let me first turn to the suggestion that in some way we are neglecting the important role that the north-east has played in our energy sector over the years. It is the Scottish Government that is investing half a billion pounds in Moray and the north-east of Scotland through the transition fund to help support that transition—a level of investment that, to date, the member’s colleagues at Westminster have failed to step up and offer. That is the type of investment that will support the transition.
The Westminster Government has repeatedly taken the tax revenue from oil and gas but not invested the money back into the north-east of Scotland and the rest of our economy. What we cannot afford to happen this time around, with renewable energy, is to allow that same trick to be played on the people of Scotland. We need to ensure that the investments that are made in our renewables sector deliver economic benefits here in Scotland.
A very practical example that the member might want to think about when it comes to skills and the people in the oil and gas industry who want to transition into the renewables sector, as well as those who want to stay in the oil and gas sector, is investment in carbon capture, utilisation and storage. That technology allows those who work in the industry to remain in the industry, and those who want to move into the industry to do so. The only reason why that has not happened already is that the UK Government has refused to back the Acorn project.
When it comes to making these decisions, and making sure that we deliver for the future needs of our economy and the energy sector in Scotland, there is one party that we will never take any lectures from. That is the Conservative Party, because of its failure over decades in supporting the energy sector in Scotland.