Meeting of the Parliament 30 October 2025
Since its election last year, the UK Labour Government has moved at pace to achieve clean power by 2030. Today, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero unveiled his carbon budget and growth delivery plan, detailing a comprehensive strategy to accelerate progress in a way that will bring benefits for working people, businesses and our planet. We have seen the warm homes plan rolling out across England and Wales and we know that we need to ramp up towards stronger action on that issue in Scotland. We have seen progress on clean energy jobs and we know that co-operative and community ownership that deliver community benefits must be part of that picture in the future.
Today’s LCM should be welcomed by everyone in the chamber because it is a key part of that journey towards clean power. It is in line with the Scottish Government’s own ambitions for the area and should be agreed to allow for the rapid implementation of the legislation. I very much welcome the fact that the Scottish and UK Governments have been working closely together and with industry to get the policy progress that the amendment will facilitate.
I thank Scottish Renewables for its briefing, which highlights the work of the Eskdalemuir working group and its solution for managing the impact of wind turbines on the array. That plan, while maintaining the integrity of the array, could unlock between 3GW and 6GW of wind capacity. Scottish Renewables also notes that, because 15 per cent of the Eskdalemuir consultation zone is in England, the legislation must cover both Scotland and England.
I will comment on the cabinet secretary’s remarks about parliamentary scrutiny, which I think are absolutely crucial. As Edward Mountain, the convener of the Net Zero Energy and Transport Committee, reported, there was a useful conversation at that committee on Tuesday about the urgent need to fix the issue and to ensure that we have adequate scrutiny in the Scottish Parliament when we need to get moving on issues.
I hope that that will not distract from the fact that this LCM is part of a hugely ambitious strategy to increase renewable power in Scotland. I very much welcome the cabinet secretary’s comments about the work that has been done to deliver on our renewables ambitions and to get us where we need to be. It is clear that this is a relatively narrow but effective clause and that its significance lies in addressing the stagnation of recent years and re-igniting forward momentum to deliver opportunities, jobs and energy security. I hope that we can agree to the LCM so that we can continue taking practical steps towards change and towards a cleaner future for Scotland and for the UK as a whole.