Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 11 November 2025
11 Nov 2025 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Offshore Energy Workforce (Energy Transition Institute Reports)
The most important thing is to recognise that these matters are reserved. The UK Labour Government is in the driving seat, because energy is a policy area that is reserved to Westminster.
My advice to the Labour Government and to Ms Boyack would be that, if they are truly serious about delivering for communities across the country when it comes to energy, they need to put together an energy security plan, combined with a plan for the transition to net zero. None of that has happened. It has happened in almost every other country, but it does not fit Ed Miliband’s agenda. That is the problem with Labour’s approach—it is all far too ideological.
I talked about that possible loss—no Jackdaw, no St Fergus, no Mossmorran and no Acorn. Because of ideology and the lack of a plan, thousands of jobs would be lost, there would be more fossil fuel imports and energy security would be endangered. That would be unforgivable.
Labour must listen, it must change its ways and it must walk us back from the cliff edge that my constituents and others are currently facing.
17:07In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Annabelle Ewing)
SNP
The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-18800, in the name of Liam Kerr, on the insights of the “Striking the Balance” reports ...
Liam Kerr (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
I am grateful to cross-party colleagues for their support for this debate. Signing a motion in Parliament does not necessarily mean agreement with it. Rather...
Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind)
Ind
Does Mr Kerr agree that the real tragedy of those prospective job losses—which are on a scale that is greater than in the 1980s, when we saw the closure of R...
Liam Kerr
Con
Fergus Ewing is absolutely right, and I could not agree more because the “Striking the Balance” report justifies exactly what we have just heard. The report...
Audrey Nicoll (Aberdeen South and North Kincardine) (SNP)
SNP
I thank Liam Kerr for lodging his motion, which I am happy to support. I commend Professor Paul de Leeuw and the team at the Energy Transition Institute at R...
Liam Kerr
Con
I am enjoying the member’s contribution. Does she agree that what is needed is for both Scotland’s Governments to come out with a genuine, holistic strategy ...
Audrey Nicoll
SNP
I will come on to policy, which is often overlooked but is absolutely crucial. In addition, the recently published UK Government “Clean Energy Jobs Plan” ha...
Douglas Lumsden (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
I congratulate Liam Kerr on the debate and on his contribution. I welcome the publication of the RGU Energy Transition Institute’s latest report. It is a se...
Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
I, too, thank Liam Kerr for bringing this important debate to the chamber, as we need to think through the insights that come from the “Striking the Balance”...
Stephen Kerr (Central Scotland) (Con)
Con
Will Sarah Boyack give way?
Sarah Boyack
Lab
No—I am going to keep moving. I wish to raise a point that was first raised by Audrey Nicoll. It is vital that we recognise the role of trade unions, and o...
Douglas Lumsden
Con
Speaking of the trade unions, there was once a “no ban without a plan” campaign. Is that something that Labour supports, or has it abandoned that like it has...
Sarah Boyack
Lab
That is the point, and that is what comes through in the report. We need to work with the trade unions now because, as change accelerates, they need to be at...
Liam Kerr
Con
Will the member give way?
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Ms Boyack is concluding her speech.
Sarah Boyack
Lab
It is about turbines, cables and platforms being made here in Scotland, so that people are trained here and communities benefit. We need to plan ahead and wo...
Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind)
Ind
In congratulating Liam Kerr for bringing the debate to the chamber, it is a matter of sadness and shame that the Scottish Government has not arranged a full ...
Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP)
SNP
I congratulate Liam Kerr on securing the debate and on his very logical contribution. I thank Professor Paul de Leeuw and Sumin Kim of the Robert Gordon Univ...
Sarah Boyack
Lab
Does Kevin Stewart have any idea when the Scottish Government’s energy and just transition plan will appear? We have been waiting for it for more than two an...
Kevin Stewart
SNP
The most important thing is to recognise that these matters are reserved. The UK Labour Government is in the driving seat, because energy is a policy area th...
Stephen Kerr (Central Scotland) (Con)
Con
To be frank, I find it a bit rich listening to Kevin Stewart go on in the way that he has done. I have sat in this Parliament, as the rest of us have. I say ...
Kevin Stewart
SNP
I repeat what I said at the very beginning of my contribution, about Mr Kerr’s logical contribution. Mr Kerr and I, among others, were involved in a debate o...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Thank you, Mr Stewart—that was a long intervention.
Stephen Kerr
Con
That is all very good from Kevin Stewart, but, unfortunately, some of us have a longer-term memory of what the SNP has been up to over the past four and a ha...
Clare Adamson (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)
SNP
Does Mr Kerr listen to “The Life Scientific” on BBC Radio 4? It had a prominent climate expert, Pierre Friedlingstein, on today, who explained that this is n...
Stephen Kerr
Con
We will not do that at the price of tens of thousands of jobs, or at the price of making our country poorer. No parliamentarian here should be arguing for th...
The Minister for Higher and Further Education (Ben Macpherson)
SNP
I thank colleagues for what has been a good and important debate with an honest exchange of views and insights. I also pay tribute to Liam Kerr for bringing ...
Douglas Lumsden
Con
I completely understand that most energy policy is reserved, but the Scottish Government published the draft energy strategy and just transition plan two and...
Ben Macpherson
SNP
I refer the member to the answer that was given on that point just last week in the chamber, I think. I am glad that the member raised that issue. I say thi...
Liam Kerr
Con
Will the minister give way?