Meeting of the Parliament 11 November 2025
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 that kind of pathway forward, because it is nonsensical. There have been plans and strategies and promises of jobs in the renewables sector until our ears bleed. None of that happens, because we are in denial about economic reality when we refuse to see things as they really are and, instead, transpose some fantasy.
There is lots that could be said, but I am already over my time so I will not continue, except to say that I have now lived long enough to see the day when Fergus Ewing proclaimed himself in this Parliament to be a Green. I feel incredibly privileged to have been in the chamber to hear that. However, I also know that he speaks inordinate common sense on this subject, as he does on many others. His comments are based on economic fact. I ask all members to consider that, particularly as we look ahead to tomorrow’s debate on the future of Rosebank. That will be a very interesting debate. No doubt, though, as is the way of the Scottish Parliament, the motion will be amended out of sight by the SNP and Green majority.
I will close with the words of Kemi Badenoch:
“We are in the absurd situation where our country is leaving vital resources untapped while neighbours such as Norway extract them from the same seabed.”
Doing that is madness.
17:13