Hansard

As our energy consenting powers are largely executively devolved rather than legislatively devolved, any changes to those schemes require the agreement of the UK Government and legislation at Westminster.

The UK Energy Bill has presented an opportunity to refresh the legislative framework under which we operate. We have engaged with the UK Government on the bill in good faith over many months in order to meet our joint objectives of reaching net zero and enhancing domestic energy security while ensuring that the devolution settlement and, indeed, the powers of this Parliament are respected.

The Scottish Government has secured amendments to the bill that are good for Scotland, provide a degree of protection for devolution and support a just energy transition. The bill will support our efforts to decarbonise heat in buildings by providing new powers for Scottish ministers to make and amend regulations covering energy performance certificates, replacing powers that were lost across the UK at European Union exit. It enables us to introduce regulation of heat networks, which will be critical to meeting our statutory heat networks targets and spreading the costs of heat networks regulation fairly by pooling costs across Great Britain. It will also give Scottish ministers formal influence over a significant new UK-wide market mechanism to encourage the supply of low-carbon heat appliances by manufacturers.

The Scottish Government has also negotiated amendments to mitigate potential negative effects of the bill. The offshore wind provisions have been amended to greatly limit the scope for a marine recovery fund to be used to undermine Scottish ministers’ current functions in relation to compensatory measures, and more generally to reduce the negative impacts of those clauses on devolved functions.

Enhanced consultation requirements have been secured to require the UK Government to more fully engage with the Scottish Government on the energy savings opportunities scheme. Although not perfect, that is an improvement on the UK Government’s original intentions.

The bill has also been amended to include detailed consultation requirements for a number of clauses relating to carbon capture, utilisation and storage, and hydrogen, and the UK Government has committed to setting up a ministerial working group on CCUS, which will enable us to drive forward work that is vital to delivering our net zero ambitions. However, the UK Government has rejected amendments that would have improved the bill in relation to issues such as CCUS and hydrogen.

Although those changes are welcome, I must emphasise that the changes to the bill do not go nearly far enough. It is the clearly established position of the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament that, where provisions in a bill touch on devolved competence, legislation should include a requirement for the consent of Scottish ministers. The UK Government has refused to include those consent mechanisms for all but a very small number of clauses.

That is not how devolution is supposed to work. The UK Government should respect the views of this Parliament and promote amendments to reflect that. To make matters worse, the UK Government has made it clear that, unless we agree to recommend that legislative consent be given to the bill as a whole—including those areas in which we believe it is riding roughshod over devolution—it will revert to the bill as it was originally envisaged. The Scottish Government has made it clear that such a negotiation tactic is unacceptable. It is tantamount to blackmail and it is incompatible with good-faith negotiation on important topics.

The Sewel convention is supposed to require the UK Government to amend legislation to reflect the legitimate expectation that the UK Government will not legislate in devolved areas without the consent of the Scottish Parliament. However, the UK Government has now chosen to turn the convention on its head with that take-it-or-leave-it approach.

Instead of the need for legislative consent protecting the interests of this Parliament, the threat of proceeding without consent has become a weapon for the UK Government. That is yet another way in which the UK Government is failing to respect the Sewel convention, which it has now breached on 11 separate occasions.

The Scottish Government remains committed to the Sewel convention and continues to work within both its letter and spirit, despite the current UK Government’s repeated disregard for its requirements. We have written to the UK Government to detail our objections to its approach.

Securing amendments to the bill is vital to the delivery of our net zero ambitions at this crucial juncture, and our decision to recommend consent is made on that basis. Although I recommend that consent be given, I do so reluctantly, and it must be made clear that we are being asked to accept a diminution of this Parliament’s powers under the threat of having those powers further weakened if we do not—jeopardising investment in our renewable sector and undermining our efforts to reach net zero. That is not a partnership of equals; those are the actions of a bully, treating the Scottish Parliament—and, by extension, the Scottish people—with nothing but contempt. Our recommendation of consent on this occasion should in no way be taken as acceptance of the UK Government’s approach to negotiations on the bill.

The Scottish Government is determined to deliver a just energy transition that enables the people of Scotland to realise the benefits of our rich renewables endowment and achieve a net zero future.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees that all relevant provisions of the Energy Bill, introduced in the House of Lords on 6 July 2022 and subsequently amended, so far as these matters fall within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament or alter the executive competence of the Scottish Ministers, should be considered by the UK Parliament.