Meeting of the Parliament 14 May 2025
The Scottish Government has pledged upwards of £80 million—[Interruption.] The recommendation from those in the Acorn project and the Scottish cluster is that they will need that money when they get track status. The money will be available to them at that point. However, where is the track status? That is what I mean by abandonment. It is nowhere. The project has been completely abandoned for the pork barrel politics of the newly elected MPs in the red wall.
The move to renewable energy is existential for Scotland’s economy and energy sector. Offshore wind is a significant opportunity to create high-quality, sustainable jobs and grow employment. Estimates suggest that the sector could support up to and even more than 54,000 jobs, depending which report you read.
Communities across Scotland must share in the benefits of the renewables transition, and we are taking action to ensure that that happens. In a short debate such as this one, I do not have time to run through all the ways that we are doing that, but I will mention the £30 million-worth of benefits that have already been offered to Scottish communities, supported by our good practice principles. Today, the Deputy First Minister announced an £8 million fund to catalyse community energy in Scotland, which will empower communities to deliver their own renewable energy projects. However, there is a limit to what we can do within our current powers. I continue to call on the UK Government to mandate benefits from onshore developments, which the Conservative Party would not do.
I turn to the Conservative motion in my final seconds. It is quixotic. On the one hand, it accuses us of not doing enough to accelerate renewables growth, which is an accusation that I completely refute. At the same time, the motion rails against essential upgrades to transmission infrastructure that will take clean energy to homes and businesses. Yet again, the Tories have abdicated responsibility for their part in a transmission strategy that consecutive UK Governments developed. It has abdicated responsibility and deliberately misled constituents about the fact that, when the Tories were in power, they did nothing to improve the regulations on community engagement and benefits, and they did nothing to make energy more affordable for households.
The debate is short, but I very much look forward to hearing members’ contributions.
I move amendment S6M-1725.3, to leave out from “regrets” to end and insert:
“notes with deep concern the economic and employment impacts of the closure of the Grangemouth refinery and recent job losses at Harbour Energy in Aberdeen; further notes that the increase and extension of the UK Government’s Energy Profits Levy, by the previous and current UK administrations, has had a damaging effect on North Sea investment, including on the transition; believes that a just transition must support workers and that the transition to net zero must deliver tangible benefits for consumers, communities and the wider economy; argues that the voice of communities must be heard in this process; condemns the anti-climate rhetoric of the Conservative Party, which ignores the reality of the impacts of climate change, and calls on the UK Government to fully fund and support the Acorn/Scottish Cluster carbon capture project and demonstrate that, unlike the previous UK administration, it supports this vital scheme for jobs in Grangemouth and the north east of Scotland.”
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