Meeting of the Parliament 14 May 2025
Although I do not agree with some of the rhetoric of Douglas Lumsden’s characteristic contribution, I am grateful for the opportunity to debate the future of the oil and gas industry in Scotland.
In the few short minutes that I have, I will start by stressing the importance of the industry. The energy transition is Scotland’s defining economic and industrial policy challenge of our time. Since my election four years ago, it is the issue that has prevailed in discussions both economic and industrial. It is the animating purpose of so many businesses across Scotland and of employers, workers and trade unions across the north-east and beyond.
The energy sector is vital to the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands of constituents—not just oil and gas workers, but those in the surrounding economy and all who depend on it. In truth, the issue has to be the animating question the length and breadth of this country. It is not just the economies of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire that hinge on our energy sector; the fiscal framework that was agreed by the Scottish Government means that the fate of Scotland’s energy sector, which underpins the median wage in Scotland, is an integral part of the calculations around the budget that we receive from the UK. The money that comes through that fiscal framework means that we are able to pay for nurses in Coatbridge, teachers in Orkney, refuse workers in Glasgow, police officers in Arbroath and social workers in Ayrshire, and those wages matter to the whole country. The energy sector is a pivotal part of our economy and our fiscal infrastructure.
For those reasons, we cannot afford Governments that are found wanting and politicians who abdicate responsibility and then, when the electorate gets rid of them, as it did the Tories last year, resort to howling at the moon and pretending that the complex challenges of the transition are somehow avoidable if only we shout loudly enough. Despite the rhetoric that we have heard—mostly from Mr Lumsden so far today, and I am sure there will be more to come from those benches, but partly from the SNP—the truth is that the SNP Government and the previous UK Conservative Government, in particular, have failed to seize the moment and have failed workers.
There is plenty of rhetoric, but the Government’s record tells a different story. We all know the rhetoric about Scotland becoming the Saudi Arabia of renewables and that only a fraction of the jobs that were promised were delivered before Scotland’s sea bed was sold off on the cheap, with that money being used to plug the holes due to the Scottish Government’s woeful financial management rather than to invest in the supply chain or the required skills. I see that the minister disagrees, but I say to her that that was part of the three emergency budgets that we have had in the past three years.
The Tories in Opposition are vehemently against the grid infrastructure upgrade that, just 12 months ago, was the UK Government’s policy, brought forward by the Conservatives, who are now howling at the moon.
The SNP and Tory Governments knew for years that the future of Grangemouth oil refinery was at severe risk, but neither party in government did anything about it at all. We have put £200 million in place.