Meeting of the Parliament 26 November 2025
No. I do not have time.
My real worry at the moment is that the Tory and Labour position—the new antagonism to any kind of credible climate policy—not only is bad in its own right and harmful in indulging the interests of the fossil fuel industry and rebooting climate denial, but is worse because of the effect that it is having on both the Labour and SNP Governments. They are clearly reaching the conclusion that they can persuade people to compare them to those who are looking to rip up climate legislation instead of being judged against what the science demands. In reaching that conclusion, they have clearly decided that they can get away with doing the absolute minimum on climate policy or even going into reverse.
That is why the Scottish Government thinks that it is fine to scrap road traffic reduction targets, scrap any halfway-serious action on clean heating, reject the UK Climate Change Committee’s advice on agriculture, and demand a massive tax break for the fossil fuel giants that have brought the world to a state of climate emergency. Clearly, it is also why the UK Government thinks that it is fine to betray the trust of those who thought that the Labour manifesto commitment on oil and gas meant something. I was always sceptical, but I know that there were those who thought that “no new licences” was a pledge worth having. Now it is clear that the UK Government will always put the interests of the fossil fuel giants first, and it does not care much for the last shreds of climate credibility that it once had.
It is easy to forget that it is only a few years since the Scottish Parliament had complete consensus in recognising the reality of the climate emergency. The public still want climate action, and growing Green parties in all the nations of the UK will continue to call out those who back the multinationals. We will stand up to the fossil fuel profiteers, and we will show that a fairer, greener and more equal society is the only viable path ahead of us.
15:15