Meeting of the Parliament 05 March 2026 [Draft]
It is not up to the Scottish National Party, the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliament to give the go-ahead for Rosebank, Cambo or anywhere else; that is a matter for the UK Government. We have said that the impact on the environment and on energy security has to be considered, and we are not the only ones who have said that. The UK courts have said that the UK Government has to do that, too. I suggest that the UK Government—because, unfortunately, it is in charge at the moment—needs to put together environmental impact assessments and energy security strategies to get that right. I am not against new fields, but we need to consider the reasoning. If those works were carried out, they would show whether there is a need for future development. Anyway, forget about new fields—we should be drilling in existing areas, as the Norwegians are doing. That is another thing that the UK Government is failing to do.
I was speaking about transmission charges. They must be changed to reflect the cost of local production alongside regional pricing, which would allow the free market to bring energy-intensive industries back to Scotland. Not only would that revitalise the Scottish economy and lower bills, but it would eliminate the vast carbon dioxide footprint of transporting electricity from Scotland to England.
Finally, we must address the elephant in the room: our housing stock. Tenements make up only 2 per cent of the UK’s housing, but in Scotland they represent 25 per cent. In the centre of Aberdeen, which is in my constituency, well over half of the homes are tenements. Whitehall and the Climate Change Committee think that tenements are the last 2 per cent to be solved, but in Scotland, tenements must be one of the first problems that we solve. If we cannot decarbonise the tenements in our cities, we will not meet our targets—it is as simple as that. We simply cannot wait for a one-size-fits-all UK solution that ignores the reality of Scottish cities. Lower electricity prices will help us to do that decarbonisation.
Again, I welcome the fact that the Parliament has set world-leading climate emissions targets, but targets are not results. Results will be seen only if we can reduce electricity prices dramatically, which I think we can do and would do if we were an independent nation.