Meeting of the Parliament 12 March 2026 [Draft]
We have engaged with the industry to understand the implications of the serious issue that Christine Grahame raises with me. We also seek to engage with the United Kingdom Government on the issue. I know that there has been some dialogue between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and members of Parliament, but there has not yet been dialogue with the devolved Governments. We will pursue that. We want to make sure that we are part of those discussions to understand the potential impacts on individuals, public services and social security arrangements in Scotland.
Our hope is that de-escalation in Iran can reverse the increase in costs, because that is what is fuelling it. However, energy prices are fully reserved to the United Kingdom Government, and we have pressed it to publicly commit to financial support if prices continue to rise.