Meeting of the Parliament 24 March 2026 [Draft]
There might be groans from those to the left of me, who do not want to grow our economy by investing in new technologies for our energy, but Kevin Stewart is absolutely right: that is a key example of how the constraints of devolution mean that we are, effectively, trying to deliver societal and economic transformation with one hand tied behind our back.
As we know, and as was reinforced during the scrutiny period of the climate change plan, the price of electricity is crucial to our climate ambitions, including electric vehicle roll-out, industrial decarbonisation and clean heating for houses. I am not the only one who says that; the Climate Change Committee says that electricity costs have to come down. That will also be critical for what the UK Government wants to do to reach net zero by 2050.
When it comes to the current situation in the middle east, decisions by the Scottish Government to increase the amount of electricity that is generated in Scotland from low-cost renewable sources has put us in a position whereby electricity bills should be a lot lower for people in Scotland, and are a clear example of why those powers should be in the hands of Scotland rather than in those of successive UK Governments, which continue to leave Scottish consumers and communities exposed. It would mean that more communities in Scotland would welcome developments in their area, because they would see the tangible benefits in their electricity bills. However, critically, until the cost of electricity comes down, we will struggle to deliver in a lot of those areas in a just way. Kevin Stewart is absolutely right about the way to get that energy security and decarbonisation.