Meeting of the Parliament 28 May 2026 [Draft]
I have great respect for the member, and I thank him for both his intervention and his welcome. I urge him patience. I merely say this: Scotland is a massive exporter of energy; other markets rely on our energy and have done so for decades.
I am sorry to say so, but that speaks to the isolationist approach that has been taken by the Conservative Party, which turned its back on a Europe that is coming together on energy security. Isolationism is not a policy that our party—or a majority in this Parliament—will endorse. I will come on to that point.
In energy-rich Scotland, we are facing increasing energy bills. Just yesterday, the Labour Government, which had promised to reduce energy bills, put them up. We are a country that produces more energy than it consumes.
Mr Fraser will be delighted by this: for context, our oil and gas industry has sent £400 billion to the Treasury over decades, with very little in return and no long-term planning. Can members imagine that? We have a finite resource, but there is no long-term planning. We are one of the few countries on earth never to have put together a future generations fund. That is why Westminster has failed and why this place deserves to have full control over energy.
Renewables alone deliver 20.8 terawatt hours outside of Scotland annually. To put it into context, that net export is worth £1.7 billion and, if we kept the energy in Scotland, it would be enough to power every home in Scotland for three and a half years. [Stephen Gethins has corrected this contribution. See end of report.] That shows the value that it has to the rest of the UK and the whole of Europe when it comes to energy security.
Lower bills where that energy is produced should be part of the solution, but we have been let down. That is why decisions about energy should be made here. Westminster’s track record, be it under the Conservatives—or those former Conservatives—or under Labour, means that it no longer deserves to keep that control.
The disconnect between Scotland’s energy wealth and the daily reality that households face is not inevitable. We all talk—I have heard some fantastic speeches—about the conversations that have taken place over the past few weeks. It is a consequence of a constitutional arrangement that leaves decisions about Scotland’s energy in the hands of Westminster, which is delivering, in this energy-rich part of Europe, energy bills that are among the highest anywhere in Europe. That should be a challenge for all of us in this chamber.
The people of Scotland returned a Government with a clear instruction: deliver the benefits of Scotland’s energy wealth to Scottish households, communities and businesses. The First Minister set out that position and the electorate endorsed it.
Let us look more deeply into that. I am sure that members will all recall the polling evidence that came out last month during the election campaign. An Ipsos survey showed that more than three quarters of Scots think that there should be more devolution over energy, and that only 14 per cent think that it should remain under Westminster control, which would be the case under Labour, Reform and Conservative policies.