Meeting of the Parliament 28 May 2026 [Draft]
I congratulate you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and welcome you to your position.
I begin on a friendly note by welcoming Stephen Gethins to his position. I have known him for a number of years and hope that I will not embarrass him by observing that we first met when we were student politicians. Let us hope that we have raised the standard of debate a little since then. Indeed, I wonder whether this Government will become a tale of two Stephens. We can see why the First Minister appointed Stephen Gethins, because he brings a mature approach and can be collegiate and work on a cross-party basis. I will let others decide what the analysis of the other Stephen might be.
It is important to talk about energy and we need to have a grown-up and rational conversation, because energy is at the heart of our economy and of this country’s future prosperity, but the motion does not auger well. “It’s Scotland’s Energy” might make for a somewhat adequate T-shirt slogan, but it is an incoherent title for a parliamentary motion and an entirely empty basis for policy. I gently point out to Mr Gethins that his speech was rather heavy on rhetoric but rather light on actual analysis.
The reality is that we have seen a huge investment of £150 billion in renewables in Scotland since 2014. Of the 45GW of renewables capacity in this country, 25 per cent is in Scotland, with 80 per cent of the UK’s wind generation capacity being in Scotland. That is because of UK policy—driven by contracts for difference and by renewables obligations before that—which has driven investment and lowered costs by those bills being underwritten through strike prices. That has cost the average UK bill payer £39 annually. Is the Scottish National Party saying that that £39 should be spread only across UK bill payers? That would surely be worth hundreds of pounds per person, per year.