Westminster Holding Back Scotland’s Energy Potential
The SNP has said that Scottish independence is key to capitalising on the green energy gold rush, reducing household bills, and securing sustained economic growth for Scotland.
It comes amid a growing backlash against Rishi Sunak’s decision to undermine net zero investment in the UK.
SNP Energy spokesperson and Angus MP Dave Doogan has said the Tory government is anti-business, anti-growth and actively damaging Scotland’s economy by threatening the vital green investment we need. He confirmed that SNP MPs will use every available opportunity to vote against the U-turn on climate commitments, including by opposing statutory instruments to delay the ban on new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035.
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn MP, wrote to the Prime Minister calling his move a risk to both our climate obligations and our economic future.
Leading manufacturers have now warned that it has created a climate of uncertainty for business investment in the UK, with Ford UK Chair Lisa Brankin warning “our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three.”
Mr Flynn highlighted that the UK government’s decision will hit hardest in Scotland, where the SNP warns that history is repeating itself.
The SNP ultimately calls for Scotland to have the power to decide its own energy future as an independent country.
The Tories’ recklessness on climate commitments is both environmentally irresponsible and a threat to Scotland’s economic future – businesses leaders themselves have condemned the removal of certainty.
GRAEME
Scotland can be a renewable energy powerhouse, but this has been undermined by UK governments’ decades-long failure to invest now compounded by the ripping up of its eventual pledges.
This U-turn by the Prime Minister is simultaneously anti-green and anti-business and growth, deterring investors with damaging decisions when all the evidence is clear that green investment will protect and create jobs.
With Labour rowing back their own commitments too, this poverty of ambition shows that getting the energy transition right and capitalising on Scotland’s potential in the green energy gold rush is best served by becoming an independent country.
