It is important for every Government that they have the correct policies in place to ensure our energy security and in doing so ensure that we sprint to clean power and deliver a just transition for workers.
That is why in the recent General Election, the Labour Party had a manifesto commitment to build a clean power system by 2030, making this one of our key missions in government. While technologies like carbon capture and storage will be important for decarbonising heavy industry, Labour knows that if we are to reduce household bills, deliver energy security and show climate leadership we need to prioritise the sprint to a clean power.
To support this, in the King’s Speech on Wednesday 17th July there was a commitment to introduce legislation to set up Great British Energy, a publicly owned clean power company headquartered in Scotland, which will help accelerate investment in renewable energy such as offshore wind. This demonstrates the political leadership the new UK Labour Government is taking to sprint to clean power and demonstrate climate leadership. In advance of the election Labour published it’s Green Prosperity Plan which also highlighted the need to invest in local community and cooperatively owned renewables, such as solar, wind and hydro projects through our Local Power Plan.
In its 2022 Report to Parliament, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) set out a monitoring map for decarbonising electricity supply. To decarbonise our electricity supply the 2022 CCC Report was clear that there needed to be faster planning to allow for the rapid deployment of low-carbon energy generation capacity; that there needed to be investment and innovation to develop new infrastructure to allow for a pipeline of low-carbon options and there needs to be a plan to increase electrification in transport, heating and industry. The SNP Scottish Government have failed to follow this advice demonstrated by the last 8 of 12 climate targets being missed as you have referenced.
My Scottish Labour colleague Sarah Boyack MSP, who is Scottish Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Just Transition has been calling on the SNP Scottish Government to get on and publish a Green Industrial Strategy and the final version of their Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan. Both of these key Strategies will send a clear signal to industry and stakeholders of the route Scotland will take to decarbonise electricity supply. The failure to publish these Strategies three years after the last Scottish Parliament election has cost vital time in making the transition from fossil fuels to clean power.
My colleague, Sarah Boyack, has already written to the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy to highlight the concerns raised in your e-mail but received a disappointing reply that did not adequately address the issues raised. However, I and my Scottish Labour colleagues will continue to push the SNP Scottish Government to sprint to clean power as quickly as possible and ensure that the need for gas burning power stations is reduced. We will also encourage the Scottish Government to work with the new UK Labour Government as much as possible to ensure a joined up approach in sprinting to clean power as fast and possible and supporting workers through the just transition.
I hope you find this response helpful.
Kind Regards,
Rhoda Grant MSP