'Nonsense' to claim independence would reduce energy bills by a third, says Labour minister
Martin McCluskey said he “does not buy for a second that an independent Scotland could reduce energy bills the way that the First Minister said they could.”
John Swinney’s claims that Scottish independence would reduce energy bills by a third are “nonsense”, a Labour minister has said.
Martin McCluskey said he “does not buy for a second that an independent Scotland could reduce energy bills the way that the First Minister said they could.”
Mr Swinney claimed in December - alongside a sign which said “It’s Scotland’s Energy” - that the country could “have the lowest wholesale electricity prices in Western Europe” if it were independent.
Inverclyde and West Renfrewshire MP Mr McCluskey was speaking after it was announced that energy bills will fall by even per cent - an average of £10 a month - after the UK Government removed green subsidies from bills.
He also said he is concerned that Scots “are missing out” because the SNP dropped its Heat in Buildings Bill and that Scotland will rely on England if the ban on nuclear energy is not reversed.
When asked what he thought of Mr Swinney’s claim, the UK energy minister said: “I think that claim is nonsense. This is a government who has been promising a full energy strategy for years and we’ve still not seen it.
“What we got from the Scottish Government in terms of a paper on independence and energy, was a thin volume, I think, probably more pictures than words in it.
“The Scottish Government’s energy strategy, or lack of an energy strategy, is not serious because it doesn’t address the real issues facing energy infrastructure, whether that’s the need for investment in transmission, which is being paid for UK-wide, not just on a Scottish basis, the need for nuclear, which they are ideologically opposed to, which is going to hold Scotland back.
“So I do not buy for a second that an independent Scotland could reduce energy bills the way that the First Minister said they could.”
He also Scots will not benefit from measures to make homes more energy efficient - and accused the SNP of “dragging their feet”.
He said: “There's measures that we are taking for England at the moment, that the UK Government is taking for England, that the Scottish Government are dragging their feet on.
“I would point towards what happened with the heat buildings bill that the Scottish Government had promised for a long time to come before the Holyrood elections, which has now been kicked into the long grass.
“We've announced a £15 billion package for home upgrades, and the Scottish Government have abandoned their plans for the Heat in Buildings bill.
”I think that if we're going to drive down energy bills, yes, we need to focus on the cost of energy. That's obviously the most important thing that we have to do.
“But we also need to look at how people's homes can be made more energy efficient, because people can make really significant savings in that way.
“And at the moment, I'm concerned that consumers in Scotland, people in Scotland, are missing out because the Scottish Government have been dragging their feet on the Heat in Building Bill.”
He warned that Scotland will become dependent on English nuclear energy when Torness power station shuts in 2030: “Even if you look, if you go into the [national Energy System Operator] website most days, and you look at the energy mix in Scotland, we are still using significant amounts of nuclear power.
“And the question for me is, once existing nuclear in Scotland goes offline, where does that come from?
“And it will be coming from the investment in nuclear in England, we need to have, you know, sense of a sensible approach from the Scottish Government to this.”
Energy Secretary Gillian Martin said: “Building new nuclear reactors will not lead to lower energy bills for people in Scotland.
“The obvious and immediate way to reduce fuel poverty is for the UK Government to take action to reduce energy costs – as they currently hold the fundamental fiscal and policy levers to make a real difference.
“This is why we continue to press the UK Government to urgently deliver a social tariff in the form of an automatic and targeted discount on energy bills to address unaffordable bills at source.
“Until that happens, we will continue to do all that we can within our powers to tackle fuel poverty and support households that are struggling.
“We are investing £300 million this year into improving the heating and energy efficiency of our homes and buildings. And this winter we will invest over £197 million in our Winter Heating Benefits, with more than 1.5 million payments already made to help households with their energy bills this winter.”
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