Contribution
That is a well-trodden argument that, unfortunately, the facts do not bear out. The energy produced in Scotland is more than it uses, but at any given time Scotland often relies on nuclear energy; in fact, it is quite often imported from England when necessary—when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining. Nuclear is critical, and Scotland was relying on gas from Peterhead power station recently because Torness was undergoing renovation work. Scotland does in fact rely on nuclear, and it is important. Furthermore, the argument about costs would be well placed in the SNP’s own plan on this issue, which says that there would be a third off energy bills with independence. There are absolutely no figures to back that up.
Let me move on in the time I have left to the key points that have been made. First, it is absolutely right to centre the future of the country’s economy and of the clean power that we need to get to households and businesses on improving the grid. For far too long, we have not invested in what is probably one of the most important pieces of infrastructure that this country has. As a result, it is taking far too long to connect projects. As the hon. Lady for Mid Dunbartonshire rightly outlined, every single minute of the day we are wasting clean power, which could be bringing down bills, because we cannot get it through the necessary constraints. We have to build that grid, and with that will come tens of thousands of jobs across the country, so it is a hugely important economic opportunity.
I was glad my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson) referenced the importance of community energy and of the local power plan, which was published recently—another fantastic read that I encourage all hon. Members to read. This is about the biggest transfer of wealth and power in the energy space in British history, putting communities right at the heart not just of building energy infrastructure, but owning that infrastructure and benefiting from it. Tomorrow I am going to the Western Isles to see a project that has benefited greatly from being able to own that energy and take the profits that come with it.
Community benefits remain important as well. We did consult on making them mandatory, and we will announce the outcomes of that consultation soon. We have announced bill discounts for people in the proximity of transmission infrastructure and community benefits from that. We also want to see much more shared ownership of energy, with communities having the ability to take a stake in much bigger projects and take the profits that come with that to invest in their local areas. That is hugely important.
Consenting decisions on these projects are devolved in Scotland, and I urge the Scottish Government to move as quickly as possible on making those decisions. Every delay to a piece of grid in Scotland means we are not getting cheaper power on to people’s bills, which could make a huge difference now. Those delays are significant, so I urge them to make that happen.
Finally on the grid, the industry is working collectively to make sure that the billions of pounds of investment going into building the grid results in supply chain jobs across the country.
There were many other things that the hon. Member for Mid Dunbartonshire raised that I would love to spend longer talking about. However, at the outset she made absolutely the right point about Scotland’s contribution to the UK’s energy security. It is not a story of the past or a promise of the future, but a reality at the moment. We have to seize the opportunities that come from the energy transition. That means creating the jobs that go along with the infrastructure we are building, so that Scotland benefits and gets that economic potential.
I am glad there is some consensus on many of the actions we have to take in this space, but the question is how we move further and faster to make this happen. Communities cannot wait for those community benefits or for cheaper power, and we should always root this issue in the Government’s No. 1 priority: tackling the affordability crisis facing households across the country. The clean power mission is the way to do that. In an increasingly uncertain world—not least the one we see on our TV screens right now—the answer is to move further and faster away from fossil fuels and to the cheaper, cleaner power that is an economic opportunity for Scotland and the whole country.
Question put and agreed to.