Jackdaw Gasfield

Frank McNally Excerpts

Wednesday 21st October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Michael Shanks]

The hon. Lady speaks about 50 years; I am not quite sure what the SNP’s energy policy is right now. It changes from minute to minute, and it changes depending on whether the First Minister is in Aberdeen or somewhere else in the country. I cannot quite fathom it. The Scottish Government put out a statement today, which I read three or four times, and I still was not clear whether they support Jackdaw or not. The hon. Lady is a good supporter of the industry and I recognise that, but as for the rest of her party, I am not quite so sure.

The point about investment in renewables is important. We have been clear that the revenue from this project will be invested in renewables projects across the UK. For the vast majority of those, we are already seeing the investment going into Scotland, in supply chains as well as in the infrastructure itself. It is easy for the hon. Lady to talk down Great British Energy, but its headquarters in Aberdeen is already helping to deliver investment in supply chains in Scotland. That is £1 billion of investment so that we are not towing in renewables infrastructure to the “Saudi Arabia of renewables”, as the former leader of her party called it, that is all built somewhere else, but building it in Britain. That is where the jobs come from.

That is really important, and I hope we can all get behind this idea. I thought the hon. Lady’s party agreed that public ownership of energy is important, that public investment in energy is important and that the transition needs investment at every stage, so I hope that there are clearer areas for us to work together. However, as I say, we are still waiting on the SNP’s energy policy three years on, so I am not quite sure what it is at the moment.

[Frank McNally (Coatbridge and Bellshill) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend knows that actions have consequences, but so does inaction. Ultimately, the consistent failure of the Conservatives over many years to address the challenges in the North sea has seen 70,000 jobs lost. I welcome the statement, which was clearly focused on energy security and jobs. As my constituency neighbour, the Minister knows the importance of supply chain jobs in Lanarkshire, not just in oil and gas but in clean energy projects such as RES, which we both visited recently. Does he agree that the new £2 billion energy wealth fund represents a serious step towards supporting our transition effort and delivering high-quality jobs in Lanarkshire?