Energy Rebates: Highlands and Islands

Debate between Ian Blackford and Jamie Stone

Wednesday 6th March 2024 Westminster Hall

[Ian Blackford]

My hon. Friend makes an important and fair point. In my constituency and home island of the Isle of Skye, a number of planning applications are coming forward. Of course, there is always a range of views on these things across all our communities, but if I look back over the past few years and, indeed, at the debate taking place today, on balance, people are generally favourably disposed towards those developments. They understand the importance of getting to net zero. My goodness, the communities that we all represent feel the impact of climate change—we can see it. There has to be that fairness, and the fact is that so many people are living in fuel poverty—the 47% of households that I referred to that live in rural areas. I see it when I am out and about.

If we think about us here in London going about our jobs, many people are dressed, as we are, in their working garb—suits or whatever it might be—but when we see people in remote rural areas, they often work outdoors, in the fishing industry or as crofters or farmers. It is largely an outdoor life, so people wear layers of clothes. They need those layers because of the climate they face outside, but—here is the “but”—in too many cases, they are still wearing those layers when they come back inside because they simply cannot afford the heating. That is the reality. When we give our consent—because it is about our consent—to that increase in energy production, where is the benefit?

I mentioned the increase in energy production that we will see in Scotland between now and 2050. We welcome it, but how can we have our people living in fuel poverty? How can we accept that? Where is the fairness? We are being charged higher transmission costs to transmit that energy into the grid, and being charged again to get the energy back. That energy is produced in our communities. Can somebody explain where the fairness is in that? How does that look for those living in these communities?

[Jamie Stone]

None of us should be under any illusion; the fact that so few of us are here today does not reflect or minimise the nature of the problem. It is fundamentally unfair that many other aspects of government would command a higher attendance of Members. There is something basically wrong here. Part of the UK is being ripped off when it comes to energy.

When the Chancellor and his civil servants were drawing up the Budget, I am sure they took into account what was fair, what was right and what was not, but has this issue been factored in? We await today with interest. It is apposite that the debate is precisely at this hour, because shortly we will know whether the Chancellor cares about a fundamental unfairness or not.

[Ian Blackford]

I thank the hon. Member, my constituency neighbour, for that contribution. I agree with the sentiment; it is a pity that more Members are not present. Having said that, the Members who represent the four most northerly constituencies are here. We four represent the communities most exposed to this issue. We have four of the most rural constituencies in the whole United Kingdom, although we could add Na h-Eileanan an Iar or Argyll and Bute to that. It is our constituents who are feeling this. It is our constituents in the main who are facing fuel poverty to such an extent. I wonder whether those in government actually recognise what it is like to live in those communities and face the kind of pressures that we face.

I have talked about the community benefiting from transmission, but it is important that the community should benefit from production as well. Again, those on the production side are encouraged to engage in community benefit, but we simply cannot leave it to the developers to determine community benefit at a whim. It must be mandatory. It must be in legislation. The highlands and islands produce enough energy to power nearly six times as many homes as there are in the highlands, even before the scale investment that we are talking about. Of course, being a windy and wet region makes us an attractive option for developers, but there must be payback for communities.

In the highlands and islands, we are exposed to the effects of climate change. In general, it is an outdoor lifestyle. Crofting and fishing still provide the backbone to economic activity, and those exposed to such activities are exposed to what climate change is bringing. Anyone who has engaged in crofting can say how difficult it is over the winter months with, from personal experience, crofters increasingly sinking into the mud because it is just so relentlessly wet. That is the effect that climate change is having on us.

It is therefore unsurprising that, in general, those who live in such places as Ross, Skye and Lochaber support green energy initiatives, but there is an increasing concern that rising production produces little direct benefit for communities for that right to produce. That is why we have a broken UK energy market. Let us not forget that the increase in pricing over the last two years is largely because electricity prices are tied to gas prices. However, we have talked about the fact that in the main, people who live in the highlands and islands are off grid. We do not consume gas as part of our energy mix, yet highlanders are paying the price for others’ dependence on gas.

It is simply unfair that Scotland, which produces enough affordable renewable energy for all domestic consumption, must pay higher prices because other parts of the United Kingdom are more reliant on more expensive gas. In energy-rich Scotland, consumers are in fuel poverty because of the broken UK energy market. Those in Scotland are paying a price for being in the United Kingdom—so much for the broad shoulders of the United kingdom; so much for the “Union dividend”. There is no Union dividend; it is a financial penalty, and we in Scotland all pay the price. To put that in a wider context, the value in today’s prices of tax from North sea oil to the UK Exchequer is more than £400 billion. Our legacy from the bounty of North sea oil has been squandered, and we have now been locked out of the benefit of Scotland’s green energy production.

The phrase “Scotland has the energy, but we don’t have the power” is often used. It is an absolute scandal that we produce the energy and yet so many of our people are living in fuel poverty. That is the price of Westminster’s control of Scotland’s natural resources: highlanders and islanders suffering fuel poverty from a broken energy market. The blame lies fairly and squarely in this place, and its inability to act in the appropriate manner to defend the interests of our constituents.

Green Energy Potential: Scotland

Debate between Ian Blackford and Jamie Stone

Tuesday 31st January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Ian Blackford]

I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman. There is enormous potential in tidal energy, and I will say more about that later in my speech when I issue specific requests to the Minister.

The only way in which we can generate the appropriate return in gross value added for the whole Scottish economy and ensure that we feel the benefits in the short, medium and long terms is by controlling the supply chain, in offshore wind and tidal energy as in so many other areas.

Offshore wind may have the most momentum, but it is only one of the many opportunities that have the potential to grow. I am delighted that, only in the last number of weeks, my friend and colleague in the Scottish Government, our net zero Cabinet Minister Michael Matheson, has published our draft energy strategy and just transition plan. That plan contains the ambition to grow the full range of green energy opportunities, including pump storage, tidal, solar and of course green hydrogen. The ambition is to create an additional 20 GW of capacity by 2030—enough to power around 6 million homes, which is far more than the number of households in Scotland. This increased capacity would account for the equivalent of nearly 50% of all current energy demand of households and businesses.

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

The right hon. Gentleman mentions green hydrogen. The fact is that distilleries in the highlands—Clynelish, Glenmorangie and Dalmore are three examples—are particularly keen to heat and make their whisky using hydrogen rather than fossil fuels. There is a great opportunity here, and I believe it would be of great benefit to His Majesty’s Government and the Scottish Government to have a green hydrogen check to see which businesses could go over to that. It is easy: we take the electricity from the offshore windfarms, we make the hydrogen, it burns and it is dead clean.

[Ian Blackford]

The hon. Gentleman is correct. There is a significant opportunity for hydrogen in the distilleries in his own constituency, in mine and right through the industry. I will go on to talk about the Skilling report that I published on behalf of the SNP a few months ago. It mentions the ability to generate five times as much green energy by 2050 as we are doing today and to grow from just over 12 GW up to 80 GW. There is an enormous opportunity within all that for hydrogen in the domestic economy and for exports.

When we talk about the domestic economy, it is important to dwell on the fact that, if we have the ability to upscale our energy production to the extent that that report has indicated, there ought to be a competitive advantage for industry. We must ensure that we get to net zero and reduce our carbon footprint but we must also create a competitive advantage. The holy grail is to ensure that we can strengthen sustainable economic growth and ensure that that ability to generate green energy creates a competitive advantage for industry that drives up investment and productivity and improves living standards.

But my goodness, let us think about the economies of scale in doing that in the context of the cost of living crisis that we are suffering from today. I say to the hon. Member for Caisthness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, whose constituency is in the highlands, that it is an absolute disgrace that so many of our constituents, and our pensioners in particular, are living in fuel poverty when the highlands and islands are generating so much green energy potential, never mind the impact of the cost of living crisis. I say to the Minister that we need to look at the mechanisms of setting a price in the energy market, which has been a considerable factor in putting so many of our constituents in the peril they are in. In the context of Scotland, we are producing six times as much gas as we need, yet suffering from the mechanisms of the market that are forcing our people to pay for energy to an extent that they should not be.

Scottish Independence and the Scottish Economy

Debate between Ian Blackford and Jamie Stone

Wednesday 2nd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Ian Blackford]

I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman raises that because it takes us back to the discussions we had last year. The Royal Society report published just before COP26—a peer-reviewed report—indicated the potential to get to 11.5 GW of electricity from tidal. Incidentally, that would be 15% of the UK’s electricity production, which is the amount that nuclear contributes today, and by 2030 tidal would be cheaper than nuclear. We do not need nuclear to provide our baseload electricity because tidal does it. The fact remains that that £20 million, welcome as it is, does not go far enough for that industry to develop its potential. When we look at the programmes that are already live around these shores, about 70% of the value added from tidal comes from Scotland and about 80% comes from the UK. It is a domestically grown industry.

We heard earlier from my hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Alan Brown) about the contrast with the oil industry in Norway, but one of the key lessons from that is to make sure not just that we have the energy production, but that we control the supply chain. This is exactly an industry where we do control the supply chain. I say to the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (David Duguid) that he should join me in pressing the Treasury to make sure we get the £50 million-a-year ringfenced pot—that is what would allow us to fulfil our potential—and at the same time to make sure that we get carbon capture and storage for Peterhead. Those two clear examples are direct demonstrations of how Scotland has been held back—held back on its ability to deliver green energy and on its desire to get to net zero in 2045. That is the cost of Westminster control for Scotland.

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

I may be corrected, but I fancy I am the only person in this place who has worked in an oil fabrication yard; it was at Nigg. When I worked there, 5,000 people were employed—vital jobs in the highlands. We have the skills still, but they are ageing skills and the skills are going. If we miss the opportunity to build offshore floating wind structures in Scotland, we will be failing the Scottish people. What is the difference between us and Norway? Norway does build; we do not, and we should do something about it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ian Blackford]

I thank the hon. Member for that remark. He is right to talk about what happened in Nigg back in the day. But it was not just in Nigg, as he will recall; it also happened in the west of the highlands—in Kishorn in my own constituency and Ardersier. If you would allow, Mr Deputy Speaker, we could sing the song of the Kishorn Commandos, but maybe we will save that for another day.

[Jamie Stone]

I was a Kishorn Commando.

[Ian Blackford]

And there is many a tale to be told about what happened in Kishorn back in the day, but this is a serious point about the opportunity to industrialise the highlands and the opportunity to create jobs for generations, create wealth and create prosperity. I congratulate the hon. Member because we have worked together on making sure that we are pushing for the opportunities in Cromarty, but these are decisions that we should be taking in Scotland to make sure that we deliver on that promise.

We cannot mention often enough the potential we have in green energy. Scotland is energy rich, and we simply should not be facing an energy emergency. We should not have cold homes and soaring bills. Even before this crisis—as the hon. Member would acknowledge, we already had the situation before this crisis—40% of pensioners in the highlands lived in fuel poverty. What a disgrace that we allow that happen.

UK Energy Costs

Debate between Ian Blackford and Jamie Stone

Thursday 8th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Ian Blackford]

Let me make some progress and then I will.

This cost crisis puts livelihoods and lives at risk. All the while, as this disaster deepened, all summer the Tories spent all their time desperately fighting among themselves, and the public were left desperately waiting for a real cost of living plan. We finally—finally—have a plan today, but I fear that when the public absorb the details, it will fall far short of the help we need.

We have heard today that the green levies are being scrapped. That is of deep concern to those of us on these Benches, particularly given that the green levies fund the warm home discount scheme and, of course, energy-efficiency measures for low-income households. I ask the Government to make sure that that support will remain in place for those who need it. But the sheer scale of the soaring energy bills meant that there was never any question but that households and businesses would not be able to pay the cost of energy bills. They were, and they are, unaffordable. If these prices were not frozen, the bills simply could not have been paid, so freezing prices was not really a choice. It is the only political option.

When the current price cap stands at £2,000, with a 54% increase since spring, and when many people are already unable to pay, setting the cap at £2,500 is not an actual freeze. We know, too, that businesses, especially SMEs, are facing even sharper cost increases than households, and an avalanche of insolvencies and redundancies is forecast. Many businesses simply could not have afforded to stay open.

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. Reids bakery in my constituency, which supplies biscuits to the four corners of the world, is in danger of going bust by Christmas. May I appeal to the Government, in a spirit of inclusivity, to please look at the letter that I have been sent by Reids bakery and see what could be tailored to help a vital business in a remote part of the UK?

[Ian Blackford]

I agree with my hon. Friend and neighbouring MP. Indeed, over the course of the last few weeks I have visited businesses in Ayrshire with my hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Alan Brown). We visited another bakery, Brownings, and met with the industry body. It is clear that bakers in particular are facing real struggles with the rise of energy and other costs. It is critical that the Government give the details of what they are intending in order to support businesses.

Confidence in Her Majesty’s Government

Debate between Ian Blackford and Jamie Stone

Monday 18th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

Will the right hon. Member give way on that point?

[Ian Blackford]

I will give way one more time.

[Jamie Stone]

I do thank the right hon. Member for giving way. We talk about food banks and we talk about poverty, but it is a fact that many households—the Prime Minister referred to them as some of the poorest in the land—including those in my constituency, have no alternative but to use fuel oil, because they are off grid. When I asked the Minister of State for Energy in March whether a cap could be placed on the price, he said no, because there had been some survey in 2011. Today is a very hot day, but winter is coming and it will be cold. May I suggest to the right hon. Member that it is the mark of a civilised and caring Government that these people are helped and that a price cap is put on the cost of fuel oil—domestic heating oil?

[Ian Blackford]

I agree with the hon. Member. We both represent highland constituencies. They are beautiful constituencies, but they are constituencies where the rain falls on a regular basis and the wind howls through the windows and the walls of the houses. Indeed there should be equity and fairness for everyone, regardless of where they live. We talk about the heatwave that people are suffering from today in many parts of the United Kingdom, but when I looked at the weather in my own constituency in the Isle of Skye this morning, the temperature was 14°C. People in parts of Scotland will still have their heating on. The fact is that people are being penalised and not being looked after as they should be, for the very simple reason that they have to rely on off-grid heating oil.

Debate on the Address

Debate between Ian Blackford and Jamie Stone

Tuesday 10th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Ian Blackford]

The hon. Lady is right: there is nothing in this Queen’s Speech to deal with the cost of living crisis, and nothing to deal with home insulation. In the Scottish Parliament, the collaboration between the SNP and the Greens is an example of two parties coming together to make sure that we prioritise the climate emergency, which is really missing from this Queen’s Speech.

Scottish Power has already called for urgent action. It has called for £1,000 bill discounts for 10 million families before energy bills rocket by another £900 this autumn, and yet, once again, there is nothing of that from the Prime Minister and the Chancellor in this Queen’s Speech. In fact, the Chancellor has already told us that his strategy to tackle the cost of living crisis is, literally, to sit on his hands, because he thinks it would be silly to act now—silly to act at a time when people are facing tough decisions on whether to turn the heating off, whether they can afford to put food on the table. The Chancellor thinks it is silly to act—that tells us everything that we need to know about the humanity and compassion of this Conservative Government. Just like the spring statement, nothing has come from this Government. This Queen’s Speech represents one more missed opportunity.

I can give the Prime Minister some suggestions. He could have matched the Scottish child payment, which doubled in April and will increase to £25 per week per child by the end of this year. That is positive action to help those most in need. He could have matched the increase in Scottish-issued social security payments by 6%. He could have done what Governments are supposed to do in an emergency: helped people through it. By any measure or meaning, this Government fail on all counts.

Another gaping hole in this programme is when it comes to energy policy, as has already been raised. As my hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Alan Brown) rightly said last month, the Prime Minister’s energy strategy is nothing more than a con trick, lacking any substance or ambition. The lack of ambition to drive growth in green investment and forge the path to net zero, not to mention an industrial strategy to back it up, fails this and future generations. That lack of ambition will not help investment in renewables, it will not help a just transition and it certainly will not help consumers now or in the long term. As for us in Scotland—a country so rich in energy potential—it is fleecing us of our green present and future.

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

The right hon. Gentleman’s constituency and mine border the Cromarty Firth, which has the Nigg fabrication yard where many of the mightiest oil production platforms in the North sea were constructed. Would it not be a positive suggestion to Her Majesty’s Government to power ahead with building floating offshore wind structures in the highlands of Scotland? That would help the Prime Minister and it would help us in Scotland.

[Ian Blackford]

I am very grateful for that intervention, and I agree 100% with what the hon. Gentleman has said; he and I have been talking about that over recent months. There is fantastic potential, not just for the highlands but for the whole of Scotland, to benefit from the industrial revolution that will come from the opportunities in green energy. We need to make sure that we learn from the lessons of the past and that we are able to capture that supply chain. If we go back to the 1970s, Nigg was a thriving industrial base, with thousands of jobs in that community supporting the oil industry.

I know the hon. Gentleman, like me, wants to see the highlands and islands being a thriving area with an industrial future, but we need the UK Government to help us on that. I look forward, together with him, to having discussions with the Government on exactly how we take that forward.

Afghanistan

Debate between Ian Blackford and Jamie Stone

Wednesday 18th August 2021 Commons Chamber

[Ian Blackford]

Twenty per cent.—so we have done our bit, and we stand ready to do our bit again. I commit myself as leader of the SNP here, and I commit my Government to work with the Government here in London—but they have to extend the hand of friendship to us.

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

Let us hope that refugees do not become a political football in this place. All of us—all of us—care desperately about giving these people safe haven. We welcome them in the highlands, we welcome them everywhere, but does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the proper finance to support our local authorities must be forthcoming from the UK Government and the Scottish Government, because without it our councils will struggle?

[Ian Blackford]

Yes, I agree, and I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention because I know that he will associate himself with me in saying that we will extend 100,000 welcomes to those who wish to come to the highlands of Scotland.

We have called for a four-nations summit to integrate our efforts across the United Kingdom. I hope that the Prime Minister will respond positively and take the opportunity to meet the devolved Administrations to discuss this. Perhaps he will indicate now that he is happy to do that.