As expected, the Labour Party today dropped its £28 billion green investment target, unveiled with great fanfare at their 2021 conference and just days after Sir Keir Starmer rightly insisted the spending was “desperately needed.”
While it's not yet clear what it means for Scotland, including the 50,000 clean energy jobs the promised, or the £1 billion for Grangemouth Labour’s Scotland branch office has so far remained curiously silent.
John McTernan, former political secretary to former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair told Newsnight it was “probably the most stupid decision the Labour Party’s made.” He added: “What’s the change Labour now offers?”
US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and the EU’s European Green Deal, now mean that the UK is caught in the middle of the two blocs’ industrial policy and there is a risk that, as a result, our green industries will lag behind.
Despite the limits at this UK lack of action, £2.7 billion will be invested by the SNP Government in activities that will have a positive impact on the delivery of its climate change goals in 2024-25.
Unfortunately, Scotland remains at the mercy of volatile and unstable UK energy and climate change policy - having stolen Scotland’s energy in the past, Westminster now wants to sabotage our energy future.
This latest U-turn shows why voting SNP at the general election is vital, both for Scotland’s values and our right to choose a better future with independence.
