GB Energy has done ‘literally, absolutely nothing’, says John Swinney

John Swinney has accused the UK Government of holding back Scotland’s renewables sector as he hit out at GB Energy for doing “literally, absolutely nothing”.

Speaking ahead of the SNP conference getting underway in Aberdeen, the First Minister claimed Westminster was blocking progress in the green energy sector.

Attacking GB Energy, the publicly funded, energy investment firm set up by Labour, he said Scots had seen “literally absolutely nothing coming out” of it.

It comes after the Energy Secretary said a decision on whether to approve two oil and gas fields, Rosebank and Jackdaw, is “imminent”.

Mr Swinney said any decision by the UK Government had to be compatible with the legal obligation to deliver net zero.

The First Minister said he had “hoped” that as North Sea oil production falls with age, “there would be an upsurge in renewable activity to compensate for that loss of economic activity”, adding that it “wasn’t happening fast enough”.

He said while the Scottish Government “delivered our side of the bargain”, ministers are “waiting for the UK Government” to take action.

He told the BBC’s Radio Breakfast Scotland programme: “The issues that we have about the development of Scotland’s renewable energy potential are all about good connections, and those decisions have got nothing to do with the Scottish Government.”

He said: “The bit that we’re responsible for in Scotland is scoping out the scale of the opportunity in the offshore renewable sector.

“We are responsible for the consenting of individual developments. The Scottish Government does that, it does that in a timely fashion, and we’ve got a good record on doing that.

“The problem is that developments that are consented then face a difficulty getting access to the grid, and that’s the responsibility of the UK Government.”

Mr Swinney claimed GB Energy, backed with £8.3 billion in funding, had not delivered for Scotland.

“The Tory government was absolutely hopeless in developing the renewable energy sector,” he said. “And I thought, with the advent of GB Energy and the upsurge in focus on the Starmer government on clean power, that would see a massive speeding up of developments.

“We’ve seen nothing of the sort. We’ve seen literally, absolutely nothing coming out of GB Energy as a consequence of its establishment.

“So, my challenge to the UK Government is stop standing in the way of Scotland’s renewable energy development.

“And if the UK Government won’t speed up those developments, speed up that consenting, allow it to a Scottish government to take those decisions and make sure Scotland moves to realise our renewable energy potential.”

The UK Government has been approached for comment.