Latest news with #TheseIslands
The National
3 days ago
- Business
- The National
Meeting details between Ian Murray and These Islands revealed
On December 4 last year, Ian Murray and special adviser Callum Munro met with Sam Taylor from These Islands in Dover House in London. The National requested notes taken during the meeting as it had been described as a 'meeting to discuss energy opportunities' in the department's publicly available log. We were given one page of notes – with three short bullet points of information. READ MORE: International community must stop Israel's Gaza City takeover plan 'ST [Sam Taylor] noted the current priorities of These Islands and priorities going into 2025. Energy is a large part of TI's focus and an important priority for Scotland,' the first bullet point read. 'This is a complex issue and sometimes challenging to cover in a way that reflects those complexities.' The second point said Taylor had an interest in the Scottish Government's hydrogen strategy and 'noted that there are discussions within SG as to whether hydrogen could be a major export opportunity for the future'. Finally, the notes said: 'It was agreed the importance of high quality information available to the public on matters around energy and wider issues.' SNP deputy Westminster leader Pete Wishart (above) said in response: 'These Islands, throughout the whole debate about Scottish independence, haven't been the most forthcoming when it comes to accurate and relevant information, and quite often it seems like quite a lot of it is just made up to suit the particular views on the Union. 'So it's quite extraordinary that they would sit down with the Secretary of State and make this claim about energy, given the UK Government's own failure to reduce bills to £300, with bills going up instead.' In response, These Islands chairman, Kevin Hague said: 'Contrary to Mr Wishart's unevidenced accusation, we believe it is broadly accepted that These Islands provides much needed clarity in policy areas, such as energy, where populists have been prone to mislead. 'We continue in this mission.' The Scotland Office have been contacted for comment. It comes after the SNP claimed energy bills must come down by more than £450 to hit Labour's General Election pledges. In May, UK energy regulator Ofgem announced that the average annual energy bill for a dual-fuel household would drop by seven per cent from July 1. The move was described as 'nothing to shout about' by money saving expert Martin Lewis, who highlighted that the drop would essentially cancel out price rises in April, bringing costs back into line with where they were in January. READ MORE: Germany to stop weapons exports to Israel after Gaza takeover plan Despite this, Scottish Labour politicians, including Anas Sarwar, celebrated the upcoming price drop. The SNP said that the price cap remains around 10% higher than it was in July 2024, before which Labour were pledging to cut bills by £300. And, proposals to bring in zonal pricing were rejected by UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. The proposals would have set lower electricity prices in areas where supply far outstrips demand, such as in Scotland. The UK Government were urged to set out how they would cut bills after rejecting plans for zonal pricing.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Swinney refused to admit misleading MSPs over renewables
John Swinney rejected a call from his civil servants to admit misleading MSPs over the amount of Scotland's electricity that came from renewables, a dossier has disclosed. The First Minister told the Scottish Parliament in May last year that the proportion of Scotland's electricity consumption that came from green sources of power had risen from 20 per cent to 113 per cent under the SNP. But the Scottish Tories' Liam Kerr challenged him that the real figure was 64 per cent, with Scotland still relying on nuclear and gas to generate much of the remainder. The SNP opposes the construction of new nuclear power stations. Documents obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) by the These Islands think tank disclose that six days after the exchange Mr Swinney was informed that 'officials have come to us as they believe that we need to submit a correction'. Although the 'equivalent' of 113 per cent of Scotland's energy consumption was generated by renewables, the message to the First Minister noted that it 'goes into the GB-wide grid and gets consumed GB-wide'. The following day Mr Swinney's principal private secretary replied that he had discussed the matter with the First Minister but 'he does not believe that the record should be corrected'. Mr Swinney eventually backed down after concerned civil servants wrote to the Scottish Government's chief statistician, who warned him the UK's statistics watchdog would intervene if he did not issue an urgent correction. But only weeks later, Mr Swinney appeared at a general election rally attacking Rishi Sunak for disregarding Civil Service advice on not misleading the public with statistics. The First Minister said that if he had been told by the Scottish Government's permanent secretary 'not to use information in a particular way because it created that misleading impression, I would not have used it'. Earlier this week, the Scottish Government published a video on social media promoting Scotland that claimed it had 'all electricity supplied only from renewable sources'. It was promoted by Angus Robertson, the SNP's external affairs secretary. Rachael Hamilton, the Scottish Tories' deputy leader, said: 'This is shameful behaviour from John Swinney and reeks of SNP secrecy and cover-up. 'It is no wonder Scots feel so disconnected from Holyrood when they see the First Minister doubling down on false stats and then attempting to try and spin his way out of being straight with them.' Sam Taylor, who heads These Islands, said: 'You might be tempted to dismiss this as yesterday's news. Corrections, however grudgingly, have been made. Lessons have been learned. 'But that simply isn't the case. Just this week, Angus Robertson was yet again pushing the false statistic on social media.' The dossier included an email dated June 3 last year in which an unnamed civil servant expressed concern at Mr Swinney's refusal to correct the record. This was 'particularly concerning' as the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) watchdog had intervened over similar claims previously made by SNP ministers, they said. They asked whether anything more could be done to 'flag this' to Mr Swinney 'to ensure this is not misrepresented again in future' and warned that they had brought the matter to the attention of Ally McAlpine, the Scottish Government's chief statistician. Mr McAlpine wrote to the First Minister more than three weeks later stating that Mr Swinney had 'made a statement on the use of renewable energy in Scotland, which needs corrected on the official record'. He warned Mr Swinney that the matter had been referred back to the UKSA but said the watchdog was 'unlikely to take further action' if he issued a correction as soon as possible. More than a month after making the statement, on June 26 last year, Mr Swinney finally wrote to Holyrood's presiding officer with a 'clarification'. He admitted that 64.7 per cent of Scotland's electricity consumption came from renewables and argued that 'the language I originally used meant that I inadvertently described this different statistic'. Mr Swinney also acknowledged that the 20-day deadline for him to correct Holyrood's written record of its proceedings had passed. The Scottish Government was approached for comment.
