FERGUS EWING: I want to tell Scottish secretary in-person why Inverness is right place for GB Energy
Will Ian Murray emulate Tom Johnston?
Tom Johnston was appointed Secretary of State for Scotland by Winston Churchill serving in that role from 1941 to 1945. He is widely regarded as the most successful Scottish secretary that there has ever been.
One of his innovations was to hold regional meetings with MPs, the very first one being with Highland MPs. I wish Ian Murray, our new Scottish secretary, well in his role and hope that he will initiate similar meetings with MPs and MSPs in each part of Scotland. I am writing to him suggesting he does likewise.
Just as his illustrious predecessor was the architect and driving force of hydro power in the Highlands, so Ian now has the chance to prove that Labour is similarly committed to the Highlands and the Islands. Having just returned from a week’s holiday on Lewis and having also travelled round some of the north west Highlands, it is all too clear that though there is outstanding community development in many places, the population is now literally dying out.
Ian should take several leaves from Tom Johnston’s book, and by far the most pressing of these is to establish the new renewable energy body GB Energy in Inverness. Reports that Inverness has been ruled out are extremely worrying, but I don’t think that means we give up.
That choice would be a landmark decision. Just as the Crofting Acts in the late 19th century cemented support for the Highland Liberal party for generations thereafter, it would be proof positive of the Labour Party’s commitment to the Highlands and Islands as the epicentre of the renewable opportunity. It’s the logical place, the right place and the best place for GB Energy to succeed.
Conversely, if the new body is placed for political reasons, far away from the bulk of the renewables development, in Glasgow or Edinburgh or even in Aberdeen, that would be a sign that Inverness is still regarded in Whitehall as a kind of backwater, and that Labour’s writ does not run north of the central belt.
As well as locating GB Energy in Inverness, the new government must now require renewable developments to provide a real ownership share to communities that house and host them. That will be essential to garner local support.
Why should a community support new wind farms and grid upgrades if all the financial gains go elsewhere?
At present the “going rate” is £5000 a year per megawatt. A share of ownership gives a far more significant legacy, and then paves the way for investment for generations to come on a scale which otherwise will simply not happen.
There has been an almost Trappist silence on the part of the governments, on renewable community ownership. It’s rarely mentioned, sad to say, either in Holyrood or in Westminster. Yes, there are policies but they seem to rarely go further than the page they are written on.
When I was energy minister from 2011 to 2015, I worked with lenders and a Scottish Government fund to enable such community ownership. Commercial loans were serviced by the income stream from the renewables schemes, mostly onshore wind. This worked well until the Tory government decided to scrap ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates) overnight, abruptly terminating investor confidence.
It’s time to bring back a scheme of this nature and if Ian Murray will meet with me, as I am requesting, I will urge him to use his office to make this the law.
If he does these two things, it will, I predict, hugely benefit his party. But, arguably more than anything else, it will massively benefit the Highlands and Islands. That’s far, far more important than political advantage. And, it is almost certainly what Tom Johnston would have done.
