FERGUS EWING: Why I’m backing putting GB Energy HQ in Inverness
Drew Hendry served Inverness well for nearly a decade as your MP.
He helped thousands of people here with problems taken to him and his team, and spoke out strongly for the interests of the city and the people in the Highlands - particularly against austerity and its effects on those with the least in life.
I pay tribute to him and his tireless work over all these years. I wish him, his family and his team well for the future.
I would also take this opportunity to congratulate Angus MacDonald on his election to Westminster.
GB Energy for Inverness?
One immediate decision facing the brand new Labour government is where to locate its proposed new renewables public body, GB Energy. Having promised to house it in Scotland, the choice, I suspect, will be between Aberdeen and here in Inverness, the capital of the Highlands.
Last week, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Highland Council and Inverness Chamber of Commerce, with the support of the energy sector, have outlined the case for Inverness. It’s a very strong case. For it is here - right here in the HIghlands - that most of the major renewables opportunities are already being seized, with the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport already attracting major investments.
It is here we may see huge pump storage schemes developed. It’s here that we shall see eye-watering investment in grid upgrade. GB Energy is to promote and finance renewables development. Here is where the renewables action will be.
Inverness never expected to be Europe’s oil and gas capital - nor with respect to my friends and colleagues there, should Aberdeen be the renewables capital.
So, if logic and rational decision making determines the choice, then the Highland capital should be where this new body is sited and from where it can best operate.
If, on the other hand, the decision is taken mainly for political reasons, then I suspect Aberdeen may be chosen over Inverness. However, Aberdeen is still an oil and gas capital and should remain so for decades to come.
Even by 2050, we will still depend on these fuels for two thirds of our energy needs. Surely better to produce our own, with a much lower carbon footprint, than import increasingly more fracked gas in LNG form from the USA and Middle East.
And energy security in an unstable world should be paramount. Aberdeen should be where carbon capture and storage is advanced from - at long last.
I will therefore advocate the new body be located in Inverness, supporting the case made by HIE, the council and the chamber. I will write to the new PM and to the Secretary of State for Scotland, and suggest that they meet the local leaders to hear in person the strength of the case.
Milliband ban - monumental folly
The first decision of the new government has been to ban new drilling and exploration licences even though at least tens of millions of pounds have already been invested by companies in preparing the bids submitted to the regulatory body, the North Sea Transition Authority. At least 35 applications are impacted, according to press reports.
The decision announced by Mr Milliband to scrap the issue of new oil and gas licences for these existing applications - and ones in the final stage of the process of consideration - is in my view almost certain to be overturned by the courts when challenged by the companies involved.
This may then cost the UK at least tens of millions of pounds in compensation claims based on the argument that the investment made was in faith of the current system. You cannot, at least in a civilised country, change the rules for licensing after the process is under way. That’s a decision associated with countries with no rule of law. It also drives investment from the UK.
The decision was taken against official advice. It is anti-growth - despite Labour’s key promise that economic growth is their top priority. It is barmy, bonkers, probably illegal, and should be overturned. I suspected that the biggest mistake Starmer has made in these very early days was to appoint Milliband. And so it is proving to be.
I sincerely hope that the substantial new number of Scottish Labour MPs will persuade Labour to overturn this monumental folly. If not, then the political honeymoon is over before there was time to sweep up the confetti.
