Brexit trade barrier across the Irish Sea gets higher today
Most small Scottish and UK businesses have had to stop selling to Northern Ireland, as well as to Europe, because they can’t comply with new EU customs rules introduced today (Dec 13).
This is an important moment - despite the comparative lack of press coverage - because it signifies the shape of things to come - the trade barrier Boris Johnson promised would not exist across the Irish Sea very much does and it is getting higher as time goes on.
Scotland cannot afford the UK's attack on its farming sector
The row over the UK Government’s decision to change the rules on agricultural inheritance tax comes at a time when Scotland’s agricultural sector is already facing huge pressures.
The new tax rules have received a lot of publicity - some of it focusing on very wealthy people like Jeremy Clarkson and James Dyson. There is undoubtedly a case for changing the tax regime so that the super-rich can’t use it as a loophole to avoid inheritance tax. However, the way it has been done is to slam more cost and uncertainty on a sector that is already breaking under the pressure.
Why Scottish businesses are paying the highest energy costs in the world
Scotland is an energy-rich country - but its businesses are being forced to pay the highest prices in the world for using it. Almost every company in Scotland is feeling the pain, from high street hairdressing salons to farmers to whisky producers.
10 Reasons why Scotland Needs its own Immigration Visa
Scotland doesn’t control its own immigration. It has to live by the UK’s visa regulations which do not match the immigration/workforce needs of Scotland’s economy or its communities. Scotland’s inability to bring in workers with the skills the country needs is holding back the growth of our economy and adds to the problems facing the Highlands and Islands.
Huge opportunity for Grangemouth - an independent Scotland could grasp it.
Scotland is on the brink of discovering if a just transition away from fossil fuels will be a reality or just a slogan. There is a plan for Grangemouth, Scotland’s only oil refinery, to become a world-leading hub for sustainable aviation fuels.
Three questions answered about what the UK government's new nuclear energy investment means for Scotland
The UK government has found more money for development costs for a nuclear power plant. Ironically, after claiming the cupboard was bare and they had to withdraw winter fuel allowance from pensioners who were expecting the money to help them get through this winter, they have decided to invest much more in nuclear power - which will increase the cost of energy bills not decrease them.
Here are three questions answered
Dither and delay over election promise to Scotland
One of the biggest pre-election promises of the new UK government was a new publicly-owned energy company to be based in Scotland. The first 100 days of the administration was billed as a time of pace-setting change. And yet 70 days in, even the location of the new headquarters is in dispute.
How Scotland could have “the cheapest electricity in Europe”
Power companies are regularly paid millions of pounds to turn off wind turbines in Scotland - while at the same time the UK electricity systems operator spends more millions on importing far more expensive electricity from the national power companies of France and Norway. That waste makes bills for Scottish businesses far higher than they need to be - but without independence, we have to wait for the UK to update the system.
Will GB Energy live up to the Labour Government's promises? 5 Questions Answered
The Labour Government made a big deal of its pitch to create a new energy company based in Scotland called GB Energy.
Hydrogen backbone worth £26 billion a year to the Scottish economy
A ‘hydrogen backbone’ - a pipeline for Scotland to export green hydrogen straight to Germany could be worth billions to the Scottish economy and help boost Europe’s move to net zero.
A forthcoming report by the Net Zero Technology Centre, an industry-funded think tank based in Aberdeen, calculates that the hydrogen export market could be worth £26 billion a year to Scotland.