UK spending review ignores Scotland's different priorities
Westminster decides how to run the UK economy - regardless of Scotland’s priorities. That was the message of Rachel Reeves' spending review.
Instead of properly funding the just transition to renewables, the UK is pouring billions into the most expensive form of energy there is - nuclear.
Reeves set out £30bn in investment in nuclear power, of which about half will go to the Sizewell C reactor. The cost of this reactor has doubled. Hinkley Point C in Somerset was initially projected to cost £18 billion, but now the costs have tripled to £46 billion. It’s also several years late.
Small acorn - but no just investment to grow the tree
The UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves is finally funding Aberdeen’s carbon capture project after years of delay. It is about time - Aberdeen is the energy capital of Europe and the bulk of UK oil and gas comes from Scottish waters. The industry is still worth £25 billion to the UK economy, twice the value of the car industry. Yet its carbon capture project had to queue for years behind sites in the north east of England.
Grangemouth, Scotland’s only remaining oil refinery is still being closed down - despite the fact it is turning a profit. Strong sectors of the Scottish economy are likely to be hit. Workers have been made redundant - so much for the promise that there would be a different approach than with past industrial changes.
Report says more needed for just transition
Aberdeen needs much more investment to make the most of its potential to become a world leader in renewables, a report last month warned.
But instead of fully funding a just transition, the UK is pouring billions into nuclear. Nuclear energy is among the most expensive energy in the world according to Advanced Science News, And the costs go on and on. The UK Government still spends £3 billion a year keeping the site of the Windscale nuclear plant, now known as Sellafield, safe.
The UK damaged Scotland’s energy sector with privatisation
The UK government it seems is not able to fix - or even admit - the big problems it created for Scotland. UK governments that Scotland did not vote for imposed energy privatisation on Scotland in the 1990s.
It is international companies who reap the benefit of Scotland’s huge power while householders and businesses pay the highest bills in the world. It is not net zero which makes bills so high.
Norway and other independent countries have state energy companies
Independent countries like Norway and Iceland have energy businesses owned by the people. Their main priority is to provide power to homes and businesses, not to bleed the billpayers to make profits for shareholders. They are building a future-focused energy sector based on renewables.
Nuclear costs rising - a Scottish-led energy policy would look very different
Nuclear is a technology of the past, consigned to history by many countries because of its huge and escalating costs that run on for centuries as well as because of its safey record. Nuclear energy is among the most expensive energy in the world according to Advanced Science News, And the costs go on and on. The UK Government still spends £3 billion a year keeping the site of the Windscale nuclear plant, now known as Sellafield, safe.
Conclusion
Nuclear fission has been consigned to history by many countries because of its huge and escalating costs that run on for centuries, as well as because of its safety record.
Scotland has the potential to be a world leader in renewable energy. But against a backdrop of privatisation which has sucked money out of the system and pushed up prices, it would take a serious UK government commitment to make that happen.
The UK holds the levers of power. But instead of investing in a just transition to renewables baked on wind, solar and tidal, it is opting to pour money into the nuclear industry. These are not Scotland’s priorities - and when Scotland is independent it will set a different course.
