GROUNDHOG DAY ON CARBON CAPTURE

GROUNDHOG DAY ON CARBON CAPTURE

QUEEN’S SPEECH CONFUSION ON CCS AND HOUSEHOLD ENERGY HELP

SNP Westminster Energy spokesperson Mike Weir MP has demanded more detail from the UK government on a pledge in the Queen’s Speech to support Carbon Capture and help households with energy bills.

The Queen’s Speech today (Wednesday) contained a commitment to bring forward legislation to “support carbon capture and storage (CCS) and to help more of the most vulnerable households with their energy bills.” Labour Ministers have promised support for CCS in every pre-Budget report since 2005.

Mr Weir said:

“I am a great supporter of recycling but Labour Ministers have repeated their promise on CCS so many times without ever delivering anything it is difficult to believe they mean it this time.

“We must now see the detail on how the government propose to support CCS and help households with energy bills when Ministers have already indicated plans to introduce a levy on domestic energy bills to fund CCS development. The two issues appear to contradict one another, and such a levy could push more households into fuel poverty.

“Scotland has some of Europe’s largest carbon storage reserves in our North Sea oil and gas fields combined with the expertise on how to access them. Dithering on the part of the UK Government saw Scotland lose its lead in developing this significant new technology at Peterhead almost a decade ago.

"The fact of the matter is Scotland could already have been at the forefront of developing this exciting new technology if UK Ministers had not pulled the rug from under the Peterhead project.

"The Scottish Government is showing that we have what it takes to become the pre-eminent location for clean energy research, development and delivery in Europe, but the UK Government needs to stop dragging its heels."