A nation renewed, built by the wealth of our resources and our people

“It’s Scotland’s Energy” will read as the opening chapter of Scotland’s story when we become an independent nation.

For decades, the people of Scotland – our land of wind, water and wave – have witnessed our resources and revenues syphoned off to plug the blackholes of Westminster.

The stones and seabeds of Scotland, that few nations can match for their unique geology and scale of compacted ancient life, gave us the offshore industries we have today.

But those prehistoric processes, those rich natural resources, rewarded not the Scottish people, but Westminster.

Our oil revenues sustained Margaret Thatcher’s government as she decimated our coal mining industry and cast aside entire communities on the spoil tip.

A story of exploitation of our land that has repeated itself throughout Scotland’s energy history.

In the 1970s, “It’s Scotland’s oil” was then a singular opportunity for Scotland, the scale of which was so devastatingly laid out in the McCrone report.

But amid the details of prices and platforms, that report told of a simple injustice – the wealth of our landscape was hidden and then stolen from the Scottish people before our very eyes.

Few then would have imagined that such a momentous opportunity would pass before Scotland twice, but here in 2026, the very same chance is waiting to be won.

Draw back the curtains in Scotland today and you may see ships servicing our historic offshore industries, you may even have a view of one of the world’s largest floating offshore windfarms and with a small stretch of your imagination you can envisage the 27gw of ScotWind developments erected across our coast.

But you’d be forgiven for your confusion and anger that when that energy bill crashes down on your doormat, you’ll find you’ve just been hit with one of the highest energy bills in Europe.

That is the simple reason “It’s Scotland’s Energy” continues to ring true with our people.

That injustice is multiplied by another – with Westminster control of our resources – energy jobs are going down, while energy bills are going up.

How then is that injustice put right?

By grasping that second opportunity. That second age of energy must be grabbed with both hands – Scotland’s hands.

We can protect our historic, world class, industry we have today while building another renewables one right by its side.

By retaining the workers of our offshore industry who we will need to develop the new technologies of offshore wind, hydrogen production and carbon capture.

When it comes to Scotland’s energy future, there is no binary choice.

But just like the 20th century, that same old Westminster story is playing out in the 21st.

Expert bodies warn that the Labour Party’s tax on Scotland’s energy is destroying as many as a thousand jobs a month.

Investment is fleeing our shores and that doesn’t just impact our offshore industry, it lays waste to the supply chain and the skills we need to deliver our renewables future.

There is a reason academics, trade unions, charities and politicians speak with one voice on this, but the so-called party of working people, the Labour Party, thinks it knows best. Perhaps they could explain why?

Cast your mind back to just before the election and the Labour Party scrapped their promise to deliver £28bn to support green energy technologies.

With one hand they clawed back cash for new technologies and with the other they slammed a crushing blow to our offshore industry.

If ever there was an example of the redundant nature of this so called “Union of Equals” then it is Scotland’s energy sector.

It is impossible to think that if this industry sat on the River Thames, not the River Dee, there would be this level of ignorance and wilful destruction. The word afterthought doesn’t even cut it.

The ghosts of what Thatcher did to our mining communities haunt the decisions of the Labour Government today.

Park the Labour Party’s ruinous approach to Scotland’s energy to one side and you’ll find Westminster’s second arm of attack.

Nigel Farage’s Reform present as much a danger to Scotland’s energy future as the activists who would turn off the taps tomorrow.

Nigel Farage would end offshore wind projects tomorrow, he would cancel plans for carbon capture in Scotland and he would mount thousands of Scottish jobs on the scrapheap – especially in the North East of Scotland.

That is the cold, hard reality of Reform.

Charlatans who couldn’t care less about Scotland litter the tale of our energy wealth.

While the McCrone report may have been suppressed to quell support for independence, the fact is it failed.

No London government could hide what was in plain sight – and in the time of turbines – you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

We know that with independence we could cut energy bills by at least a third, that we could work in lock-step with Europe exporting hydrogen to Germany, that we could bring communities along with us as we reshape our energy market, that we could support our European allies and still have energy left in spades for our people and businesses.

We can follow the example of other another small European nation blessed with natural resources in abundance – we can look to Norway.

“It’s Scotland’s Energy” may be the first chapter in Scotland’s story as an independent nation, but the following chapter will be written about what kind of nation we created because of the immense wealth and opportunity it gave us.

A nation renewed, built by the wealth of our resources and our people.

That is the prize for Scotland and it is the fresh start offered by independence.

https://www.snp.org/a-nation-renewed-built-by-the-wealth-of-our-resources-and-our-people/