THE UK is facing a stark energy crisis on an unprecedented scale. Ofgem has said to expect the energy price cap to go up to around £2800 from October, which the Scottish Government has estimated will force more than one-third of Scots households into fuel poverty.
With a new three-month system on the price cap, struggling families could face another serious hike in their energy bills from the start of 2023. A study from the University of York suggested this could put as many as 72% of Scottish households into fuel poverty.
Fears of the impact of the skyrocketing bills have led to calls from the Scottish Greens for urgent action, warning “people will die” if nothing is done.
At the top of the Scottish Government, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has called for any rises in the energy price cap to be scrapped, and further said that nationalising energy companies to keep bills down during the cost of living crisis should not be ruled out.
Commenting on a story from the Courier which reported both of these statements from the First Minister, one Scottish Labour MSP had a bit of a nightmare.
Mercedes Villalba, from the North East list, wrote on Twitter: “What's stopping her?”
What's stopping her? https://t.co/i8ODJC1hdh
— Mercedes Villalba (@LabourMercedes) August 21, 2022
The list of answers ultimately boils down to one thing: Westminster.
Many social media users were on hand to help out the Labour MSP. “Schedule 5, Scotland Act 1998, as amended,” one Chris Duffy wrote. “Kinda feels like something a shadow minister should know…”
“She should know the answer to her question. The Scotland Act makes it clear that nationalising energy companies is a reserved power. Kinda why Scotland needs independence,” Modern Money Scotland’s Cameron Archibald added.
Singer Eddi Reader joined in: “Hi Mercedes – ‘what’s stopping Scotland’s representative First Minister nationalising energy’?? Scots don’t have that right. Westminster and whoever England’s population vote for in majority hold that power.
“Don’t they have tests to join the Labour Party???” she added.
Villalba’s Scottish Labour colleague Pam Duncan-Glancy also got in on the action. In response to a BBC video of Sturgeon making the same point about nationalising energy firms, the Glasgow list MSP wrote: “Or, you simply could’ve kept your manifesto promise of a public energy company instead of ditching it in Autumn last year?”
Or, you simply could’ve kept your manifesto promise of a public energy company instead of ditching it in Autumn last year💁🏻♀️? https://t.co/G6ASYdeugs
— Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP (@GlasgowPam) August 21, 2022
Finally, a Scottish Labour politician backing the SNP in keeping to their manifesto pledges. There was definitely something about holding indyref2 in there ahead of the 2021 Holyrood vote ...
One thing that wasn’t in there, unfortunately for Duncan-Glancy’s point, was setting up a publicly-owned energy company.
Instead, the SNP's 2021 election manifesto basically pledged to ditch that idea.
It said that work on a publicly-owned energy company had been “halted” during the pandemic, adding that efforts would instead be put into a “dedicated national public energy agency”.
This “agency” would deal more with advice and education, energy efficiency efforts, and cross-sector partnerships.
In September 2021, Scottish energy secretary Michael Matheson said: “The reality is a public energy company will not resolve what are very serious systemic problems in the UK energy network and the UK energy system that the UK government have failed to address over many decades.”
How could the Scottish Government get hold of the powers needed to tackle the energy crisis? We suspect Scottish Labour may not like the answer.
