THE SNP have hit out at Labour amid doubts over the party’s pledge to invest £8.3 billion into GB Energy in the next five years.
The funding promise formed a key tenet of Keir Starmer’s pitch to voters going into the General Election last year – albeit significantly lower than the party’s old policy announced in 2021 of spending £28bn a year on green investment, which was later abandoned.
But even this £8.3bn figure is now being questioned after the UK Treasury declined to confirm that the UK Government was still committed to spending that amount ahead of its multi-year spending plan due in June, when asked by Bloomberg News.
So far, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has allocated just £125m for GB Energy – with this funding running into the second year of the current parliament.
Now, SNP energy spokesperson Dave Doogan has responded – hitting out at what he called a “litany of broken promises” by Keir Starmer which, he says, has contributed to the lack of trust in politics.
"The Labour Party gave a cast iron guarantee that they'd cut energy bills by £300 yet they've spiralled since they've come to power and risen by almost £300 – no one knows what on earth GB Energy will do, but with scant funding behind it almost certainly nothing,” the MP for Angus and Perthshire Glens (below) said.
"If the Labour Government is serious about lowering bills and net zero then it wouldn't have a fiscal regime that is spooking investment, it wouldn't be dragging its heels on Scottish carbon capture and it would have a clear vision behind GB Energy and proper funding.”
Doogan added: "£8bn is a far cry from the £28bn pledge the Labour Party was once committed to and let's not forget that while it may be called GB Energy, it's Scotland's natural resources.
"No one here should be living in fuel poverty which is why SNP MPs will always put Scotland's interests first and demand Scotland's energy wealth works for Scotland's people."
Since GB Energy's official launch last July, progress has been slow and not without criticism – including frustration over it not having its own headquarters in Aberdeen and how the chair, Jürgen Maier, will actually be based in Manchester.
In an interview with Sky News three weeks ago, Maier also poured cold water over another Labour pledge of creating 1000 jobs for Aberdeen – saying it might take 20 years.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “We are committed to GB Energy and the Warm Homes Plan, which are at the heart of our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower and ensure our homes are cheaper and cleaner to run.
"As is totally normal, decisions on spending, including on areas set out in the government's manifesto, will be set out at the Spending Review in the round."
