Chamber and committees

I lodged amendment 307 because we have a real David-versus-Goliath situation in our communities. The likes of Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, hydrogen production companies, wind farm developers, Moray FLOW-Park and so on are all multimillion pound companies with deep pockets, and they are bankrolling renewable developments while community groups have to go up against them using their own money, donations, crowdfunding or whatever they can find to protect their communities from what they feel is environmental harm. There is a tremendous impact on those communities, and they do not have much recourse to address the injustice.

Amendment 307 would therefore instruct the Scottish ministers to establish a scheme to ensure that community voices are represented and heard. It would send a strong message to communities across Scotland that we stand with them and we stand for fairness. There is an issue with the current situation and, although amendment 307 might not be perfect, I am trying to open up a conversation about whether there is a better way of doing things so that communities can stand up against some of the big developments.

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?

I will follow on from Ross Greer’s intervention. Cabinet secretary, last week at the NZET Committee, you said that you see section 40 of the 2014 act and the Ecocide (Scotland) Bill dovetailing. That does not prevent our making changes to section 40 of the 2014 act. We might have an ecocide act or we might not, but I am struggling to see why that would prevent our making changes to the 2014 act now.

I accept that changes to the legal system are happening that would allow community groups more access. That is great, but is there any timetable for it to happen?

I accept that—

Yes.

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the economy secretary has had with ministerial colleagues on how its internal modelling of oil and gas jobs in the north-east compares with the latest industry estimates. (S6O-05261)

I thank the Deputy First Minister for that answer, but it is not good, because the North Sea industry has been trapped in a vicious circle of Scottish National Party Governments that demonise oil and gas, egged on by student politicians and Green extremists, who delight in every announcement of hundreds of jobs being lost in the north-east. Does the Deputy First Minister agree that we should do everything that we can to reverse the worrying downward trend in oil and gas jobs, which will damage our energy transition in the long term?

It was, and it was absolutely rejected, because we knew that we had to incentivise people to get into EVs.

As Sue Webber pointed out, EV charging is a lottery. Mark Ruskell made a good point about the fact that there is inequality in the cost of charging an EV. If you are lucky enough to have a driveway, you will pay a much lower rate—Mark Ruskell quoted 8.5p per kilowatt hour—but, if you have to go to a public charger, it might be 55p per kilowatt hour or, if you use a fast charger in a service station, it might be 85p per kilowatt hour. That needs to be looked at quickly. I agree with something that Daniel Johnson said, namely that it is about connecting Scotland—that there is value to our economy of upgrading links. For example, upgrading the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen would bring huge economic benefits. The same goes for the A75 and the A77. It is all about trade, linking Scotland to Northern Ireland—a point that Fin Carson made. I could feel Fin Carson’s frustration, because “Wait” is what we hear all the time. There are new reports, new studies and more dither and delay from the SNP Government.

Emma Harper seemed to paint a rosy picture of what has been going on with the A75 and A77, but it would be interesting to know whether the people whom she represents think the same. It is bizarre that she talked about the lack of rest stops. There have been 18 years of SNP Government; it has had the time to get that right.

Rural communities are angry. That is why the Scottish Conservatives brought the debate to the chamber. We want to talk about the issues that the public are talking about and the challenges that they face. They want to know whether they will have a job next month and whether they will be able to drive to it—because there is no public transport—on decent roads that are safe.

Only the Scottish Conservatives are committed to bringing in legislation so that work could start immediately on the dualling of the entire A9 and key sections of the A75. We would take swift action, cut through red tape and recognise the reality of the challenges that are faced by rural Scotland. The failing SNP Government and the feckless London Labour Government are harming Scotland. The sooner that they are gone, the better.

All of those will have to be clawed back in our bills. Will he be scrapping carbon levies that are adding to our bills and making our manufacturing industry uncompetitive, all in the name of net zero? Will he be looking to install more expensive floating offshore wind, all of which is subsidised through contracts for difference by bill payers right across the United Kingdom, adding more to our bills? How will our baseload be provided? Since the First Minister will not allow nuclear, does he plan to turn our rural communities into one huge battery storage system? [Interruption.]