Chamber and committees

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?

Scotland’s coastal communities are being asked yet again to carry costs that other parts of the country will never see and to absorb disruption that other industries would never accept.

The Government knows that,

“By supporting the expansion of offshore wind development in Scottish waters and increasing the demand on marine space for the implementation of compensatory measures, the policy is anticipated to have a negative impact on fisheries.”

Fishermen are being asked to pay for net zero twice: first, through disruption to their jobs and displacement of their place of work; then, potentially, again through new restrictions and closures dressed up as environmental compensation.

It is insane that the Scottish National Party Government wants to damage fishing grounds in order to hit its net zero targets by building ever bigger wind farms out at sea. Even more scandalously, it wants to solve that damage by restricting fishing, all but destroying the livelihoods of the fishermen who fish those same waters. Let me repeat that: the Government wants to ruin the livelihoods of our fishing communities by building turbines, then penalise those same communities for that decision. Clearly, this rotten Government will not be happy until every fish and meat producer in the north-east is driven out of business.

The fishing community is clear: it does not want this. It is overwhelmingly opposed to the measures. There needs to be proper compensation in place—[Interruption.]

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?

—for our fishers, who are seeing their fishing grounds removed by offshore wind and, now, compensation measures for wind energy in completely different parts of the country that have also had their fishing grounds taken away.

We all know that, and we all know the Government’s dirty little secret when it comes to energy infrastructure: the SNP does not care if you object to wind turbines in your fishing zones and it certainly does not care if you have pylons in your back garden—[Interruption.]

—because you know what? It is going to try to build them anyway. Coastal communities are realising what communities across the Mearns, Turriff, Oldmeldrum and so many other communities across Scotland have known for years: that this rotten SNP Government does not care. It cares about an arbitrary net zero target and about selling off as much of Scotland’s countryside and fishing grounds as possible to the highest bidder. It is selling Scotland down the river—literally.

Scotland’s coastal communities are being asked yet again to carry costs that other parts of the country will never see and to absorb disruption that other industries would never accept.

The Government knows that,

“By supporting the expansion of offshore wind development in Scottish waters and increasing the demand on marine space for the implementation of compensatory measures, the policy is anticipated to have a negative impact on fisheries.”

Fishermen are being asked to pay for net zero twice: first, through disruption to their jobs and displacement of their place of work; then, potentially, again through new restrictions and closures dressed up as environmental compensation.

It is insane that the Scottish National Party Government wants to damage fishing grounds in order to hit its net zero targets by building ever bigger wind farms out at sea. Even more scandalously, it wants to solve that damage by restricting fishing, all but destroying the livelihoods of the fishermen who fish those same waters. Let me repeat that: the Government wants to ruin the livelihoods of our fishing communities by building turbines, then penalise those same communities for that decision. Clearly, this rotten Government will not be happy until every fish and meat producer in the north-east is driven out of business.

The fishing community is clear: it does not want this. It is overwhelmingly opposed to the measures. There needs to be proper compensation in place—[Interruption.]

—for our fishers, who are seeing their fishing grounds removed by offshore wind and, now, compensation measures for wind energy in completely different parts of the country that have also had their fishing grounds taken away.

We all know that, and we all know the Government’s dirty little secret when it comes to energy infrastructure: the SNP does not care if you object to wind turbines in your fishing zones and it certainly does not care if you have pylons in your back garden—[Interruption.]

—because you know what? It is going to try to build them anyway. Coastal communities are realising what communities across the Mearns, Turriff, Oldmeldrum and so many other communities across Scotland have known for years: that this rotten SNP Government does not care. It cares about an arbitrary net zero target and about selling off as much of Scotland’s countryside and fishing grounds as possible to the highest bidder. It is selling Scotland down the river—literally.

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?

:Of course. Am I right in thinking that these are the obligations that have been removed from people’s bills and moved into general taxation?