iNet Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, Official Report, 10 September 2024, Col 47
However, at Stage 1, this issue mainly arose in relation to concerns about laying a plan too close to the Scottish Parliamentary election scheduled for May 2026, and the consequences this could have for consultation on and scrutiny of a draft plan laid before it.iNet Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, Official Report, 17 September 2024, Col 24 and 25 and written submissions from Friends of the Earth Scotland, Stop Climate Chaos, The Acting Cabinet Secretary told us it was her ambition to lay a draft plan before the summer recess and not to let the process of consideration go into the next parliamentary year.iNet Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, Official Report, 17 September 2024, Col 39 and 48She also said that scrutiny thwarted by the electoral cycle would be the "worst thing that could possibly happen" in the context of laying the draft and final plan.iNet Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, Official Report, 17 September 2024, Col 42 With the climate change plan update in 2021, the publication of the draft plan came within months of the election that year.vScottish Government (2020).