McArthur criticises Ministers for ‘squandering’ ScotWind revenues

During General Questions this morning in the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Liberal Democrat climate emergency spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP again highlighted the potentially damaging impact that the Scottish Government’s decision to divert ScotWind revenues away from tackling the climate and biodiversity crises will have on our net zero ambitions.

Speaking in Parliament, Mr McArthur said:

“Of course funding will be crucial to achieving our net zero targets. But part of that was to come from the ScotWind leasing round resources – which, as the Finance minister announced last week, are to be diverted away from that objective.

“The GMB Scotland Secretary Louise Gilmour has condemned this as ‘squandering’ the money, and said that ‘Scotland’s future in renewables is now being frittered away’. Does the Minister agree?”

Commenting afterwards, Mr McArthur said:

“The Scottish Government had said that tackling the climate crisis would be a key priority for ScotWind revenues. Instead, they’ve used the money to plug the gaps in their own financial mismanagement.

“GMB Scotland is not alone in highlighting the damage this short-termist approach will have on our ability to invest in green energy infrastructure and realise our net zero ambitions.”