Hung out to dry

Published on 13/12/2012 00:00

UK ENERGY Secretary Ed Davey and Scottish energy minister Fergus Ewing clashed at the Scotsman Conference on energy in an independent Scotland on 11 December.

Their disagreement was twofold. Why should the English and Welsh subsidise the Scottish renewables programme and would England buy expensive Scottish, wind-generated electricity?

Fergus Ewing’s case was that England would have to buy from Scotland to meet its agreed emission targets.

Other countries either ignore their targets or have never signed up to any.

Think China, America, Brazil, Japan, Canada, Russia, Indonesia and India.

Kyoto is dead. Doha is dead.

George Osborne has quite rightly given the go-ahead for shale-gas exploration.

This means that up to 40 gas-fired power stations could be built over the next 20 years to use this wealth beneath our feet.

Alex Salmond boasted that he would sell expensive wind electricity to England and they would be eternally grateful.

Add to this equation that a connector is being built through the Channel Tunnel to link cheap French nuclear electricity to England and it would appear that Salmond and Ewing have been outmanoeuvred and hung out to dry.

CLARK CROSS

Springfield Road

Linlithgow