Interview: Shadow Scotland Secretary on GB Energy ‘white elephant’ and learning from Boris Johnson's mistakes

Andrew Bowie has joined Kemi Badenoch’s top team

It has been a tumultuous few months for Andrew Bowie, the Conservative MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine.

Like his remaining colleagues, he has had to get used to life on the Opposition benches in the House of Commons after his party’s ranks were thinned by more than 250 in July's general election.

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Andrew Bowie is the shadow veterans ministerAndrew Bowie is the shadow veterans minister
Andrew Bowie is the shadow veterans minister

Now, having backed the winning candidate in the Tory leadership contest, he now finds himself the party's most senior Scottish MP as Shadow Scotland secrerary.

In his first interview since joining Kemi Badenoch’s team, he took aim at the newly-formed “white elephant” GB Energy.

Speaking to Scotland on Sunday, the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine also discussed why Labour’s start had given him renewed confidence, and admitted previous Tory leaders had made his and Ms Badenoch’s jobs harder.

Taking over from John Lamont, Mr Bowie discussed his priorities, and claimed it was possible to target net zero without sacrificing jobs.

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He said: “I would say this coming from the Northeast of Scotland, but I think the situation regarding energy and the oil and gas sector is incredibly worrying. You've got companies like Apache and Harbour Energy actively laying off staff and saying they're going to cease operations completely in the North Sea, and the impact that's going to have on the Scottish economy, and indeed the wider impact on the UK economy is something that I think should be one of the number one priorities for anybody looking at Scotland.

“I come to this having a joint portfolio. I'm also the shadow minister of state of energy, two roles, which I think work very well together.

“There's also a huge concern over the changes to the agricultural property relief, and what that might mean for the agricultural sector in Scotland. So that will also be a priority over the next few weeks and months moving forward. Scotland is overly reliant on agriculture for its economy, it's incredibly rural in in parts and what we do not want to see is, as a result of incompetent management in Hollyrood and wilful mismanagement down here in London, getting rid of the agricultural property relief, the end of the family farm and a real danger to the future of agriculture in Scotland.”

Turning to GB Energy, Mr Bowie warned there were still too many questions over what it would actually do, and insisted the private sector had been doing its bit to reduce emissions.

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He said: “It’s a white elephant. GB Energy, we just don’t know how much money it’s going to save, we don’t know if it’s going to save any money or not. We don’t need GB Energy. We already built the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth largest offshore wind farms in the world. “We halved our carbon emissions faster than any other G7 Nation. We've got some of the newest technologies in the world being developed in this country right now. The last thing we need is a state-owned company coming in, upsetting the market, getting in the way of private investment and actually inserting itself where it is least required, for example offshore wind.

“Get out of the way and let the private sector do what it’s been doing, which is setting the pace and leading the world when it comes to the transition away from fossil fuels, transition away from fuels that pollute. We cannot get to net zero without those traditional fossil fuels industries generating a profit, and they do that in the North Sea. Failure to exploit those reserves really does undermine our energy security.

“We are going to need oil and gas for decades to come, so why don’t we do this in a managed pragmatic way? We can get to net zero without killing one of the industries which is so vital to the economic prosperity of Scotland and the rest of the UK.”

Mr Bowie said scepticism of GB Energy was also prominent in the energy industry.

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He added: “People imagine it means cheaper prices, it means lower energy bills, it means that the government itself will be setting the agenda, and it doesn’t necessarily mean any of those things. People in the energy industry haven’t got a clue what GB Energy will actually achieve, and until that point, I can’t give you a clear answer as to whether or not it is a white elephant and actually a gimmick.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised £8.3 billion GB Energy Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised £8.3 billion GB Energy
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised £8.3 billion GB Energy | (Picture: Paul Campbell/PA)

Mr Bowie was also honest about the previous Tory administrations making his job and that of the new Tory leader more difficult, citing both Liz Truss and Boris Johnson’s tenures.

He explained: “We made mistakes, I think we'll all acknowledge that. I've said on record before about my view on Boris Johnson premiership and that administration and obviously I campaigned very hard to prevent Liz Truss becoming Prime Minister. I was unsuccessful in that regard.

“It was an uphill battle to recover the trust of the British people following the mini-budget.

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“Has it made it more difficult? Undoubtedly so, and those are a couple of the reasons why we fell to our lowest result ever in the last election. But isn't the only reason, every government that was in power over Covid in the Western World has lost office in the subsequent election.

“We made promises we didn’t keep, we said we’d stop the boats, we didn’t stop the boats. We said we’d reduce taxation, we didn’t reduce taxation nearly as much as people wanted. We said we would grow the economy, and we were growing the economy but people were not feeling that in their pockets, and as a result of that I think we lost their trust.”

An early backer of Ms Badenoch, Mr Bowie suggested she could transform the Tories fortunes, citing how Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron both reset the party.

He said: “I think having been her exports minister when she was secretary of state for trade, I think it's her ability to just cut through the noise, to ignore the chaff and just to get on with the job in hand. Her unique ability to generate headlines and get people listening to us.

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“Somebody said the other day, she's one of the few politicians who when you see her coming on TV, you will unmute, because you want to hear what she's saying. We've got to recognise that when we're in the space of 121 MPs, when we’re vastly diminished, we're going to need somebody that generates attention in the public sphere and that's what Kemi does.

“She's also got a bold vision for what conservatism is. Kemi is at this point pulling together a strong team of thinkers, opinion formers to really generate new ideas that will appeal to a new generation of Conservative voters, in the same way David Cameron did in 2010, and Margaret Thatcher did in the mid-1970s. It’s a really exciting moment for the Conservative party, rebuilding from a low base to get back in power.”

Mr Bowie also claimed Labour’s struggles since taking office, following public anger over winter fuel allowance and freebie scandals, had given him hope the Tories could be back in office sooner than he’d expected.

He explained: “I think the green shoots of recovery are there. The reason that Labour are falling behind, and for example we just last week picked up four local council seats, shows there is a foundation on which we can build.

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“There is absolute optimism within the Scottish Conservative party that we can return a significant number of MSPs and indeed from that point, we can go on and increase the number of MPs we return in the general election and lead us back into government in four years time. If you'd ask me that question two weeks after the general election, I wouldn’t have thought it possible. But the polls being where they are right now, with Labour faltering, and some of the decisions that they have taken and the way that they've presented their decisions, really does give me hope for the future.”

The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero has been approached for comment.

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