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Scotland will be the decision-maker in terms of energy policy once the British exit from the European Union is confirmed, according to the Energy and Climate Change select committee (ECCC).
Speaking exclusively to Utility Week, Angus MacNeil – the SNP MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, and ECCC chair – said Scotland will seek to remain in the EU and will continue to have a say on energy policy in the single market.
He added that he expects England and Wales to adopt a “Norway-type status”, whereby they are members of the European Economic Area (EEA), and will have to adopt European rules and legislation without having any influence on their development.
MacNeil said: “The decision maker in the EU will be Scotland and the followers will be England and Wales – that will be energy and everything else.
“We’ll be in [the EU], and they [England and Wales] will be with Norway on the outside lobbying us.
“It’s crazy.”
The news comes as Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said that a second independence referendum is “highly likely” after the UK voted to leave the EU.
She said it was “democratically unacceptable” that Scotland faced the prospect of being “dragged out” of the EU against its will, as Scotland voted in favour of the UK staying in the EU by 62 per cent to 38 per cent.
Sturgeon added that the Scottish government would begin preparing legislation to enable another independence vote.
ECCC chair Angus MacNeil is speaking a the Utility Week Energy Summit on 5 July on the future of renewabels in energy policy. For more inforation, visit: www.uw-energysummit.net
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