The border line

SNP energy minister Fergus Ewing tells Mathew Beech why Scottish energy would be better off without the rest of the UK

Scottish independence. It’s an issue that divides the nation on whether to divide the nation. Fergus Ewing, the SNP minister for energy, enterprise and tourism, believes Scotland would be better off on its own. However, if there is a yes vote in the referendum on 18 September 2014, Ewing says not everything will change: “We have a good relationship with England and that would continue. We enjoy watching Coronation Street and that – along with many things – wouldn’t change.” But via a government in Holyrood, Scotland would be able to set its own energy policy as an independent nation.

“At the moment, we are like a passenger in a car driven by the UK energy minister,” Ewing tells me, describing his position as Scottish energy minister. “We would like dual controls in that car. It would be good if we had a dual role, particularly in terms of renewable energy.” He says the Scots have “pestered” Westminster for more support for wind, marine and tidal, to no avail.

Ewing claims Scotland has been leading the UK in terms of renewable energy for a number of years, and expects the country to hit its 2020 emissions reduction target. However, Ed Davey, the energy secretary at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc), and other supporters of the Better Together campaign, warn that an independent Scottish nation would lose billions of pounds in green subsidies from the UK. According to Davey, one-third of the £1.4 billion of the UK’s current annual support for wind, wave and tidal projects (£530 million) goes to Scotland, while only 9 per cent of all electricity sales are there.

Speaking at a renewables conference in Aberdeen, Davey said: “It will be much harder for a nation potentially having to spread the cost of investment in renewables across just two-and-a-half million households to keep prices competitive.”

Ewing dismisses this warning as nothing more than “sabre-rattling” and says the argument is being made to score points in the verbal battle between Westminster and Holyrood. “Don’t believe that argument by Ed Davey and his colleagues. I don’t believe they have considered the security issues should this happen.”

The security issues in question relate to the tightening of capacity margins, which both Decc and Ofgem have predicted, popularly known as the capacity crunch. This, Ewing informs me in an almost matter-of-fact fashion, means that what has been described by Davey as a problem is actually something that will benefit the Scots. You can almost sense Ewing stifling a smile when he says: “This is a very serious situation. There may be power cuts and blackouts too, which will have serious consequences. [Our] renewable energy, it will be needed.”

He then delivers a sound bite that would see independence campaigners puff out their chests, even as the Better Together lobby fumed. “Scottish electricity will keep the lights on in England. As an independent country, we believe – in relation to energy – we will be assisting England in meeting its emissions targets.”

However, Ewing is fully aware of the political subtleties and the fact that a strong working relationship needs to be maintained for both sides to get what they need. “It [England] needs our electricity, we need the demand of electricity consumers to support renewable development in Scotland,” he says.

When pressed on whether this means Scottish renewables rely on British cash to keep them afloat, Ewing fires back: “They say the UK subsidises Scotland, but we are paying our fair share of taxes.”

He points to figures in Scotland’s April 2013 balance sheet report (compiled by the Scottish Government) which estimated that the per capita taxes collected in Scotland were higher than the UK average in each year between 1980/01 and 2011/12.

The other issue that the Better Together campaigners have fired at the SNP is that talk of independence is spooking investors, curtailing the essential renewing of Scotland’s – and the UK’s – energy infrastructure. Again, Ewing swats away the point as nothing more than an argument being made for “political reasons”.

He says there is no investment hiatus and that work is under way on a number of renewable projects, including 40MW of wave generation and about 10GW of offshore wind. He says companies from all over the UK are still heading to Scotland.

“A total of 39 per cent of the UK’s renewable generation is here at the moment,” he says. “We’ve invested £1,000 million, created 11,000 jobs and renewables are a long way from the talking stage now – we are well into the delivery phase.”

So, two-nil to Ewing against the Westminster government. Scenting a hat-trick, he turns to the subject of revolving doors at Decc since he picked up the Scottish energy brief in 2011.

“To make an impact as an energy minister and to understand the brief, you need to have it for longer than six to nine months. There have been too many energy ministers. It sends the message that energy isn’t very important, that it’s not in the top rank of priorities,” he says.

“I have had several meetings with Ed Davey, Greg Barker, and Charles Hendry, and John Hayes, and Michael Fallon,” he says, emphasising each name in the roll-call. “I think it is easier as energy minister in Scotland to be accessed, to visit companies and to understand their agendas. It is easier as a small country to do that, faster, quicker, and better.”

Ewing adds: “A lot of companies I deal with say they feel able to meet and engage with me in a faster and quicker way, and also get a swifter response, than they do from those in Westminster.”

As for how a newly independent Scotland would fare without support from the rest of the UK, Ewing is confident the new nation would establish its own role. “It is obvious that it is a good thing to be responsible, in a modern country, to run your own affairs,” he says. “That is normal for countries in the world, and some smaller countries, like Denmark and Norway, perform pretty well on the world stage.”

“We will develop our own place in the world.”

This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 5th July 2013.

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