Labour 'Brass Neck' Over Peterhead CCS Project

Banff and Buchan MP Eilidh Whiteford has hit out at the hypocrisy of calls by the Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary for the UK Government to "crack on" with a carbon capture and storage project at Peterhead - the SNP MP pointed out that the last Labour Government, in which Caroline Flint was a Minister, had sabotaged the original project in 2007 by refusing to provide certainty over the policy framework required or financial support.

Commenting, Dr Whiteford said:

"Caroline Flint has a lot of brass neck and not much irony given that it was the last Labour Government who sabotaged the original project in 2007 by refusing to provide certainty over the policy framework required or financial support.

"That project would have been the world's first pre-combustion carbon capture plant, but because of Labour's Downing Street dithering the project went to Abu Dhabi instead.

"We now need to ensure that the last government's mistakes are not repeated and the project goes ahead on track.

"Scottish and Southern Energy are to be commended for their continuing commitment to carbon capture and this project has huge environmental potential, and must be embraced by the government.

"This project will put Peterhead at the cutting-edge of carbon capture technology. The UK Government must now recognise the very strong case which exists for this project going ahead and the investment it will bring to Peterhead.

"The Scottish Government is doing everything it can to make Scotland the clean, green powerhouse of Europe - but the UK government has a record of holding Scotland back from achieving our full green energy potential in all areas.

"Instead of Westminster's bungling, the Scottish Parliament needs to gain responsibility for all energy issues in Scotland."