THE Labour Party refused to make anyone available for interview on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show to discuss the country's energy future.
SNP MP Drew Hendry appeared on the programme after the UK’s oil and gas regulator awarded 24 new exploration licences to 13 separate companies in a move condemned by climate campaigners.
Hendry hit out at the Labour Party following reports that they are to ditch their promise to invest £28 billion in green projects every year should they come to power.
“The Labour Party backtracking on their £28bn a year promise, that is an absolute bare minimum according to the economists who are advising the Labour Party themselves,” he said.
It comes despite SNP politicians at Holyrood using a debate to pressure Scottish Labour to back calls for the UK Government to “urgently increase green investment to at least £28bn a year” – a move which was backed by nineteen Scottish Labour MSPs.
The MP continued: “This is a really dangerous time in terms of the future economy because there are limited opportunities for the UK to invest in the future for the UK and especially for Scotland.
“And one of them is in green investment where we continue, because the Scottish Government has used its environmental powers, not policy powers because they’re reserved, to try and help renewable technologies become part of our mix so that we can now export electricity having managed to get 100% of our electricity production here in Scotland.
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“We’re already exporting oil and gas as well. All of these things are Scotland’s resources at the moment which are being absolutely squandered by the UK Treasury with no investment back.”
Hendry finished by saying that investment has “failed to be made” over the past years and that Labour look like they will be “equally complicit in making that mistake”.
Host Martin Geissler then replied: “Well we asked the Labour Party to come on and discuss that this morning, they wouldn’t put anybody up to come on and be interviewed on the Sunday Show.”
Hendry (above) later added it looked like Labour have “no ambition” by U-turning on their original pledge.
Geissler again added: “As I said, we asked them to come on, they didn’t come on."
The National has approached Scottish Labour for comment.
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