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The bill should call for an independent “Expert Commission on the Holyrood Voting System” to recommend the most robust & truly proportional system. That recommendation would then be put to voters in a referendum, for ratification. Would be enormous fun to see the SNP oppose that.

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An MSP should introduce a Member’s Bill during this parliament to reform the voting system for Holyrood elections. Of course the SNP and Greens would shoot it down. But they should be made to stand up and explain why 57% of the seats with 41% of the votes is a good system.

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“We’re in a proportional system that is designed to be able to best reflect the way that the people of Scotland have voted.” It doesn’t matter that the voting system fails to deliver proportional results, says Màiri McAllan. As ever, intentions are more important than outcomes.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

1/ “We have 110% of our energy needs already met by renewables.” “Scotland has the highest sources of renewable energies in Europe.” No surprise to discover that two newly elected Scottish Green MSPs fully believe in debunked myths about energy in Scotland.

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1/ John Swinney panders to the widely believed fallacy that independence would transfer the energy sector into public ownership. It would not. The SNP wants *lower* taxes on oil & gas companies. And it wants the owners of wind farms to pay *lower* transmission charges.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

John Swinney’s pledge on energy bills at this election is simply fraudulent. He knows that it won’t be properly scrutinised. And he doesn’t care that it’s undeliverable. But voters should care about a candidate for First Minister who doesn’t tell the truth.

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🚨 John Swinney unveils his secret plan to achieve an independence referendum: same as the old plan.

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“That’s a junk answer” Tom Gordon has had enough of John Swinney’s evasive formulations.

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What are the mechanisms for cutting electricity bills in Scotland, either with the devolution of energy powers, or with independence? John Swinney cannot answer. His response is vacuous and evasive. (@severincarrell.bsky.social asking the question.)

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

John Swinney says that on day one of a new SNP government, he will request a Section 30 order transferring powers over energy to the Scottish Parliament. If this was a serious idea, you’d expect the civil service to have done some preparatory work. So… have they? Of course not.

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“Don’t lie to us Angus.” Edinburgh Central constituents react angrily to Angus Robertson’s claim that he took his surgery responsibilities seriously. (During the last parliament, Angus Robertson’s website offered very occasional slots where you could speak to him by Zoom only.)

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Berwick Bank will produce electricity costing substantially more than the wholesale price we are paying in today’s Ofgem price cap. Can Angus Robertson explain how this is consistent with the SNP’s election pledge on energy bills? No. Of course he can’t. An embarrassing answer.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Yesterday, on the same day the SNP was making its usual ignorant complaints about transmission charges, the UK Gov published its Reformed National Pricing delivery plan. Here, Chris Stark, speaking last month, outlines the general shape of planned transmission charging reforms.

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Reposted by Sam Taylor

The performative stupidity of the SNP transmission charging grievance. Yes 5.5 GW of ScotWind projects have been paused or cancelled (those lease options were *not* sold off on the cheap). But that’s because there is a massive grid bottleneck between Scotland and England.

Just three key examples of the punishment Scotland faces total around £16bn in lost investment:
• The 2GW West of Orkney wind farm has been paused with developers warning that excessive transmission costs has made the project uncompetitive. The 125-turbine wind farm would have had enough power for two million homes with £6.4bn investment lost.
• Arven South wind farm was cancelled by Ocean Winds who blamed "the current impact of the current Transmission Charging Regime" ruining
£1.4bn worth of investment.
• Shell walked away from the Campion wind project with around £7bn lost in investment with transmission charges said to have been a key factor.
Commenting, the SNP Westminster Leader and candidate for Aberdeen Deeside & North Kincardine, Stephen Flynn said:
"The Labour Government is hammering our energy sector with crippling transmission charges uniquely applied to Scottish projects while equivalent sites in England are subsidised.

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Reposted by Sam Taylor

Of course the transmission charging regime is going to disincentivise generators from locating behind a grid bottleneck, and incentivise them to locate in front of that bottleneck, close to demand. It’s not exactly rocket science. And it’s not “unfair”.

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Important detail in Miliband plan: the new WCfDs will be quite different to regular CfDs. They will (presumably) have a shorter contract length. But they will also, in effect, have two fixed prices. Early years: WCfD strike price + ROC value. Later years: WCfD strike price only.

Explainer: Voluntary long-term fixed contracts
A Contract for Difference (CfD) is a long-term contract between the government and an electricity generator that guarantees a stable, fixed price for the electricity they produce.
A Wholesale Contract for Difference (WCfD) would offer existing eligible generators, who aren't already contracted under a CfD, the option to accept a fixed price for the electricity they generate. This would mean that both they and consumers are no longer exposed to volatile gas-linked electricity prices.
A WCD would see eligible generators give up their current forward wholesale revenues in exchange for a fixed power price achieved via a CfD. Under this proposal it is envisaged that generators accredited under the Renewables Obligation (RO) would continue to receive support via the RO in the way they do currently - with only their wholesale revenues being exchanged for a fixed price CfD.
The WCD will be a voluntary offer to eligible electricity generators, and will be subject to consultation in due course. Government will only offer contracts to electricity generators where it represents clear value for money for consumers. Further details will be set out in due course, with plans to consult later this year.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

There is no energy related challenge or opportunity that becomes easier with Scottish independence. The challenges and opportunities all become *harder* with independence. It’s pretty obvious that more can be achieved when all parts of our small island work together.

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If you don’t like what I’ve written about the costs of renewables, because of my unforgivable politics, here is the FT making the same points. These are not political points. They are points about economic realities. And an independent Scotland cannot abolish economic realities.

Moreover, while renewables' marginal costs are low, wind and solar farms require a lot of upfront investment to build. New projects in Britain tend to secure a contract with the government guaranteeing them a fixed price regardless of the wholesale price, to make sure they can earn back their upfront costs.
This guarantee is funded by a levy on consumer bills, meaning that the wholesale price is not what consumers end up paying for those generators' output.
In the most recent auction round of these contracts, offshore wind farms secured guaranteed prices of about £91 per megawatt-hour, higher than current power prices, and which will rise with inflation for 20 years.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Decent effort by @severincarrell.bsky.social. But Swinney’s answer is his standard bullshit. To ask this question effectively he *must* be pressed on the fact (and it is a fact) that costs of the latest generation of Scottish renewables are *higher* than the price of electricity set by gas.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Here is what the SNP manifesto promises on energy bills. No details on how this would be achieved, of course. This is not a policy. It’s a fantasy.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

John Swinney says one of the things he’s most proud of the SNP government for having delivered is something it had almost no role in delivering. (Energy is reserved. Scot Gov’s minor role is limited to planning applications.)

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

John Swinney’s inability to give a straight answer on the SNP’s position on new drilling for oil & gas, painfully exposed this morning by Nick Robinson on the Today Programme. (Part 1/2)

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Nick Robinson skewers John Swinney’s fatuous argument that national security concerns are a smoke screen for an “anti-Scottish” conspiracy by the UK government to block a Chinese wind turbine factory in Scotland.

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Reposted by Sam Taylor

And again. He loves this line. And it’s wholly false.

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Reposted by Sam Taylor

1/ This line, that because a Chinese company has a minority stake in Hinkley Point C, the UK Labour government must be “anti-Scottish” to have blocked the Ming Yang wind turbine factory, on national security grounds, is very easily debunked.

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Scotland’s energy wealth is being “siphoned off” by Westminster, says John Swinney. Populist bullshit of the highest order. #bbcdn

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Duncan Hothersall @dhothersall.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Scotland’s energy wealth is being “siphoned off” by Westminster, says John Swinney. Populist bullshit of the highest order. #bbcdn

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Reposted by Sam Taylor

This is really important. The SNP, and many supporters of independence, keep making the argument that Scotland's renewables would bring down the price of electricity in an independent Scotland, and imply that the current system is unfair to Scots. This analysis blows that argument out of the water.

these-islands.co.uk

How to interrogate SNP energy bills claim

How to demonstrate that the SNP is not telling the truth about energy bills and Scotland’s “low-cost” renewables. A step-by-step guide.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

1/ How to demonstrate that John Swinney is not telling the truth about Scotland’s “low-cost” renewables.🧵 First, go to the Ofgem website and download this spreadsheet: www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-regul...

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

1/ Pressed for details on his energy rhetoric by @kieranandrews.bsky.social, John Swinney has nothing but glib soundbites. Does he know how to calculate the impact of the gas price on the price of electricity? It’s not difficult…

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

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In January, DESNZ published an update to its 2023 cost of renewables figures, skewering Scot Gov claims that Scottish renewables are “low-cost”. Civil servants are working on a briefing for ministers on these figures, but it won’t be done until after the election. How convenient.

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Some seem to think powers over energy would be a stepping stone to Scot Gov nationalising energy. They clearly haven’t been paying attention to the ferries. Who wants an energy provider that delivers no energy for a decade, and then charges you 5x more than you were expecting?

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Scot Gov does own (indirectly, via SNIB) a minority stake in a wind farm currently being developed. When complete, the electricity it produces will cost £216/MWh (uprated for inflation) for 20 years. That is ~3x higher than the wholesale electricity price in current price cap.

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