SOARING energy bills will “define this Holyrood election campaign”, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has said.
The MP – who is a candidate in Aberdeen Deeside and North Kincardine – was speaking ahead of a campaign visit in Glasgow on Friday.
Voters, he said, will be casting their ballots for “a permanent cost-of-living crisis under Westminster or lower energy bills with independence”.
Flynn said: “It is almost inevitable that the deepening energy crisis will come to define this Holyrood election campaign – voters will rightly cast their verdict on why Westminster’s control of Scotland’s energy has left families and businesses paying some of the highest costs in Europe.
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“This election will boil down to a straight choice for the people of Scotland – a permanent cost-of-living crisis under Westminster or lower energy bills with independence.
“On May 7 voters can choose who is in control of Scotland’s energy – the Westminster establishment or the people of Scotland.
“Scottish voters haven’t forgotten that Keir Starmer, and his then sidekick Anas Sarwar, promised to cut energy bills by £300 – instead the Labour Party’s broken promises will likely mean that people will be hit with bills that are £705 higher.
“With independence and full control over our energy resources, we can bring energy bills down.
“That only comes with the fresh start of independence – and that is what only the SNP can offer to the people of Scotland at this election.”
But Scottish Tory energy spokesperson Douglas Lumsden accused Flynn of “hypocrisy”, also attacking the Scottish Government’s presumption against oil and gas.
The Scottish Government published its draft energy strategy while Nicola Sturgeon was in office, which included the policy which leaned away from fossil fuels.
However, a final plan is yet to be published, leaving the Government’s policy uncertain.
“Only this week SNP MPs as well as Labour refused to back our common-sense motion in Westminster calling for the UK Government to end their ban on new licences in the North Sea,” Lumsden said.
“Stephen Flynn is shamelessly trying to dupe voters in the north rast when he knows full well that his party have decimated the sector.
“The Scottish Conservatives are the only party standing up for oil and gas workers and backing North Sea drilling to cut energy bills for hard-pressed Scots – that’s why you need to vote for us on your peach ballot to stop an SNP majority.”
(Image: Newsquest)
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “The SNP want to do anything other than talk about their own dismal record in government.
“They want to talk about independence and the arguments of the past because they do not have anything new to offer the people of Scotland.
“Stephen Flynn elbowed women candidates out of the way in his desperate bid to become an MSP and is eyeing up John Swinney’s job next.
“Only Scottish Labour can defeat the SNP and offer the people of Scotland the opportunity to take a new direction.”
