A UNIONIST think tank met with the Scottish Secretary to discuss the “importance of high quality information” on energy and other issues, an FOI has revealed.
On December 4 last year, Ian Murray and special adviser Callum Munro met with Sam Taylor from These Islands in Dover House in London.
The National requested notes taken during the meeting as it had been described as a “meeting to discuss energy opportunities” in the department’s publicly available log.
We were given one page of notes – with three short bullet points of information.
“ST [Sam Taylor] noted the current priorities of These Islands and priorities going into 2025. Energy is a large part of TI’s focus and an important priority for Scotland,” the first bullet point read.
“This is a complex issue and sometimes challenging to cover in a way that reflects those complexities.”
The second point said Taylor had an interest in the Scottish Government’s hydrogen strategy and “noted that there are discussions within SG as to whether hydrogen could be a major export opportunity for the future”.
Finally, the notes said: “It was agreed the importance of high quality information available to the public on matters around energy and wider issues.”
“So it's quite extraordinary that they would sit down with the Secretary of State and make this claim about energy, given the UK Government's own failure to reduce bills to £300, with bills going up instead.”
In response, These Islands chairman, Kevin Hague said: “Contrary to Mr Wishart’s unevidenced accusation, we believe it is broadly accepted that These Islands provides much needed clarity in policy areas, such as energy, where populists have been prone to mislead.
“We continue in this mission.”
The Scotland Office has been contacted for comment.
It comes after the SNP claimed energy bills must come down by more than £450 to hit Labour’s General Election pledges.
In May, UK energy regulator Ofgem announced that the average annual energy bill for a dual-fuel household would drop by 7% from July 1.
The move was described as “nothing to shout about” by money saving expert Martin Lewis, who highlighted that the drop would essentially cancel out price rises in April, bringing costs back into line with where they were in January.
Despite this, Scottish Labour politicians, including Anas Sarwar, celebrated the upcoming price drop. The SNP said that the price cap remains around 10% higher than it was in July 2024, before which Labour were pledging to cut bills by £300.
Proposals to bring in zonal pricing were rejected by UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.
The plans would have set lower electricity prices in areas where supply far outstrips demand, such as in Scotland.
The UK Government was urged to set out how it would cut bills after rejecting plans for zonal pricing.
