UNCERTAINTY around the Prime Minister’s leadership is “perhaps influencing” delays to a meeting on a Scottish independence referendum, the First Minister has said.
In the aftermath of the Holyrood elections, where a record-breaking number of pro-independence MSPs were elected, John Swinney had said he would meet with Keir Starmer as early as June to discuss a possible referendum.
But this meeting has not yet been organised, with Swinney suggesting that the uncertainty around Starmer's position may be the cause.
He explained: “I am obviously waiting to have that meeting with the Prime Minister, and the uncertainty about his position is perhaps influencing the ability to get that meeting arranged.
“But I want to make sure I have substantive dialogue with the UK Government to make sure that Scotland’s energy and wealth is in Scotland’s hands, and that Scotland has the ability to decide our own constitutional future.
“And that’s what parliament has asked me to do. It’s what the electorate asked me to do, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
His comments came during a visit to Aberdeen, ahead of the Aberdeen South by-election on Thursday.
The Aberdeen South by-election campaign has centred around oil and gas, a key pillar of the area's economy.
Swinney said the SNP wanted to see the end of the “disastrous” energy profits levy (EPL) which was introduced as a temporary windfall tax that applies to profits made from extracting UK oil and gas.
Introduced under the Conservatives in 2022, the EPL was an additional 35% tax on North Sea oil and gas profits, bringing the headline rate to 75%. After Labour took power in July 2024, it was increased by three points to 38%, putting the headline rate at 78%.
Swinney said: “What the SNP wants is to see the immediate removal of the energy profit levy, because that is stymieing investment in the oil and gas sector in the north-east of Scotland and is a direct threat to jobs.
“It was put in place by the Tories and it’s been kept in place by the Labour Party, and the answer to all of this is to make sure that Scotland’s energy wealth is in Scotland’s hands and that’s exactly what the SNP, and only the SNP, represents in this by-election.”
A spokesperson for the First Minister previously said that it is clear that Westminster's refusal to "consider Scotland’s right to decide" is "unsustainable".
The other pro-independence party in the Holyrood parliament, the Scottish Greens, are not aligned with the SNP on the EPL, with former co-leader Patrick Harvie previously telling The National: "The reality is that the windfall tax does not go far enough."
“It is vital that the money raised is reinvested in clean technology, green jobs and cutting household bills; things the fossil fuel companies themselves will never choose to do.
“As long as household bills are tied to fossil fuel prices, we will be hit by geopolitical tensions like Donald Trump’s illegal and immoral bombing of Iran and tied to repressive and authoritarian states like Saudi Arabia and Russia.
“It is far better for us to build a Scotland powered by homegrown renewable energy, which is the cheapest and most ethical energy available.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “We’re giving the sector and its investors the long-term certainty to plan, invest and support jobs with plans to replace the energy profits levy when it ends by 2030, or earlier if its price floor is triggered.
“We are also making sure the North Sea has a prosperous and sustainable future through record investment that helps deliver the next generation of skilled jobs while growing the clean energy industries of the future.”
