KATE Forbes has said soaring energy prices in the UK should be "fixed at source" as she called on the Scottish and UK Governments to “work together constructively” on the issue.

The Scottish Finance Secretary told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme a lot of firms were struggling because of high energy costs.

She said support around the energy crisis must come from the UK Government as "a lot of the levers' are reserved to Westminster.

She said: “I think governments, Scottish and UK governments, have to work together constructively because a lot of the levers, particularly around energy, are reserved.”

The SNP minister said Holyrood has announced support for firms to help them recover “but in terms of the cumulative costs, particularly around energy, that will need to come from the UK Government because energy is ultimately regulated".

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“We are a country that is rich in energy production, rich in energy potential and yet we’re seeing businesses struggle, we’re seeing more people in fuel poverty, so absolutely needs to be fixed at source.

“Cash at this stage is important, and we will do that, we will try and reduce the cumulative costs on business, but ultimately it needs to be fixed at source.”

Asked if the Government in Edinburgh would give ground on areas which they might not normally, Forbes said: “I don’t know how much ground you can give when a policy like energy is fully reserved.

“So this is not about how we meet halfway. This is about the fact that all the rules, the regulations, and the powers in their entirety over energy, reside with the UK Government. And so regulation has got to come from them.”

The Finance Secretary also said while her package of support to help Scots with the cost-of-living crisis was not perfect it was “a question of how we deliver support quickly to families”.

Forbes told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland that she didn’t think plans to give £150 rebate to most council taxpayers in the country was a “perfect scheme” but that “it needed to be seen in the context of more targeted support”.

“Ultimately this is a question of how we deliver support quickly to families who needed it yesterday,” she told Good Morning Scotland on Friday.

“We could design a perfect scheme that would take a number of months to deliver, but my priority is to try to get that money out of the door quickly.”

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The proposal has been criticised by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Poverty Alliance, who said more support should have been targeted at low-income households.

The SNP MSP told the broadcaster there were other benefits available to help those most in need as the cost of living crisis bites, including a winter support fund and a boost to the child payment.

She said the council tax rebate will reach those who might not need it “but it is the only route we have to make sure we reach those for whom it will make a difference quickly and simply”.