HUMZA Yousaf has called for Labour leadership to "come and speak" to the Scottish Government ahead of a UK General Election to hammer out energy strategy.
Speaking to the Chamber Talk podcast, produced by the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, the SNP leader said there was "no doubt" there would be a change at the top of the UK Government in 2024.
Yousaf said that, ahead of the inevitable, Keir Starmer and Labour’s energy spokesman Ed Miliband could agree to work with the Scottish Government.
The First Minister said: “There’s going to be a change of Government in 2024, of that I have no doubt in the slightest.
“My offer to Keir Starmer, to Ed Miliband – who drives their energy policy – is come and speak to us in advance of a General Election.
“Let’s work together so that we can unleash the potential of Scotland’s renewables sector, and that’s got to be a just transition.
“Let’s do that in a way that gives investors the confidence they need to invest now in Scotland and that investment. We’ll see a great economic return for that in the years and decades to come.”
The First Minister also stood by the Government’s draft energy strategy, which was released before he took office, where a presumption against new oil and gas fields was adopted.
The cabinet he appointed, Yousaf said, spoke with “one voice” on the issue.
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But he stressed plans for a £20 billion fund financed by oil and gas revenues would not mean “going back on licences” already approved and nor would it mean there could never be any more exploration or extraction of hydrocarbons.
If he wins the keys to Number 10, Starmer has pledged to create a "Great British Energy", which Labour describe as "a new publicly owned, clean energy company" that will be headquartered in Scotland.
The Tories have to hold a General Election by January 2025 at the latest. Far behind in the polls and staring down the barrel of a crushing defeat, the Tory government looks likely to push an election back to late in 2024.
November 14 has been suggested as a possible date by former chancellor George Osborne.
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