SNP’s humiliating U-turn on their OWN green plans
SNP ministers were forced into a ‘humiliating’ U-turn yesterday as they scrapped a ‘world-leading’ climate target – and then claimed they were accelerating action to tackle emissions.
Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan conceded that the plan to cut emissions by 75 per cent before 2030 is now ‘out of reach’.
It was branded ‘hugely embarrassing’ for Humza Yousaf, after he previously said it was ‘unforgivable’ that the UK Government was rowing back on its climate pledges. The U-turn was also seen as a humiliation for the Scottish Greens, who are part of the SNP coalition government and have two ministers.
Mr Yousaf insisted he will not change a separate target to achieve net zero by 2045, while Ms McAllan announced a ‘new package of climate action measures’ but failed to provide any timescales. She claimed more money is needed from the UK Government to deliver them.
Scottish Conservative net zero spokesman Douglas Lumsden said Ms McAllan’s statement was ‘a lot of smoke and mirrors, rehashing announcements and blaming everyone else they can for their own failure’.
He said: ‘Let us be crystal clear: the key areas of emissions are devolved. Transport, housing, agriculture – all devolved. This announcement is an absolute humiliation for the SNP. But even more humiliating for the Greens, who have ditched environmentalism for nationalism.’
Last September, Mr Yousaf accused the UK Government of ‘rowing back’ on its climate pledges and claimed this was ‘unforgivable’, while promising that Scotland would ‘continue to show global leadership’. Former First Minister Alex Salmond said it was ‘hugely embarrassing’ for Mr Yousaf, in light of his attacks on the UK Government.’
He said the announcement that the 2030 target had been dropped was also a humiliation for the Greens, adding: ‘Looking at the Green ministers, they seem to be more attached to office than they do either to independence or to green politics.’
Ahead of yesterday’s statement, Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone reprimanded the SNP Government after the main announcement about the 2030 target being dropped was reported by the BBC on Wednesday evening.
When she began her statement, Ms McAllan said she had asked the Permanent Secretary, JP Marks, to carry out an internal investigation into the leak as ‘a matter of urgency’.
Confirming that the plan to cut emissions by 75 per cent before 2030 had been dropped, she told MSPs: ‘In this challenging context of cuts and UK backtracking, we accept the CCC’s [Climate Change Committee] recent re-articulation that this parliament’s interim 2030 target is out of reach.
‘We must now act to chart a course to 2045 at a pace and scale which is feasible, fair and just.
‘With this in mind, I can today confirm that, working with parliament on a timetable, the Scottish Government will bring forward expedited legislation to address matters raised by the CCC, and ensure our legislative framework better reflects the reality of longterm climate policymaking.’
Among ‘a new package of climate action measures’, was a pledge for an extra 24,000 electric car charging points by 2030 and plans for a ‘route map’ for cutting car use by 20 per cent, while supporting ‘the transition away from petrol and diesel vans’.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Yousaf said: ‘This Government will not move back by a single month, a week or even a day from that 2045 target for achieving net zero.’
THE SNP once claimed that world leaders had asked it for advice on climate change.
Now a key target – reducing emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 – has been ditched in one of the party’s most humiliating U-turns.
The SNP has been condemned for a ‘reprehensible retreat caused by its recklessly inadequate level of action’. In the meantime, Humza Yousaf and his Marxist Green partners are desperately trying to shore up their credentials on the environment.
But no amount of grandstanding can disguise the fact that the First Minister’s rhetoric on climate change has been exposed as nothing more than hot air.