Kirsty Blackman, an SNP MP, generated outrage last week after claiming that Scotland is paying to solve the UK’s energy crisis through a windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas giants.- The UK is currently gripped by a global fossil fuel energy crisis, a skyrocketing costs of wholesale gas have now been passed onto households in the UK, who will soon see bills rise to around £2,800 a year.
After facing immense pressure from activists and the opposition, Chancellor Rishi Sunak by unveiling £15billion of measures to support vulnerable households, with every home set to receive a £400 energy bill discount.
This massive support package will be partly funded by a £5billion windfall tax on oil and gas giants, paid by large energy companies like Shell and BP, who enjoyed record profits in the past year.
Ms Blackman, who claimed 90 percent of the cash from the policy was coming from Scotland, was slammed for her comments.
Alistair Carmichael, Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland slammed the SNP, saying their stance against the windfall tax proves that “they are not a progressive, centre-left party.”
Writing in the Scotsman, Mr Carmichael said: “There is nothing progressive about saying that families in England, Wales and Northern Ireland must go cold and hungry because nationalism says that we should keep oil money here in Scotland.
“If Kirsty Blackman can claim all oil revenues for Scotland based on geography, however, why then could my constituents in Orkney and Shetland not do the same?
“The vast majority of “our” North Sea oil and gas sits within the waters of the Northern Isles.
“If the argument is about geographic proximity, it is hard to see on what basis the SNP would deny islanders our rightful revenues.”
READ MORE: Energy crisis horror as EDF scuppers plan to delay reactor shutdown
Labour MSP Colin Smyth demanded that Ms Blackman and the SNP apologise, saying: “Across the UK families have been plunged into unimaginable economic difficulty by rising energy prices.
“Children are going to bed hungry and families find themselves pushed to the brink.
“But somehow the SNP still find a way to make this about the constitution.”
