Has Scottish Government broken ministerial code with Peterhead gas power station?
Operator SSE’s Annual General Meeting was targeted by activists last week amid continued furore over a proposed fossil fuel facility.
Friends of the Earth Scotland officially lodged a complaint with civil servants on Friday 19th July. The environmental charity has reported ‘deeply concerning’ patterns of behaviour across Holyrood.
In total, John Swinney’s government has been accused of breaking ministerial code on 28 occasions. These include discussions about planning applications with developers and voicing public support for a new gas-fired power plant at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.
Then-First Minister Humza Yousaf appeared in a promotional video for the site, which will be developed by energy giants SSE and Equinor. On another occasion, former-Cabinet Secretary for Energy Michael Matheson provided a supportive quote for a press release issued by SSE. According to ministerial code, it is not permitted for politicians to engage in any activity which could bias the planning application process.
There were also several recorded incidents in which ministers were briefed by civil servants to welcome and offer support for the new power station, including one meeting in which one MSP was instructed to ‘offer support in any challenges’ the companies might face. Meetings were regularly held with developers, while those voicing their objection struggled to get any time with political representatives. The Scottish Government also failed to locate the records from 16 meetings with the power station operators.
‘These 28 breaches of the ministerial code show a deeply troubling pattern of behaviour right across the Scottish Government. Public concerns have been deliberately ignored to try and push through a climate damaging planning application in the interests of greedy energy companies,’ said Friends of the Earth Scotland climate campaigner, Alex Lee. ‘Ministers and civil servants have been caught out playing fast and loose with the rules, in favour of a polluting project that risks locking households into higher energy bills.
‘Our investigations show that the Scottish Government has treated the outcome of this planning application as a foregone conclusion right from the beginning and has failed to follow the planning process and assess the evidence objectively,’ they continued. ‘First Minister John Swinney must get his government in order and stop listening to fossil fuel companies. Once this project is assessed fairly on its merits, the huge climate pollution and impact on home energy bills will mean the only rational conclusion will be a rejection.’
SSE’s annual general meeting was targeted by campaigners last weekend as a result of plans for the Peterhead site, alongside cost-of-living protestors speaking out against the company. According to Fuel Poverty Action, which co-organised the demonstrations, the firm made £2.8billion in profits last year, while one-third of households slipped into fuel poverty. The business is also continuing with compulsory installations of pre-payment meters.
Proposals for Peterhead were submitted in 2022 and remain under consideration, despite immense pressure to block the plans. The area is already home to an existing gas power station, which has been Scotland’s biggest polluter for the past five years.
Meanwhile, recent court victories for environmental campaigners in England, including blocking oil drilling at Horse Hill, may have set new precedents in terms of how legalities around fossil fuel developments are gauged within the context of internationally ratified – and therefore legally binding – emissions targets.
On Monday, Mr Swinney set out Holyrood funding details for a new ‘landmark’ carbon capture project at St Fergus, Aberdeenshire, which could see carbon stored in pipelines beneath the North Sea. Last year, UK Government financing was confirmed for the development, which is close to Peterhead. Critics of carbon capture and storage have long-argued reliance on this technology risks slowing down carbon reduction, effectively giving high polluting companies consent to continue with business as usual. Others argue Britain’s current climate policies focus on this infrastructure being deployed at unproven scales, jeopardising net zero ambitions.
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Image: Friends of the Earth Scotland