You may find this hard to believe but the UK Labour Government has just done something extremely sensible although you probably won’t have noticed.

Not only is it sensible, it is hugely significant to the transition to a world of low carbon energy, wonderful news for Scotland and excellent proof of the enduring benefit of Scotland being part of the UK.

Most incredible of all, the hero of the hour is none other than Ed Milliband.

What Ed has done is say that the UK Government will enter into contracts with operators of pumped storage energy systems to guarantee a price for the electricity they generate.

We have now removed coal from the UK energy mix and there is a rapid build-up of both solar and wind energy.

This is a good thing but it is steadily reducing the reliability of our electricity supply as we don’t build new nuclear power quickly enough, or at all in Scotland, and the gas-fired generation we have becomes old and is not replaced.

The trends in how our power is generated have two linked consequences.

First, there is a genuine risk that within a few years if there is a prolonged cold and still spell in the winter we could have power shortages.

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© Herald Scotland