Hopes for a just transition from dependence on oil and gas have faded in Scotland as an English region wins a renewable energy jobs boost

The SNP government has insisted it is committed to ensuring there is a just transition from the fossil fuel era as it becomes increasingly clear it has done nothing worthwhile to secure one.

Energy minister Gillian Martin has portrayed herself as a workers’ champion in a speech in which she admitted the North East looked to be facing a bleak future unless the country moved faster to compensate for the decline of the North Sea oil industry.

Ms Martin told the SNP conference the area was “potentially and dangerously” on course to end up in a situation where a just transition would not happen, insisting she would not let that come about.

A report on her speech in The Independent noted that Ms Martin said her determination to ensure North Scotland was not left behind reflected the fact her family hailed from a town that was devastated by the decline of ship-building.

“I’ll be damned if that happens because the place that my mum and dad are from, in Clydebank, has never recovered and neither has many other places,” she declared, in a display of narcissism worthy of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Ms Martin’s comments do not provide much of a vote of confidence in the industrial policies followed by Ms Sturgeon or other SNP first ministers. The SNP has been in power at Holyrood since 2007 and has had plenty of time to help former ship-building........

© Herald Scotland