Scottish Government has ‘squandered’ ScotWind cash, says UK energy minister Michael Shanks

UK energy minister Michael Shanks has accused the Scottish Government of having “squandered” the opportunity presented by ScotWind.

The leasing of Scotland’s seabed for offshore wind raised £700m following an auction in 2022.

But the Scottish Government has now had to use much of that cash to plug gaps in its budget.

Shanks, in an exclusive interview with Holyrood magazine, said using the cash in this way was a “missed opportunity”. He also suggested the auction could have generated more cash.

He said: “It’s a shame really. ScotWind has got enormous potential, and we really want it to succeed as it’s important for our energy objectives. I think it could have probably achieved more money than it got in the first place.

“But the second part of this is that the SNP challenged UK governments for generations on Scotland’s oil and what the legacy of that was. The legacy was that it was funding day-to-day services for 60 years. The [SNP] are now doing exactly the same within years of gaining that ScotWind inheritance. It’s a significant amount of money that can’t be found again to plug day-to-day spending. It’s a missed opportunity.”

Seventeen projects covering 7,000km2 were successful in the first leasing round.

But similar auctions which took place around the same time elsewhere in the world generated far more cash. Six offshore wind leases off the coast of New York in 2022 – covering approximately 2,000km2 – sold for $4.37bn.

The Crown Estate Scotland, which manages the seabed around Scotland, put a cap on bids of £100,000 per square kilometre.

In a statement last month, finance secretary Shona Robison confirmed £460m was being taken from the ScotWind pot to balance the Scottish budget this year.

That followed the Scottish Government already having from the fund last year and at the start of this financial year.

Shanks also criticised Scottish ministers for “mismanagement” of the public finances and hit back against the suggestion the UK Government was continuing austerity.

He said: “I think they need to look up a dictionary for what austerity means. So far, the Scottish Government has actually received more money out of UK Government decisions.

“They’re very good at talking about where their budget has been cut over the last few years; they’re not very good at recognising where it has increased. There is no austerity underway at the moment – we’ve made one significant budget decision around the winter fuel payment which so far has had absolutely no impact on the bottom line of the Scottish Government’s budget.”

He added: “The SNP are flailing around trying to find excuses for the fact they’re having to make incredibly tough decisions largely because of their own mismanagement… For 17 years we’ve been told it’s all Westminster’s fault – the public are absolutely fed up of it.”