Scotsman letters

The closure of Cockenzie Power Station in East Lothian in 2013 is a distant memory for some but it still holds an important lesson for the oil and gas industry. COP26 was full of cheap talk on the need for a great green transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The only move workers have experienced in Prestonpans is from coal to the green dole.

500 local jobs were lost when Cockenzie puffed its last. Eight years later and not one single job has been replaced. A large gap site awaits wind transformers but there is net zero employment for local workers. While the Scottish Government stuffs its own ranks with “climate strategists” they are doing nothing on the ground for former coal communities.

The same government strategists who failed Scottish workers on wind power jobs are now trying to redeem their reputation with hydrogen. 300,000 Scottish jobs are claimed by 2045, selling an uneconomic fuel to German industry. Instead of wasting public money on more green adventures we should instead be investing in climate mitigation measures.

Raising prosperity is the key to defending Scotland against climate change: having your house flooded or the roof blown off is only a catastrophe if you can’t afford the insurance. This key lesson was missed at COP26 and now we have the Scottish Green coalition actively pushing against economic growth. A nation lost to mindless virtue signalling is destined to fail.

Before our First Minister manoeuvres her monster-spin-machine against the new Cambo oil field (Scotsman, 17 November), she should look around the board to see who else is playing. For Vladimir Putin is waiting to fill every cut in Scottish oil and gas production and he has big plans on his border for all that profit.

Scotland can make a massive contribution to European CO2 cuts, and we can help our European friends wrestle with the Russian bear. But first we need to build many more Cambo fields, replace coal with gas and buy time for nuclear power to catch up. We many even succeed in employing a few local workers along the way.

Calum Miller, Independent Candidate Preston, Seton & Gosford council by-election, Prestonpans, East Lothian