On Tuesday the 20th I gave a speech during a parliament debate on the Scottish economy in light of the EU referendum.  The text is below.

I thank the Presiding Officer for the opportunity to speak on Scotland’s Economy and how it responds to the EU Referendum.

Firstly, it is important to note that Scotland voting to remain did not at any point give the SNP any right to hold a second referendum on Scotland’s independence.

And, by their action now, the SNP are putting Scottish energy firms on the back foot with dwindling levels of foreign investment compared to the rest of the UK.

Whilst not everyone in the United Kingdom may have been happy with the result, we must start making a success of Brexit.

The SNP need to realise that Brexit is a great opportunity for our energy sector.

From creating a specific flexible energy system to being freed from the shackles of EU energy directives, the Scottish Government should be ready to support an industry ready to grow and welcome the opportunities ahead.

Whilst the North-East is a global hub of oil and gas companies, it is just that – GLOBAL. For many companies in Aberdeen, the North Sea provides only a fraction of their business and a weaker pound has greatly assisted export revenues.

Take Balmoral Offshore Engineering, a company I visited only a month ago, 90% of its business in buoyancy and insulation products are exported to emerging markets as far afield as South America.

It is essential that we seize this break for our export market and allow them to boost our Scottish Economy, in dire need of investment after 9 years of SNP rule.

I can only hope, unlike fracking, that this is an opportunity the Scottish Government won’t miss.

Brexit also gives us the opportunity to rid ourselves of overreaching EU policymakers;

Preventing our remote communities from getting their specific energy requirements as a result of breaching State Aid rules.

Currently, the UK Government is unable to target our Scottish islands with specific energy policies, as they contradict energy market rules set by Brussels.

The opportunity of Brexit gives us the chance to create a tailored Scottish energy system, where we can ensure all Scottish consumers get reliable, clean and affordable energy.

Bureaucratic EU procurement laws mean that we can’t favour Scottish energy companies for contracts.

Instead, we force our companies to compete with a continent where other countries still support state enterprises and have a very different view to state-aid rules.

Rules that even when broken, are proved so long after the fact that the damage has already been done.

Another key point to make is that whilst we may have left the EU, we certainly haven’t left Europe.

Our energy security does not rely on our membership of the single market either.

We haven’t hauled up our anchors and sailed away.

Quite the opposite, for we are tethered to the continent through a vast series of inter-connectors.

A majority of these in the North Sea connect us to Norway - one of our major energy suppliers and a non-EU member.  

A clear demonstration of the lack of reliance the UK has on the EU for energy demand.

I would also welcome the plan for a further interconnector with Iceland, a country of 300,000 people – again a country thriving outside of EU energy directives.

Whilst our Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee has raised the question of Brexit several times, not once has it been suggested that the goals for the forthcoming Climate Change Bill will be lowered by recent events.

Our climate change goals will not change - they are enshrined at a national level rather than an EU level and we should be proud of the progress we have made.

On a more topical source of energy given recent events, the SNP, will also be pleased to hear that our main supplier of imported shale gas, America is also a non-EU member.

My only displeasure with this trade is that it is coming at the cost of Scottish jobs and our economy.

Ineos, who operate the Grangemouth plant, will celebrate the first shale gas shipment arriving in Scotland.

They say shale gas has helped safeguard the future of the plant, and created new jobs and investment.

However, the Scottish Government has snubbed the event; prompting suspicions it doesn’t want to be associated with fracking.

This is a childish approach that wouldn’t be replicated across the rest of the world.

It’s time for the nationalists to recognise the value of shale.

Whilst a weak pound is good for our exports and manufacturing businesses, it is certainly not the time to be spending hard-earned foreign exchange on fuel we could be producing here.

It is clear that when it comes to the United Kingdom’s Balance of Payments, the SNP would rather put self-interest before the economic interests of the country.

But I think we all can see now, the SNP will only see Brexit as an opportunity for self-interest and never for the opportunities Scotland’s economy demands.

It is vitally important that the SNP start to make Scotland a global leader in energy and put their ideological need for a further independence referendum to bed.