The north-east’s green success puts Scotland to shame

It’s confirmed. The co-leaders of the Scottish Greens, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, have become junior ministers in Nicola Sturgeon’s government. Harvie is Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights, while Slater is Minister for Green skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity.

Of the two, Slater’s is the more interesting role as it includes green industrial strategy, an area where Scotland has continued to fail under the SNP. If Slater is serious about turning this around then she should make her first ministerial outing a trip to the north-east of England to see how green industrial strategy should be done.

From the Tyne to the Humber, developments in renewables and electrification are coming thick and fast on England’s north-east coast. In July, start-up company Britishvolt secured planning permission to build the UK’s first ‘gigafactory’ car battery plant on the site of the former Blyth power station, north of Newcastle.