‘It’s Scotland’s energy’: SNP to focus on renewables in Holyrood election

‘We may have missed out on the full benefit of our oil and gas bonanza, but with our vast, low-cost renewable energy resource, Scotland has a second chance to get it right,’ Swinney said. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

The future of Scottish renewables will underpin the Scottish National party’s Holyrood election campaign, the party leader, John Swinney, has said, as he claimed independence could cut household energy bills by a third in the long term.

At what was billed as the first campaign event before next May’s elections to the Scottish parliament, Swinney declared: “It’s Scotland’s energy” – mirroring the famous 1970s slogan “It’s Scotland’s oil”, which bolstered the SNP’s first Westminster breakthrough.