Ryan Crighton: North-east will be forever grateful its SOS was heard

I am forever telling my four-year-old daughter that moaning will get her nowhere.

She is utterly charming 99% of the time. However, like most children, she can be challenging when she doesn’t get her way.

Failure to immediately action her (many) requests is usually met with incessant, unrelenting whinging. Like most parents, I eventually give in and, alongside a telling off for moaning, she ultimately gets what she wants.

And, like most parents, I am a hypocrite of the highest order, because I whinge all the time, occasionally through the esteemed pages of The Press & Journal.

Six months ago, I wrote a column here criticising the Scottish and UK Governments for taking an Abba approach to inward investment – “anywhere but bl**dy Aberdeen”. It was penned on the back of a series of setbacks for the north-east of Scotland which had left me questioning just how much more our two governments could punish this region.

At the time, Aberdeen and Peterhead had just lost out on a potentially lucrative freeport, the Scottish Government had put forward a presumption against future oil and gas developments, and the UK Government was plundering the North Sea with its windfall tax.

I was extremely critical of our local parliamentarians for allowing such a catalogue of snubs to befall our region, especially given that we are uniquely represented by members of the ruling parties at both Holyrood and Westminster.

In what was a moanfest of epic proportions, I called on them to step up and arrest the “damaging, job-destroying ignorance” being applied to our region.

Well, today – like all great Swedish pop groups – I’m going to change my tune. Because I need to pay tribute to those same elected representatives.

Investment zone boost will help to transform the north-east economy

Last week’s announcement that the north-east is to be one of two areas which will become £80 million investment zones is a significant economic boost – perhaps bigger than a freeport would have been. We are grateful to both the Scottish and UK Governments for recognising the need to support us as we continue to transform our regional economy.

This decision will help secure our position as one of the most attractive locations anywhere in the UK, and indeed Europe, for investment in low-carbon technologies across different sectors.

The money will be spent on targeted investments, tax reliefs and other incentives over five years, following a joint selection process by the Scottish and UK Governments – a process almost certainly influenced by the MPs and MSPs who call this region home. In our time of need, they stood up for their region, and they deserve enormous credit for doing so.

Progress has been made – let’s keep it going

There has been progress, too, on the other issues which I bemoaned in January.

The Scottish Government’s position on future North Sea oil and gas exploration appears to be shifting. From its presumption against new drilling in January, its stance now appears to be more nuanced, with Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition Màiri McAllan saying that “simply stopping all future activity is wrong”.

This is the pragmatic position to take, as I am yet to see any evidence that importing hydrocarbons from elsewhere in the world – a certain outcome if we shut down the North Sea prematurely – is any better for the environment than producing them ourselves.

Progress has also been made on reducing the impact of the windfall tax which threatens to strangle the oil and gas industry through to 2028, despite energy prices falling back towards more historic norms.

We joined the industry in calling for a price floor mechanism to be added to the levy to protect investment. That trigger price is now in place – but there is work still to do on getting the finer details right.

This stuff doesn’t happen by accident, and the Chamber, as part of a strong regional economic partnership which spans the public and private sectors, is working tirelessly to ensure that our region is heard by policymakers.

And, when things don’t go our way – as is occasionally the case – then you can count on us to let them know. As Abba almost said… the whinger takes it all.

Ryan Crighton is policy director at Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce