Speeches by Downie.

“What more do the Government need to do to help you do that?”

“David, I just have a very quick question to you, not to test the Chair’s patience any further. Given the issues Polly raised about how much of a conflict or war we are already in, can you imagine a scenario or would it be helpful as part of that planning to have a scenario where, as you said, in certain circumstances n…”

“Where are those models?”

“That is disappointing. I understand why you cannot dictate to them, but maybe encouraging members to be a bit more open and forthright when they are discussing with politicians would be helpful. If I can move on to talking about North sea oil production, Elizabeth, you have covered a little bit of this already when it …”

“I have a final question, Minister, about something I raised in the House this week, which was the study you commissioned GB Energy Nuclear to do around nuclear power in Scotland and its potential. The written answer that I got from you was that the study will conclude shortly. Can you elaborate on when that will be con…”

“Is that co-ordinated with the Ministry of Defence and other Departments?”

“David, just to move back to something you mentioned earlier, notwithstanding the comments you made about the importance of security from oil and gas, there is something I get asked by constituents a lot, and I would like to make sure I can give them a very clear answer. If we increased oil and gas extraction now, would…”

“And why?”

“I want to develop some of the points that Lizzi has just been talking about around defence and energy security. Dan, I am aware that you just had to answer all of that. I will come back to something with you around cyber in a second, but to David and Ana in particular, given the threats that we see from both physical a…”

“And why?”

“What would you like to see that guidance say? What should the role be of Government in that? What should that guidance say and how strong would it be? How do you assess the current threat?”

“Which Department is that?”

“No, just on the cost, sorry. Would increasing oil and gas now reduce the price of energy, or would you continue to sell, understandably, on the international market?”

“To be honest, that would be my larger concern. A large attack on one thing is easier to spot. It is much easier to assign blame, frankly, and it would have larger global consequences. Small distributed attacks may not immediately look like an attack.”

“You have just picked up the next point, actually. Maybe I will ask Dan and Ana to pick that up. I am thinking about what co-operation we need to have with allies, whether it is Norway or the Netherlands, and who pays for this. Dan, you say you have done a lot of work in this area generally, but are there things you wan…”

“It is not a criticism. It is something that is really important. We need to be clear when our constituents ask us that question so we can say, credibly, that that is the case, notwithstanding the points you made earlier. That was really helpful. Thank you.”

“I want to develop some of the points that Lizzi has just been talking about around defence and energy security. Dan, I am aware that you just had to answer all of that. I will come back to something with you around cyber in a second, but to David and Ana in particular, given the threats that we see from both physical a…”

“What would you like to see that guidance say? What should the role be of Government in that? What should that guidance say and how strong would it be? How do you assess the current threat?”

“Which Department is that?”

“Is that co-ordinated with the Ministry of Defence and other Departments?”