What is the First Minister’s response to the GMB union’s call for the Scottish Government to end its opposition to nuclear energy? The union has warned of a risk of this nation

“returning to the days of power cuts and candles”,

with

“hundreds of skilled Scots ... already leaving to go abroad”

because of this decline.

I respect the fact that people have a different opinion from me, but I am not a fan of the nuclear industry and I do not support investment in nuclear power plants. I never have and I never will. The country should focus on creating clean, green, renewable energy resources.

We have a formidable track record of investment in Scotland and a formidable record of transformation in the generation of electricity in our country. What would help us is reform of the electricity market in the United Kingdom, which might result in people living in the areas that generate the electricity not having to pay exorbitant energy costs, which is the current procedure in the UK energy market. That might be something that Mr Whitfield could take up with his colleagues, should they be in a position to influence those issues on 5 July and later.