SNP demands £5.1bn for Acorn carbon capture

Britain / 4 November 2026 Stop insuring Papua New Guinea ‘carbon bomb,’ climate activists demand outside summit 4 November 2026 Justice System / 4 November 2026 25 arrested outside Supreme Court as Palestine Action ban appeal begins 4 November 2026 Justice System / 4 November 2026 Woman ‘deeply disappointed’ by court taking no further action against MI5 for false evidence 4 November 2026 Cost-of-Living Crisis / 4 November 2026 Time to act on energy profits, Labour told 4 November 2026 Britain / 4 November 2026 Menopause can have ‘huge’ impact on women’s pension savings, research suggests 4 November 2026 Britain / 4 November 2026 Miliband blames Blair for anger over slavery 4 November 2026 THE SNP has demanded the Treasury’s total £5.1 billion oil and gas receipts for the next year be ploughed into the Acorn carbon capture project.

The call came after a commitment at last year’s spending review pledged £200 million in grant funding for the Aberdeenshire project only for it to be scaled back at last week’s budget to the £12m already awarded and the remaining cash to come from government loans and equity stakes.

The SNP government has so far put £2m into Acorn and branded the move from handouts to loans and equity stakes in the private-sector project a “betrayal.”

Now SNP’s Westminster leader Dave Doogan has demanded that the £5.1bn North Sea tax receipts for this year be thrown at the scheme.

He said: “Every single penny from our oil and gas should be invested in Scotland and the starting point is the Acorn site in Peterhead.

“Westminster has robbed our trillion-pound future from us and this week they repeated the trick — £5bn syphoned off for investments in England while taking a sledgehammer to Scotland’s industrial future.

“This is a simple injustice known all too well to Scots — our energy robbed, hidden and squandered by Westminster while Scottish jobs are ruined while our energy bills go through the roof.”

The UK government responded: “Acorn will continue to receive its existing grant funding until the end of the year. 

“Future support will be through loans or equity stakes that need to see the taxpayer receive a return.

“An equity style investment would also allow for a closer partnership between the government and Acorn, allowing us to drive a better outcome for taxpayers and the project.”

Friends of the Earth Scotland’s head of campaigns Caroline Rance said: “Carbon capture has failed everywhere it has been tried at scale and the Acorn project is in serious trouble. Acorn has not stored a gram of carbon and is scrambling around looking for a new investor.  

“No amount of public money can make this pig fly. This fantasy should never have been peddled to oil workers, who instead need a credible plan for support and retraining that can move them into truly green jobs.”  

“The UK Government should not be giving this project a penny when one of its main stakeholders is posting obscene profits. Oil giant Shell is making billions whilst destroying our climate and the public is on the hook for this greenwashing scheme. It would take Shell 54 hours to earn the £200million the public has to cough up for Acorn.  

“The choice for Ministers is to continue burning expensive, dangerous fossil fuels or to embrace renewables that can bring down bills, improve lives and deliver wider public benefits.”

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