Responding to the Scottish Government’s decision to drop their Heat in Buildings Bill, Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston said:
“Communities across the Highlands and Islands will welcome this latest U-turn by the SNP.
“This Green-inspired legislation threatened another ban on wood-burning stoves and other essential secondary heating systems in rural and island communities where this kind of heating is not a luxury, it’s often the only form of heating keeping homes warm when the power goes out.
“Remote and island communities already face unreliable electricity supplies, particularly when the weather is bad, and having a wood-stove or other direct emission heating system can be a lifesaver, especially for those who live in some of the most remote parts of the UK.
“Campaigns like the one I led to force the SNP to U-turn the last time they threatened to ban wood-burning stoves shouldn’t have to happen. But time and time again SNP ministers in Edinburgh seem desperate to prove to communities across my region that they simply don’t understand, or don’t care, about the challenges those communities face.
“Even in less remote or urban areas of the region, forcing homeowners into making costly and often complicated improvements to their heating systems is impractical, piling the burden for the SNP’s net-zero targets onto the average homeowner.
“Thankfully - as in the case of the DRS, HPMAs and the National Care Bill - another piece of badly thought-out SNP legislation has been dropped. But as is so often the case, it shouldn’t have got this far in the first place”.
