Insights & news.

The Westminster rumour mill starting whirling furiously earlier in the day, with Senior Cabinet members pulling out of scheduled media interviews left, right and centre and Foreign Secretary David Cameron summoned home from Albania for talks this afternoon at Number 10. The SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn sought to nail down the Tory leader on the question at PMQs at lunchtime and Sunak’s answer was as revealing as it was cryptic. On the steps of Downing Street, in the rain, just after 5pm, Rishi Sunak put speculation to bed and pulled the trigger...

Senior businesswomen from across the region gathered in Aberdeen to share their experiences of the menopause and hear expert advice from two guest speakers. Organised by Aileen Easton, Chief Corporate Affairs Advisor at True North Advisors and Shona Macaskill of Gary Walker Wealth Management, the “M-Word” event was the first in a series planned for the North East during 2024. The audience which gathered in W-Zero-1, in Aberdeen’s Energy Transition Zone, heard from Nicola Williams, a menopause counsellor based in Kemnay, and Kim Woolner, a holistic HR consultant from Peterhead...

Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack MP in Aberdeen for a packed programme of engagement with the energy sector. He visited Port of Aberdeen‘s new £420 million South Harbour, before an update from our client ETZ Ltd CEO Maggie McGinlay on progress with the development of the Energy Transition Zone and presentations from three exciting and innovative companies based there who are driving really exciting developments in net zero...

The First Minister officially opened the world’s first National Floating Wind Innovation Centre in the Energy Transition Zone, Aberdeen on Monday. ORE Catapult’s £9 million centre - delivered in collaboration with ETZ Limited, a True North client - is designed to help supercharge the development of floating offshore wind technology in the UK, with funding from both the Scottish Government and Innovate UK. This represents a huge step forward in Scotland’s ambition to be a global leader in the commercialisation of floating wind, harnessing the strength of our existing energy sector and supply chain...

Geoff co-hosted a special live recording of the Holyrood Sources podcast in front of a 400-strong crowd at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, marking 25 years of devolution. The audience heard from three former First Ministers – Henry McLeish, Jack McConnell and Alex Salmond – politicians past and present, senior advisors and journalists who have witnessed all the key events from the first quarter century of the Scottish Parliament. The podcast is available from holyroodsources.com..

Our Managing Partner Fergus Mutch spoke to the Financial Times Weekend for this article on the politics of energy and windfall taxes. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt used his Budget last week to extend the Energy Profits Levy by a year, in spite of opposition from his Scottish colleagues. Does this now open the door for the SNP to regain the ground it has lost with industry over its presumption against new oil and gas? “There’s a genuinely ripe constituency for the picking,” Fergus said, “if a party is willing to say: ‘max out domestic production while we still need oil and gas, sustain the jobs that depend on it, and target the revenues generated on the transition’.”..

Industry, policy and academic experts from the leading global energy cities of the UK, Norway, Canada and Australia will gather in Aberdeen in May to discuss the energy transition.    Organised by the University of Aberdeen Business School the free to attend half day event at King’s College Conference Centre on May 21 will focus on the regulation, funding and finance of the move towards sustainable energy sources.    The conference will be chaired by Dr Eilidh Whiteford, senior advisor at True North, with a great lineup of keynote speakers and panellists including Stuart Payne CBE and Maggie McGinlay...

You’ve got to admire Jeremy Hunt’s chutzpah. The Chancellor delivered what is probably the last major financial statement before the General Election to a packed Commons Chamber yesterday afternoon. Listening to him, you would never guess that the UK is technically still in recession, clambering out of negative growth after over two years of stagnant economic performance. It is not an enviable record, but Hunt gave a brazen performance, cheered on by the Tory backbenchers in marginal seats he was eager to namecheck as he announced sweeteners across a range of sectors and regions.,,

A busy few days at Scottish Labour party conference...