Politics of energy and the Windfall Tax 

True North’s Eilidh Whiteford shares her key takeaways from the King’s Speech this afternoon and highlights everything you need to know about the 39 new Bills announced. The majority of MPs who crowded into the House of Lords’ lobby this morning to listen to the King’s Speech are new to parliament and could probably be forgiven for feeling a bit bemused by the arcane pageantry on display. However, the 39 new Bills announced will be keeping them extremely busy over the coming months.

The dust has settled on the general election and, following a disciplined and professionally executed campaign, voters overwhelmingly opted for the “change” Labour offered. The party corralled its pitch around five “missions”, the most hotly debated of which was the pledge to make Britain a clean energy superpower. To ensure this mission is accomplished, Sir Keir Starmer said his government will establish GB Energy, a state-backed energy company, here in Scotland.

As the General Election campaign moves into its closing stages, observers could be forgiven for stifling a yawn. After their most accident-prone campaign in living memory, the Tories are now circling the electoral plughole and will probably be relieved when it’s all over. Labour are on the home straight with success all but inevitable, a win of historic proportions on the cards, but their campaign too has been fairly muted, even dull, missing much sense of the hope and optimism that accompanied their victory in 1997. It doesn’t matter too much – a win’s a win – and in fact, modest expectations will probably work to their advantage once they have taken their places on the Government benches in the House of Commons.