Minister accused of ‘humiliating climbdown’ as Heat in Buildings Bill shelved

The Scottish Government has come under fire after ditching plans to bring forward legislation to cut climate damaging emissions from building heating systems.

Ministers had already announced earlier this year that the Heat in Buildings (Scotland) Bill would be delayed, with MSPs told then that the legislation – originally drawn up when the Scottish Greens were part of the Government – was being rewritten.

However on Tuesday, Housing Secretary Mairi McAllan told Holyrood the Government is not able to bring forward legislation ahead of next May’s Scottish election.

Instead, she published a draft Bill – pledging it will be implemented early in the next Scottish Parliament term if the SNP is back in power.

Ms McAllan blamed Westminster, insisting she needed “clarity” from the UK Government on action it is taking on domestic heating.

But opposition MSPs accused her of making a “humiliating climbdown” – with furious Greens branding the Housing Secretary’s statement a “sick joke”.

Labour’s housing spokesman Mark Griffin claimed the situation is “beyond farcical”.

He said ministers have set out “a draft of a Bill, while at the same time announcing there will be no Bill”.

Hitting out at SNP ministers, he added: “Blaming a (UK) Government that has been in post for 18 months while homeowners and industry have been waiting for clarity for five years is absolutely absurd.”

The legislation had originally been proposed by the Scottish Government to reduce emissions from heating, encouraging more people to switch to alternatives to gas and oil systems.

Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: “The SNP had already let Scotland down when they first delayed this Bill, to drop it entirely from this session is more than a disappointment.

“To blame anyone else for this decision, which is entirely of the SNP’s making, adds insult to injury.

“To do all of this, while mouthing platitudes about climate leadership, turns this statement into a sick joke.”

Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie said Ms McAllan “has got a nerve to stand here today and claim leadership on climate when she is delaying the very Bill that is supposed to be tackling this”.

He demanded: “When will the minister stop blaming everyone else and accept responsibility herself for this humiliating climbdown?”

Scottish Conservative housing spokeswoman Meghan Gallacher said it was “incredibly embarrassing day for the SNP Government”.

She added: “They have repeatedly talked up their Heat in Buildings Bill in various guises, only to have to admit this latest version won’t come to Parliament ahead of the election.”

Ms McAllan said she had been left with no option but to ditch the current plans for legislation as a result of the UK Government’s “complete failure to clarify their position”.

She told MSPs: “Scottish ministers have pressed UK ministers no fewer than on six occasions since the Warm Homes Plan was first mooted.”

This plan is expected to set out “crucial detail” about action from the Labour Government at Westminster that could “rebalance energy prices, particularly the price of electricity relative to gas” – with Ms McAllan saying this could make alternatives to current gas and oil based heating systems “more affordable to run”.

The Housing Secretary said she was “disappointed that the UK’s Warm Homes Plan has been delayed so considerably”.

But she said she could not ask MSPs to consider proposals from the Scottish Government “without a full understanding of the policy context across the UK”.

As such, she said: “There is no longer time in this parliamentary term to give full consideration to a Bill.

“I am today confirming the Scottish Government will not introduce a Heat in Buildings Bill during this parliamentary session.

“Instead I have published a draft Bill, with a statement of intent, to introduce a Bill as early as we can in the next Parliament, subject to the outcome of the 2026 election.”

Ms McAllan also stressed to MSPs the Scottish Government is “committed to decarbonising heating buildings by 2045” – the year Scotland is to reach net zero emissions under climate change legislation.

Claire Daly, head of policy and advocacy at WWF Scotland, said: “As temperatures fall and winter sets in, confirmation that the Heat in Buildings Bill is being dropped in this Parliament is a major setback for Scotland’s climate and fuel poverty ambitions.

“Without regulation, clean heat and energy efficiency progress stalls, leaving households colder, poorer, and more exposed to volatile energy prices, while the promise of thousands of green jobs here in Scotland is plunged into uncertainty.”

Becky Kenton-Lake, of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, said: “Scrapping the Heat in Buildings Bill in this parliament, which was urgently needed to help Scots to have warmer, drier homes while cutting energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions, is a disaster for householders, businesses and the climate alike.”

But Reform MSP Graham Simpson said: “The SNP has been kicking the can down the road on its promised Heat in Buildings Bill for some time now and has now run out of road.

“In typical fashion they are blaming the UK Government but the truth is that this was likely to prove too controversial just six months away from the Scottish election.”