Scotland Secretary Douglas Alexander today said it was never the intention of the Labour government to create 1,000 jobs at the headquarters of GB Energy in Aberdeen.

He also told MPs that the First Minister’s claim that the UK government was not focused on Scotch whisky tariffs was “not true” and “stretches credulity”.

He rejected John Swinney’s call for a majority of SNP MSPs being elected in next May’s elections to be regarded as a mandate for another independence referendum.

During a feisty exchange at a meeting of the Scottish Affairs Committee, SNP MP Dave Doogan asked the Scotland Secretary when the government would deliver on a “promise” that GB Energy would create “many jobs” in Aberdeen.

“We were also told that energy bills would come down by £300.. that has not happened and the jobs in GB Energy have not happened either,” he said, asking how long Scotland would have to wait.

Mr Alexander replied: “We promised to set up a publicly-owned energy company and our government has done it. The work is getting under way.

“The intention was never to create jobs for a thousand civil servants working in a large office in Aberdeen.

“The opportunity, the potential to be harnessed, was to ensure that both in Aberdeen and indeed across the north east and Scotland and the UK we use £8.5bn of taxpayers’s money both to build the supply chain, to secure strategic investment for the taxpayer and deliver economic security.”

He added: “The ambition was never to judge the effectiveness of UK government spending by – with respect to civil servants – the number of civil servants we employ or the number of bureaucrats. The opportunity was to scale hundreds, indeed thousands of jobs across the country as part of the transition.”

Mr Alexander’s reply contradicted the response from GB Energy chair Juergen Maier to former committee member Stephen Flynn on 8 October 2024 when he told MPs: “It will be in the hundreds; it may eventually be 1,000 or more in the HQ.”

Mr Maier, however, later backtracked on his comments and said he was “puzzled” by continuing speculation that 1,000 jobs would be created at the HQ. He said the plan was to maintain a “lean” operation that would be focused on creating thousands of jobs across the industry.

In an interview in March this year Mr Maier said:  “You actually want your HQ organisation to be as lean and innovative and smart as possible, and you want to create as many jobs as possible in the Port of Nigg, or in Fraserburgh, or in the Port of Aberdeen, or in the various projects and supply chains.”

At today’s hearing, Mr Alexander said the energy strategy embraced both the transition and security.

“In relation to energy prices..and the ability to see bills come down it is to have a better transition,” he said.

On the whisky tariff negotiations, Mr Alexander quoted from a Daily Business article that Mr Swinney had taken up the case in April because the UK government was not featuring Scotch whisky in its demands for lower tariffs.

Mr Alexander said: “Scotland is ill-served by misinformation” in relation to how the UK government is engaging.

He added that Mr Swinney’s accusation “stretches credulity” when within three months of those tariffs being announced, the UK government had signed a “landmark” deal with India.

He said: “The First Minister is entitled to promote Scottish exports and I actively welcome that. But Donald Trump does not do gifts, he does deals, and the counter party in these deals in the UK government.

“While the First Minister had his picture taken with Donald Trump and said he offered a zero-zero deal, it did not deliver a result. What will deliver is quiet diligent work to get a whisky deal over the line.”

Asked by Mr Doogan about the First Minister’s demands for an independence referendum, Mr Alexander insisted that the 2014 vote had determined the will of the Scottish people and he accused the SNP of not being willing to run an election campaign based on its record.

“It is my judgement that this is a smokescreen,” he said. “The mandate on which we were elected is that we are not countenancing a break-up of the UK.”

He added: “I believe in two parliaments and two governments. I am a committed devolutionist.”

Mr Doogan asked him: “Are you ignoring the manifest appetite for independence?

Mr Alexander replied: “Polling for independence is significantly lower than for other issues.”