Scots are being swindled by UK energy policy. A fairer system that would have made electricity cheaper in Scotland - zonal pricing - could have fixed that. And it could have boosted Scotland’s economy - where businesses are constrained by having to pay the highest energy bills in the world. But the UK government has just ruled it out.

The UK energy secretary Ed Milliband eventually decided it was too politically difficult to make energy cheaper in Scotland, where more than a quarter of all the UK’s renewable energy is produced, than in London and the south of England.

The UK government's decision means that Scotland will continue to pay more so that England can pay less.

We effectively already have a system of zonal pricing; one where most Scots homes and businesses pay far more than those in England. That is despite the fact that Scotland is a net exporter of electricity.

There is no independent country anywhere in the world which is in a similar situation to Scotland.