John Swinney will make a speech in Leith on Tuesday morning to launch a major new campaign on energy bills.
The SNP leader is to demand that the UK Government cuts fuel prices while there is an energy crisis due to the conflict in the Middle East.
He will say that Keir Starmer’s refusal to act in the face of a national crisis shows a Prime Minister “asleep at the wheel, letting the people of Scotland down”.
The SNP has set out immediate actions that the UK Government should take, including immediately scrapping the planned fuel duty increase and removing VAT from fuel duty for the duration of the crisis.
Mr Swinney said: “Scotland is an energy superpower, but as part of the UK we are facing soaring costs every time we fill up our cars. Whether Labour like it or not, their failures on energy will be the defining issue of this election campaign.
“While other governments across Europe have taken swift and decisive action, Keir Starmer has done nothing – he is like a rabbit in the headlights and it is the people of Scotland who are paying the price.
“Every time people in Scotland go to the petrol pumps, they are seeing first-hand the consequences of a deeply incompetent Labour Prime Minister who is asleep at the wheel and refusing to act.
“Labour simply cannot be trusted with Scotland’s energy wealth. Westminster control means we pay some of the highest energy bills in Europe, face soaring petrol prices while jobs in our energy sector are lost.
“With the fresh start of independence, Scotland’s vast energy wealth will work for the people of Scotland and be used to bring down bills – that is what the SNP is offering at this election.
“And our message to the UK Labour Government in the face of the energy crisis is clear – cut fuel prices now.”
