A SCOTTISH Labour candidate helped an energy company fight “price controls”, the Sunday National can reveal.
John Grady, the party’s candidate for Glasgow East, worked until last year as a partner at top law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn – with his profile on the company’s site boasting about his work for an electric firm.
The company successfully appealed against Ofgem price controls in 2021, in a case that was heard at the Competition and Markets Authority, according to the Shepherd and Wedderburn website.
Grady stood down as a partner at the firm in 2023, according to his profile on LinkedIn and is now listed by the company as a “consultant” as he bids to unseat SNP MP David Linden.
Alba said Grady’s work experience would see him “fit right in with Keir Starmer’s Labour Party” which would “sell out the future of Scotland’s energy sector”.
It is not known for which energy firm Grady worked when he “advised an electricity transmission licensee on its successful 2021 price control appeal against Ofgem at the Competition and Markets Authority”.
Chris McEleny (above), Alba’s general secretary, said: “It is a rather odd jump to go from working for the lawyers of Peter Murrell and the SNP to wanting to stand as a Labour candidate at the General Election.
“Scotland is an energy-rich land but our people are being robbed and many live in fuel poverty.
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“I don’t believe there is any suggestion that Mr Grady has done anything wrong but with the Labour Party wishing to sell out the future of Scotland’s energy sector, his previous skills of helping households pay higher energy costs should fit right in with Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.”
Shepherd and Wedderburn did not respond to requests for comment.
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “With John Grady, the people of Glasgow East have the chance to elect an MP who will help deliver lower energy bills, more jobs, greater energy security.
“All backed up by GB Energy – a publicly owned energy company – that will be headquartered here in Scotland.
“While the SNP, Tories and Alba turn a blind eye to rising energy bills, only Scottish Labour can deliver the change Scotland needs.”
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