theo leggett, thank you.tland is well underway, after nicola sturgeon's surprise resignation. the scottish national party's executive committee will meet today to draw up a timetable for the leadership race. ms sturgeon, who's scotland's longest serving first minister, says she'll remain in office until a successor is found. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordon has the very latest. who will be scotland's next first minister? the country has had five since the advent of this devolved scottish parliament more than 20 years ago, but who will be the sixth after the unexpected announcement from nicola sturgeon that she is going? i think over the past couple of years there have been many moments when i thought that maybe she will go, particularly after the pandemic, or after an election where there is maybe a natural break. i expected maybe there to be more of a succession plan in place. she is leaving the door wide open. nicola sturgeon was unopposed when she took over from alex salmond, but her successor is li

let's talk to our business correspondent theo leggett. theo leggett. part of the business i these which part of the business have these profits really come from? element for a start, very little has actually come from british gas, the retail bit of the business. that sells as retail bit of the business. that sells gas to — retail bit of the business. that sells gas to people _ retail bit of the business. that sells gas to people like - retail bit of the business. twat sells gas to people like you and me. that contributed £72 million but was well down on 2021. where most of this money has come from is what is called the upstream part of the business, extracting oil and gas out in the north sea, for example and then trading on international markets. that's been very lucrative because the price of crude oil shot up because the price of crude oil shot up in the wake of the war in ukraine getting under way. the price of gas on wholesale markets has also shot up on wholesale markets has also shot up and even though centrica also generates elect

here's our business correspondent, theo leggett. net zero means hydrogen and solar...nergies of the future, but right now it's making bumper profits because of high oil and gas prices. they soared last year after the invasion of ukraine and the company, which owns british gas, is reaping huge benefits. last year, it made £35 billion — that's more than three times its profit from 2021. it also paid £1 billion in tax. like other energy companies, it has come underfire for making big profits at a time when many consumers are struggling to pay their bills, and that's despite the government's decision to extend the energy profits levy — a special tax on energy businesses that was expanded last month. i don't think centrica is profiteering. it has to be remembered that, particularly with upstream gas and oil extraction, it's a very difficult and challenge activity which is already pretty highly taxed in this country. british gas, which supplies energy to households and businesses, accounts for only a fraction of centrica's profits. the parent company isn't allowed to sell en

let's get more on this with our business correspondent, theo leggett. why is this happening?produce we consume, it's too cold, some is grown in greenhouses but there is a problem for a start because energy prices have been very high. they have delayed planting in greenhouses so they don't have to use as much heating. but the biggest problem is when we are not buying stuff from the uk, we buy a lot from southern spain. in southern spain there has been a spate of cold weather which has reduced crop yields and delayed them as well. when there are problems in southern spain, importers tend to buy from morocco, but morocco has experienced storms and flooding which has affected crops and also ferries have been cancelled or delayed which has made it difficult to get that produce back to northern europe. we also get produce from large greenhouses in the netherlands which tends to grow a lot of projects over the winter and they've been affected by high energy costs which have spent prices —— which have sent prices shooting upwards and limited the amount coming onto the market because

our business correspondent theo leggett tells us more about the record profits of energy companies. companies producing record profits at the moment. we heard from bp and shell last week, much the same picture. that led to renewed calls for windfall taxes to be increased. the uk does have a windfall tax, the energy profits levy, and from the 1st of january, that is 35%, applicable to profits generated in this country, but some environmental groups, some opposition politicians say that is simply not enough with the size of these profits, basically unearned, the result of the oil and gas prices going up, a feeling that perhaps these companies should be paying more and we are likely to see renewed calls for that to happen. simon francis from end fuel poverty coalition spoke to us earlier. he said the energy market is broken and hurting the most vulnerable. these profits are being made off the back of people who are vulnerable, off the elderly and families with young children, disabled, people with long—term health conditions, who have been condemned to live in cold and damp homes this