10m trees to go to waste costing £4.5m after budget cuts, industry body says
short of next year’s target of 18,000 hectares of new woodland to tackle climate change. Rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon said earlier this year theremainingfundingwillcreate about half of that – just over 9,000ha of new woodland.
Mr Goodall said: “In January, Confor asked its nursery members for an estimate on the plants that could be destroyed if Scotland only managed to create 9,000 ha of new woodlandin2024/25.thefigurethey came up with was a potential drop in demand of 9.5 million plants next year, valued conservatively at £4.5m.”
Scottish Conservative MSP Edward Mountain, who is also convener of the Scottish Parliament’s net zero, energy and transport committee, has called on ministers to urgently reconsider their funding decision.
“The decision by the Scottish
Government to cut this budget isn’t just regressive in terms of climate change, it’s wasteful too,” the Highlands and Islands MSP said.
“We’re not talking here about trees that will never be planted. These are trees which have been in the ground for up to three years, but will now be chucked on the scrapheap.
“It’s hugely depressing and typical of this Scottish Government, which talks passionately about climate change measures but has no intention of doing anything positive to address it.
“Ministers need to urgently reconsider this funding decision and meet with people in the industry to discuss saving these trees.”
In the past six years, apart from 2018/19, Scotland has failed to reach its tree planting targets.
Ms Gougeon had previously said the “worst-case Autumn Statement” had forced Scottish ministers to make the cuts to forestry, which is a devolved area. She said she had since written to the UK Treasury ahead of its Spring Budget “to press them to rethink their cuts to forestry and the rural portfolio that are vital to Scotland’s communities”.
“I know how important our forest nurseries are and their role to provide Scotland with enough trees,” she said.
“I am keen that we explore how we might support them and Scottish Forestry will continue to meet with the forestry andnurserysectortoensurewe make the most of the resources available.”
The Scottish Government said the budget proposed for creating new woodlands for Scottish Forestry is now £39.2m in 2024/25, a reduction of £30m on the previous year.
A second founding member of the Alba party has resigned over a row on gender recognition.
Denise Findlay, who was theparty’sorganisationconvener until October last year, has left the party only a day after Alba’s equalities convener Eva Comrie resigned.
The pair said they had “fundamental disagreements”withthewayyvonne Ridley, the party’s women’s convener, described Alba’s policy on gender reform.
Ms Ridley had posted on X to say: “A trans woman is a woman assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria.”
Ms Ridley has since deletedthepostandsteppedback from her role within the party, saying she “made a mistake” and blamed it on a “senior moment”.
On Monday, Ms Findlay announced her resignation from Alba.
Ms Comrie accused Ms Ridley of being a “fraud”, saying: “[I remain] wholeheartedly committed to the policy of independence. I cannot surrender 40 years of professional work as a lawyer, and years politically representing and protecting women and their families on women’s rights.”
Partyleaderalexsalmond has since written to members to say he regretted Ms Findlay and Ms Comrie’s resignations, and emphasised Ms Ridley’s comments were not party policy.
The party, created in 2021, was against the proposed gender reforms put forward by the Scottish Parliament in 2022, which aimed to make it easier for a trans person to legally change their gender.
The party says it believes women have the right to maintain sex-based protections set out in the Equality Act 2010.
MSP Ash Regan, who defected from the SNP last year and is now Alba’s sole parliamentarian in Holyrood, has stepped up as the party’s women’s convener.
A sword found on the battlefield at Culloden is expected to fetch hundreds of pounds at auction in Edinburgh this month.
The 18th-century basket hilted broadsword was recovered from Culloden Moor, near Inverness, where Bonnie Prince Charlie's army was routed by Government troops on April 16, 1746.
Theclansman'ssword,which shows armourer's marks on the 87cm long tapering double-edged blade, has remained in the same Scottish collection for over a century.
It will go under the hammer at Bonhams auctioneers in Edinburgh in an online sale running from Monday until
March 21. The rare object is expected to attract international interest due to the allure of Bonnie Prince Charlie and his romantic, but illfated campaign to return the Stuart monarchy to the throne. Although rusted, experts say it could fetch considerably more than its £500 to £800 estimate.
Kenneth Naples, of Bonhams, said: "This 18th-century basket hilted broadsword is of a type that would have been carried into battle by Jacobites at Culloden.
"It is said to have been recovered from the battlefield and later became part of a collection of items relating to Scottish history. It has remained in the same family for many years.
"This broadsword was made to be used in battle and is said to have been present at Culloden, which was a key moment in Scotland's history.
"There is strong international interest in items connected to the Jacobite risings and the Battle of Culloden in particular, not only in the UK, but in America, Canada and wherever there are Scots in the world. I would not be surprised to see it exceed its estimate."
The Battle of Culloden was the final engagement of the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Forces loyal to the "Young Pretender" Charles Edward Stuart, were crushed by a British Government army under the Duke of Cumberland in less than an hour.
Culloden was the last pitched battle fought on British soil and marked the end of any serious attempt to restore the house of Stuart to the throne.
Around 1,300 men were slain – about 1,250 of them Jacobites – in the battle.
The 18th-century basket-hilted broadsword has an estimate of £500-800 from Bonhams. it has remained in the same Scottish collection for over a century