Fools! Trump rages at Scots after losing court fight to halt wind farm
Donald Trump accused Scotland of having a ‘foolish, small-minded and parochial mentality’ yesterday after losing a legal battle over a wind farm near his Scottish golf course.
The US presidential hopeful said history would judge the Scottish authorities harshly over their ‘extremely unfortunate’ decision.
The outburst followed the Supreme Court in london approving the building of the offshore wind farm near the tycoon’s resort in aberdeenshire.
His ‘unacceptable’ comments were met with derision in Scotland and by the golfing world, with former first minister alex Salmond saying Mr Trump was ‘three-times a loser’ who may have cost Scotland £100million – as it was now unlikely the open would be played at Turnberry, another of Mr Trump’s Scottish courses.
The american’s spokesman said Mr Salmond was a ‘has-been and totally irrelevant’, adding: ‘Does anyone care what this man thinks?’
Mr Trump had been fighting the decision to grant planning permission for 11 turbines about two miles from the £100million Trump International Golf links resort at the Menie Estate in Balmedie.
Scottish ministers had approved the European offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EoWDC) in 2013, saying the £200million scheme would provide jobs and power. But Mr Trump – who has spoken proudly of being half- Scottish – fought them all the way through the Scottish courts, eventually taking his case to the Supreme Court.
Yesterday a spokesman for the Trump organisation said: ‘This is an extremely unfortunate verdict for the residents of aberdeen and
A parochial and foolish mentality dominates the Scottish government’s dangerous experiment with wind energy Trump spokesman yesterday
‘Has-been and totally irrelevant’
anyone who cares about Scotland’s economic future.
‘The EoWDC will completely destroy the bucolic aberdeen Bay and cast a terrible shadow upon the future of tourism for the area.
‘History will judge those involved unfavourably and the outcome demonstrates the foolish, small- minded and parochial mentality which dominates the current Scottish government’s dangerous experiment with wind energy.’
Though all legal avenues in Britain are now exhausted, the spokesman hinted at taking the case to Europe, and said they would ‘continue to fight this proposal on every possible front’.
last night WWF Scotland director lang Banks said: ‘This result is great news for Scotland and for all those interested in tackling climate change and creating jobs.
‘Having failed in his attempt to undermine Scotland’s renewables ambitions, it’s now time for Mr Trump to move on.’
andy Paine, of aberdeen offshore Wind Farm ltd, said the wind farm had the potential to turn Scotland into a ‘centre of innovative offshore wind power’. The golfing elite have previously reacted with horror to the comments Mr Trump has made on his campaign trail – including a call for Muslims to be banned from entering the US.
last night Sandy Jones, the chief executive of the Professional Golfers association, said: ‘ Sadly [Trump’s] political campaign in america seems to be getting in the way of all the great things golf offers. The controversy is not a positive thing for golf’.
Mr Trump clashed with his rivals in the last Republican candidate debate, with Jeb Bush dubbing him a ‘chaos candidate’ who would be a ‘chaos president’. Tuesday’s las Vegas debate was supposed to be about national security and IS, but Mr Trump – who remains the frontrunner among Republican voters – quickly became a target for the other candidates.