Estate owners’ fears over SNP bid for ‘radical’ land reform Bill

THE Nationalist MSP in charge of scrutinising land reform has promised to make the Bill ‘as radical as humanly possible’.

The blog by Rob Gibson, convener of the rural affairs committee, has infuriated landowners.

After putting out a call for evidence, Mr Gibson attacked ‘ hyperactive’ landowners for daring to speak up on the issue.

The Scottish Government suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of SNP members last year, who warned i ts Land Reform Bill was not radical enough. Among other changes, they wanted an absolute right to buy land for tenant farmers.

The Bill is now at stage two, where it i s scrutinised by committee and subject to possible change.

With an election months away, Mr Gibson was keen to l et members know he is every bit as radical as they are. On the Commonspace website, he wrote: ‘I read the press and pressure group comments about how amending the Land Reform Bill is down to hardy campaigners.

‘Yes, but many of these operate inside Holyrood and indeed inside the RACCE (Rural Affairs, Cli- mate Change and Environment) committee charged with the Bill’s scrutiny and development.

‘You would think that the oft repeated tale of grassroots SNP members demanding a more radical Land Reform Bill was like a cattle prod to the Scottish Government. In fact, the quiet work of dialogue and debate i nside t he parliament has f ocused minds on ways to enhance the original proposals.’

The Caithness, Sutherland and Ross MSP added: ‘I believe the Scottish parliament will see this Bill gets to be as sustainably radical as humanly possible.’

Landowners have been praised for engaging constructively with the Bill, despite some of the proposed measures, such as an end to tax breaks for shooting estates, expected to cost them millions of pounds and put rural jobs at risk.

But Mr Gibson was less than keen to hear their views, saying: ‘The landowners and their organ- isations have been hyperactive. I have never heard from so many lords, earls and dukes in my life.’

He said they seemed more i nterested in ‘ maximising i ncome’ t han ‘ f eeding t he nation’.

David Johnstone, chairman of Scottish Land and Estates, which represents those who own land and rural businesses, said: ‘I would like to think the convener is there with an open mind to persuasion and information.

‘If you want to make changes, they have to be based on hard evidence, but he is saying we will do something whatever the impact may be. It does give the impression some people on the committee have made up their mind before they’ve started.

‘We’re going to try very hard to get change but we’re aware of the methods and politics being used, so it’s very, very difficult.’

Mr Gibson signed off his piece by saying he wrote as an individual, but was ‘ conscious’ of his role as committee convener.

An SNP spokesman said: ‘Unlike the position of presiding officer, committee conveners are active participants in the proceedings of their committees and are as entitled as any other member to express t heir personal opinion.’

‘Persuasion and information’