Readers' Letters: Why is scandal of constraint payments being ignored?

I refer to Alison Campsie’s article “Absentee Scottish Highland landlords criticised for 'cashing in' as giant wind farm looms”(11 February).

Why is nobody reporting on the great green energy swindle of constraint payments? The practice of paying energy companies government subsidies when turbines are idle. This issue affects every tax and bill payer in the country and is the cause of the tsunami of applications for windfarms and battery storage facilities including Energie Kontor’s proposed Ballach Wind Farm development.

Constraint payments for the Viking project in Shetland were £2.5 million in the first month of operation; multiply that by the hundreds of planning applications made by greedy multinationals now gaining a foothold throughout Scotland. I have yet to see in the press a report on the true scale of these developments or the real cost to the taxpayer.

As oil and gas supplies dwindle and the fight against climate change becomes urgent, more and more wind farms are being allowed by government (Picture: William Edwards/ AFP)

In the Highlands we are currently seeing a barrage of applications which allow energy companies to stockpile at peak production times while claiming subsidies when idle, effectively being paid twice. The claim of cheaper bills is a lie. Our landscape, wildlife, agriculture, homes and businesses are being sacrificed to this gravy train of corporate greed with no long-term benefit and no energy security. Communities and local councils are being ignored and legislative checks and balances discarded.

The true scale of government constraint payments needs to be investigated and exposed for the national scandal it is. As Thames Water clearly shows, there is zero accountability, higher bills and environmental disaster when vital resources are put in the hands of corporations.

Georgina Coburn, Beauly, Highland

Save the money

Excellent letter from John Heathcote regarding the way in which our beautiful landscape is being potentially sacrificed and smothered by the proliferation, seemingly willy nilly, of forests of wind turbines, never mind the future possibility of fields of solar panels (11 February).

One wonders how concerned VisitScotland might be and how much of a challenge they may face in future in securing enough “unpolluted” images in continuing to sell Scotland as the must visit unspoilt destination! Such is all on the back of blinkered policies to “go green” and by an almost seemingly randomly chosen date of 2030, or it is it now 2035. I, like John Heathcote, agree with the need to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels but please, please get the balance right. Scotland being net zero is not going to save the planet – and has the potential to bankrupt us.

James C Orr, Pathhead, Midlothian

Glorious past

The Conservative Party was the historic centre of British public life from 1950 to 2015, and has degraded and declined ever since. Americans enviously labelled Conservative governments patrician socialists in the 1950s. Sir John Major helped make Europe a fortress of stability and security in the 1990s.

Whoever so much as touches the so-called Reform Party defiles themselves with lies, hatred, and outright fascism.

Tim Cox, Bern 6, Switzerland

No confidence?

After the complete debacle of Brexit, is Nigel Farage so lacking in confidence in England to go it alone as an independent country that he still feels the need to maintain the pretence that Reform UK is a British nationalist, not an English non-civic nationalist, “party”?

Surely Farage’s planned foray into Scottish politics is evidence of his desire to retain direct access to Scotland’s resources for the future benefit of England’s economy. Brexit Britain is broken and needs constitutional reform, not Reform UK, and politicians who spout the need for more honesty in politics should openly admit that “The Union” is no longer fit for purpose, democratically, economically or socially.

Scotland should not be prevented from having a direct relationship with the European Union, at least at the level of that enjoyed by Northern Ireland, and given the utter turmoil of the last decade the people of Scotland should at the very least be allowed to decide, via the Scottish Parliament, whether or not now is the time to realise an independent future.

Stan Grodynski, Longniddry, East Lothian

Out of touch

The Church of England has a nerve. With the resignation of Justin Welby over his failure to deal with child abuse, it has held discussions on future safeguarding. In voting for option 3, a still not fully independent new measure, they have opted again to “keep it in the family”. Survivors have described this as a “punch in the gut”. Their shocking record on child abuse, plummeting attendance figures and increasingly out of touch moral views means it’s an absurdity that they enjoy a raft of privileges, including sitting in government.

Fortunately the solution is obvious: disestablish them and make them obey the law that applies to all.

Neil Barber, Edinburgh Secular Society

A game of tax

So we are to have a tourist tax in Edinburgh. The ruling group are rubbing their hands at the prospect of £50 million extra to spend.

Once more they have not thought in advance of the overhead costs of this new tax The costs will have to include £8 million to the taxman in VAT. Then the set-up cost of a new department to administer the tax and maintain a register of liable establishments. Then the requirement for a team of tourist tax inspectors to police all the hundreds of B&B establishments in the city to ensure they collect and submit the tax collected. I think that the £50m expected could be reduced to a much lower figure, say £5m.

Alastair Paisley, Juniper Green, Edinburgh

Holding back

The Scotsman editorial (12 February) explains that one reason for the SNP's reluctance to abandon council tax and replace it with, say, land value tax (LVT) is that, desirable as it is, such a step needs to be offered as an inducement for independence; any improvement now would undermine that inducement. Understandable but despicable (“we could improve things but only if we get independence”). I would rather vote for a Unionist party that offered LVT, but there doesn't seem to be one (it used to be Green Party policy).

In fact, at 19 per cent council tax is a minor component of local council funding; most (66 per cent) comes from Scottish Government Grant.

Steuart Campbell, Edinburgh

Empty promises

So we're told by Shona Robison that the SNP is planning consultation on council tax reform – though with no change implemented before the 2026 election – after we learn that half of Scottish homes are in the “wrong” council tax band. Really? The SNP pledged a complete overhaul of Scotland's local levy system in 2007, and absolutely nothing has happened yet. Don't hold your breath, voters!

Martin Redfern, Melrose, Roxburghshire

Lead from front

On Tuesday we heard more from Principal of the University of Edinburgh Sir Peter Mathieson, warning of impending cuts. People in these roles are paid handsomely for their superior management skills so how come they are in this mess?

National Insurance increases cannot take all the blame. Perhaps he could start the ball rolling by taking a significant cut to his obscene remuneration package? Maybe even show true leadership and work pro bono for a while? Does he really need all that money?

Derek Sharp, Edinburgh

Art of nothing

So the greatest “negotiator” and author of The Art of the Deal starts off by conceding in public (ie caving in) on three major points – the “sovereign” nation of Ukraine must permanently lose about 20 per cent of its territory to the invader without reference to the wishes of its population, it cannot benefit from the Nato umbrella, and despite being the strongest global power the USA will not contribute to the peacekeeping forces necessary to prevent any further invasion – so the assurances on Ukraine’s security and borders integrity, made in 1994 in the Budapest Memorandum signed by both the USA and Russia (with the UK), are consigned to the dustbin ten years after Russia’s first breach.

Let us hope that from now on Donald Trump’s agreements with authoritarian dictatorships are rather more robust in punishing the aggressor and supporting not only “peace” but peace with justice.

John Birkett, St Andrews, Fife

Education debacle

We have lost more than 250 schools under the wing of the SNP. That is staggering enough, but across the country our kids are achieving lower exam scores than ever before recorded and we are tumbling down the international tables in Maths and English.

This beyond bad information lets us know everything we need to know. The only things that seem to have gone up under the nationalists are numbers of pretend embassies, foreign junkets for the SNP's boys and girls, limo trips for SNP ministers to watch their favourite football team, taxes, cost of new ferries, ad infinitum. That is where our cash is going. Most decidedly not into education.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

Write to The Scotsman

We welcome your thoughts – NO letters submitted elsewhere, please. Write to [email protected] including name, address and phone number – we won't print full details. Keep letters under 300 words, with no attachments, and avoid 'Letters to the Editor/Readers’ Letters' or similar in your subject line – be specific. If referring to an article, include date, page number and heading.