Meeting of the Parliament 28 October 2025 [Draft]
I am not sure that I will quite go with Fergus Ewing on that point. There is a question about the agreements that were made with the foreign owner to keep the aluminium smelter, which may come back to haunt the Government in the future.
Running, say, a 20,000-hectare estate will cost in the region of half a million pounds each year, and that comes from taxed income. Therefore, it is a true investment. I really do not like amendment 15.
Although I understand the aim of Mercedes Villalba’s amendment 76, it relies on the Government approving of the future management of land. In 40 years of land management, not everything that I have done regarding land management supported the Government’s objectives. For example, on climate change, the last thing that I would do is introduce beavers all over the countryside to eat the trees that we have spent years funding. I do now know why we now consider that beavers are better for trees than the deer that we spent years trying to kill.
The Government is in a position to make the decision, but I struggle to understand whether it would prepare guidance in the short term. My concern is that we could be waiting another 10 years and that, by then, it will be time for another land reform bill, because the other ones will be considered irrelevant.
I will leave my comments there, Presiding Officer, so that I do not incur your wrath at this stage, as I may do later.