Meeting of the Parliament 05 November 2025
The contributions that we have heard today reflect the depth of feeling about land reform across the chamber. I share the disappointment expressed by Rhoda Grant that smaller areas of land were not brought into the bill’s scope. Liam McArthur reminded us that inequality in land ownership creates fewer opportunities for rural communities to evolve. Alasdair Allan talked about the history of the struggle for land reform, going back as far as 1886.
However, I must return to my central concern, which is that part 1 does not go far enough. Without putting in place robust measures to address concentrated ownership, we are treating the symptoms while leaving the disease untouched. Let me be specific about what is missing. The legislation does not do nearly enough to ensure that public interest outweighs private interest when it comes to how the land around us is used. Had our proposal for a public interest test been accepted, we could have had legislation that placed a limit on how much land an individual can own and required them to demonstrate how they would use it for the public benefit. That would have been meaningful land reform.
Instead, the bill asks communities to continue their struggles without giving them the tools that they truly need. The concentration of ownership persists. The imbalance of power remains. Communities across the Highlands and Islands and rural Scotland will still find themselves fighting uphill battles against landowners who control vast estates but face little accountability and limited transparency about their intentions.
As I said earlier, the Scottish Greens cannot vote whole-heartedly for this legislation given that part 1 of the bill falls so far short of what Scotland needs and what our communities deserve. However, I acknowledge the achievement for Scotland’s tenant farmers in part 2 of the bill.
Recently, I was contacted by a tenant farmer in my region who wants to do more nature-friendly farming but has found themselves stymied by a lease that,
“Although written in 1982, reads like something from the 1800s.”
They added:
“It doesn’t reflect the progressive and modern lens we approach farming with … All we want here is to be able to farm in a way that allows us to earn a living, contribute to our communities, produce high quality food and look after our environment.”
I am glad to have been able to make some small changes at stage 2 that will allow tenants to take up regenerative agricultural practices and convert to organics without needing permission from their landlord. Such measures are a start as we shift our agricultural policy towards supporting those farmers who are looking to innovate because of the environmental changes that we expect to see in the coming decades.
This is not the end of the journey. I say to those in Community Land Scotland, to Revive coalition members and to communities across Scotland who are fighting for land justice: we, the Scottish Greens, remain absolutely committed to the transformative land reform that Scotland requires. The Government’s bill might not deliver that, but the movement for change continues to grow stronger. Today is not the end of the road, and we will not give up the fight for proper land reform.
It is my sincere hope that the next Scottish Parliament will finally deliver bold legislation to address the concentration of land ownership, to tackle the neglected issues of urban land reform and to improve the community right to buy process so that more communities can participate. The concentration of land ownership in Scotland is not inevitable; it is a political choice, and political choices can be changed. The Scottish Greens will continue the fight.
18:32