Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 12 March 2026 [Draft]
12 Mar 2026 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
General Question Time
Energy Project Objections
—that are ruining much of rural Scotland. The Government has stopped email submissions to the energy consents unit because there are too many objections—something that the cabinet secretary did not seem to understand. It has also stopped people seeing the objections before the submission deadline has closed and has resorted to mudslinging to try to silence communities.
Those communities’ voices will never be silenced. The community groups concerned have lost all confidence in Gillian Martin, so will she apologise and reverse the changes to the ECU that are making it harder for communities to be involved in the process? [Interruption.]
In the same item of business
6. Douglas Lumsden (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it is appropriate for the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy to use terms such as...
The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy (Gillian Martin)
SNP
I welcome the opportunity once again to correct the inappropriate and wilfully misleading claims by Conservative MSPs about my interview in a national newspa...
Douglas Lumsden
Con
It is clear what is going on here. The cabinet secretary is trying to silence community groups that are against the monster pylons, battery storage and subsi...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Let us hear Mr Lumsden.
Douglas Lumsden
Con
—that are ruining much of rural Scotland. The Government has stopped email submissions to the energy consents unit because there are too many objections—some...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
I ask those who are joining us to do so quietly.
Gillian Martin
SNP
Mr Lumsden is demonstrating once again that his preferred method of political engagement is personal attacks that have scant regard to fact instead of what t...