Seòmar agus comataidhean

I thank the member for this debate. As an endangered species myself, I am grateful to be species champion for the once endangered golden eagle, and I even have the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project in the Tweed Valley in my constituency.

From 2018 to 2024, 28 juvenile chicks were legally moved from the Highlands to the south of Scotland, establishing the current population of 48 to 50 birds. They are thriving because of the terrain, the supply of food and the protections.

I visited the secret location where the chicks develop into full-grown adults. They are released in stages on to platforms for food, returning initially to their camouflaged container homes until they choose to fly free for good.

Escorted by experts, the visitor approaches the containers silently across fields, carrying a tub of fresh kill. The containers are solid on the side the visitor approaches from, with grid walls on the other side, facing the hills, so the birds can scope their future territories.

Wearing a gauntlet for protection, the visitor raises a small leather flap in the side of the container through which they can present the fleshy morsels to the chicks. As I did so, this huge bird turned away from those hills and briefly stared at me and the food, in that order. To say that I was taken aback by the size of that chick is an understatement. It was enormous.

More scary was the predatory look that it briefly gave me. I was, indeed, coming face to face with the eye of its ancestor, the dinosaur—but what a privilege and what a thrill. I commend that project to anyone coming in once I have retired.

18:06

I, too, pay my respects and tribute to Jeane Freeman and offer my condolences to her partner.

I am concerned that the attempt by the Labour Party to interfere in the independent inquiry into the Queen Elizabeth university hospital is shifting base but with the same goal: to undermine confidence in the inquiry and the confidence of patients and staff in the safety of the hospital. Interference—undermining the findings before the publication of the report—is Labour’s shame. I have here a copy of the letter from Anas Sarwar to Lord Brodie, a former inner house judge, which blatantly breaches the independence of the inquiry process and challenges the very competence of Lord Brodie as chair.

Mr Sarwar requests that the five-year-long inquiry be reopened, particularly to interrogate Government ministers—despite the fact that Jeane Freeman, who established the inquiry, had already given evidence and the fact that Government ministers had stated that they would give evidence if requested to. That they have not been called is entirely at the judgment of Lord Brodie, who may call whomsoever he wants.

I quote from Mr Sarwar’s letter:

“I appreciate that reopening public evidence sessions would be an extraordinary step but I believe that it is the best route to securing the answers that families and staff need and ensuring that your report, and the public, are able to account for this vital component in the scandal.”

I repeat: to ensure that

“your report, and the public, are able to account for this vital component”.

The conclusion must be that Lord Brodie is not up to the job, that he has failed to call all relevant witnesses and that failure to do as Anas Sarwar asks will mean that the inquiry is flawed and cannot be relied on. That is an act of desperation and political sabotage.

In 2007, following eight years of a Labour and Liberal Democrat Administration, Scotland faced a major crisis in relation to hospital-acquired infections. An example is the Vale of Leven hospital in Jackie Baillie’s constituency, where Clostridium difficile was a contributory factor in 34 deaths. Those failures had occurred during the Labour and Liberal Democrat Administration. The SNP, new to government, instigated an independent inquiry, which was published in 2014 and which established that the hospital environment had not been conducive to safety and cleanliness, with poor antibiotic prescribing practices and inadequate nursing care.

In 2007, a Health Protection Scotland survey found that 9.5 per cent of patients in acute hospitals in Scotland had a healthcare-associated infection. In the same year, under Nicola Sturgeon’s stewardship as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, the outsourcing of cleaning and catering contracts to private companies in acute hospitals was banned—they were brought back in-house. As a result, the number of hospital-acquired infections was halved, from 9.5 per cent in 2005-06 to 4.9  per cent by 2011, and it remains low.

Why do I say that? The SNP’s track record of responding—and, more than that, of letting independent inquiries do their work without fear or favour—goes back a long way. Regrettably, the same cannot be said of Labour.

I thank the member for this debate. As an endangered species myself, I am grateful to be species champion for the once endangered golden eagle, and I even have the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project in the Tweed Valley in my constituency.

From 2018 to 2024, 28 juvenile chicks were legally moved from the Highlands to the south of Scotland, establishing the current population of 48 to 50 birds. They are thriving because of the terrain, the supply of food and the protections.

I visited the secret location where the chicks develop into full-grown adults. They are released in stages on to platforms for food, returning initially to their camouflaged container homes until they choose to fly free for good.

Escorted by experts, the visitor approaches the containers silently across fields, carrying a tub of fresh kill. The containers are solid on the side the visitor approaches from, with grid walls on the other side, facing the hills, so the birds can scope their future territories.

Wearing a gauntlet for protection, the visitor raises a small leather flap in the side of the container through which they can present the fleshy morsels to the chicks. As I did so, this huge bird turned away from those hills and briefly stared at me and the food, in that order. To say that I was taken aback by the size of that chick is an understatement. It was enormous.

More scary was the predatory look that it briefly gave me. I was, indeed, coming face to face with the eye of its ancestor, the dinosaur—but what a privilege and what a thrill. I commend that project to anyone coming in once I have retired.

18:06

Yes.

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?

I keep on pressing the wrong button to speak instead of making an intervention. The wrong one has come on, but it is nothing to do with me.

I think that the Welsh Government is also involved in spatial planning, so it is a UK-wide issue, and I am sure that the same issues will arise in the Welsh countryside as in the Scottish countryside.

As a Borders MSP, I thank Finlay Carson for this debate. We all agree that it is essential to meet our net zero targets and deter further global warming, which has affected the Borders with increased flood risk, and that we need alternative sources of energy, with turbines and pylons taking that green energy to the grid—mainly to meet the demands for energy from England. That said, I certainly agree that, as a result of significant growth in wind farms, battery storage projects and new electricity transmission infrastructure, there are real concerns in the Borders about overdevelopment.

Communities are concerned about the scale and pace of development. They want fairness and meaningful local benefit, and they feel that decisions can seem remote. I have raised their concerns about the cumulative impact of wind farms, battery storage and pylons in the Borders at First Minister’s question time. This was the exchange, which I have truncated in the interest of time.

I asked,

“whether the Scottish Government has carried out an assessment of the potential cumulative impact on the wildlife and the landscape, in light of the importance of tourism to the area.”

The First Minister replied:

“I appreciate the point that Christine Grahame makes on cumulative impact, and—

I emphasise—

“I have asked that work is taken forward to consider what further steps we can take as part of our strategic spatial energy plan. Through the plan, we will work to balance the need to deliver net zero with the need to protect our natural environment, tourism and rural communities.”

I pursued the issue further:

“I hope that there is progress …I understand that there are 30 sites in the Borders operating more than 440 turbines, with three more being built and others being applied for”

and

“the SP Energy Networks project—the cross-border connection—will require … 400 pylons”—

or thereabouts—

“to take Borders-generated energy”

south.

“That application … seems to me to be taking segmented parts of the impact in isolation, and not considering the cumulative impact. That cannot be fair when communities are certainly left getting absolutely nothing out of this but an industrialised landscape.”

The First Minister answered:

“Issues of cumulative impact are a legitimate consideration in the planning process … Indeed, there will have been examples of developments that have not been able to proceed because of the concerns about cumulative impact.”

He hoped that

“the consideration that we are giving to the implications for the strategic spatial energy plan will assist in addressing the point that she has raised with me.”—[Official Report, 22 January 2026; c 16-17.]

That is as it should be, together with improving statutory benefits to communities from developments, which currently arise mainly through agreement with the developers, and consideration of regional electricity pricing, albeit that I understand that that is a reserved matter.

Not all applications are agreed. CWP Energy wanted to build 60 turbines of up to 250m—820 feet—in height at Scoop Hill, a few miles south-east of Moffat. Dumfries and Galloway Council objected to the scheme on the grounds of its visual and landscape impact. The Scottish Government has concluded that it is

“not the right development in the right place”

and has refused permission for it to go ahead. We can look at that in the balance of the Government’s taking forward the real issues that people have—

I gave it merely as an example; I did not claim that it was the standard reply.

The key is to have meaningful consultation with groups throughout the south of Scotland and the Borders. They may not always get the answer that they wish for—as happens in many consultations—but, at the moment, we definitely need more serious consultation, particularly on the cumulative impact of turbines and pylons.

17:12

I keep on pressing the wrong button to speak instead of making an intervention. The wrong one has come on, but it is nothing to do with me.

I think that the Welsh Government is also involved in spatial planning, so it is a UK-wide issue, and I am sure that the same issues will arise in the Welsh countryside as in the Scottish countryside.

I gave it merely as an example; I did not claim that it was the standard reply.

The key is to have meaningful consultation with groups throughout the south of Scotland and the Borders. They may not always get the answer that they wish for—as happens in many consultations—but, at the moment, we definitely need more serious consultation, particularly on the cumulative impact of turbines and pylons.

17:12