How the rise of the perpetually outraged is holding Scotland back – John McLellan

Throwing more money at the existing bureaucracies – unwieldy committees involving councils, universities, charities and the private sector, with no visible leadership − is not going to bring about the acceleration of economic growth both the UK and Scottish governments say they want.

The alternative demand by the SNP, to increase Holyrood’s powers, would be more likely to lead to more sclerotic centralisation, not the empowerment of cities outside London that the Prime Minister designate says is his priority. It’s not difficult to see why, because the creation of powerful city region mayors would present challenges to the Scottish government it has never faced, and reduce some responsibilities, like economic development, to that of a glorified rural affairs committee.

READ MORE: Thousands object to 'humungous' data centres as deadline looms

Removing the SNP’s independence filter

But plenty of observers have already identified the risks to Glasgow and Edinburgh of empowered and emboldened English cities like Manchester and Leeds focussed entirely on wealth creation, and Manchester’s snatching of the television festival from Edinburgh should serve as a warning shot. It also helps to be unburdened by the need for every policy to go through a constitutional filter to see if it advances the cause of independence, or to see if it’s different enough to whatever is on offer elsewhere.

In an interview with the CNBC business news channel this week, First Minster John Swinney spelt out that he would welcome additional powers for Holyrood “that allowed Scotland to make different policy choices”, without spelling out what those choices might involve.

A good illustration of the problem was this week’s UK government study on Scottish nuclear power, with Westminster having commissioned a report into siting energy plants in Scotland that it has no power to order.

READ MORE: Why investors are flocking to the energy powerhouse that is Scotland – Will Gardiner, Drax

Ordinarily this would be a red rag to an Aberdeen Angus, but Scottish energy minister Stephen Gethins was relatively restrained in his rejection, with none of the customary outrage about an “affront to devolution”, but it was still a no, arguing that new nuclear would be very expensive and “produce a legacy of dangerous radioactive waste”.

Maybe so, but renewables come at a cost too, particularly with the thousands of litres of concrete needed to anchor a 200-metre turbine in what are often carbon-capturing peat bogs.

READ MORE: Scotland should be leading the green data centre revolution – Jaap Röell

Scotland’s ballooning welfare bill

All parties except the Greens support economic growth, but beyond platitudes like the just transition to renewable energy, the Scottish government has demonstrated a remarkable lack of ability to get the economy moving, preferring to focus on welfare, which if anything keeps people out of the labour market at a time when recruitment is challenging.

The result is a ballooning Scottish government welfare bill, which rose by £2.3 billion in the past year to nearly £5.9bn, following the transfer of responsibility for some benefits from the UK government. Half of the total goes on adult disability payments, according to Social Security Scotland.

Of course, advancing technology and using artificial intelligence programmes to replace routine information processing, which remains central to local and national administration, might come to the rescue if harnessed effectively. But the speed of development is only being matched by the rise of hysteria about AI in general, and data centres in particular, which could very quickly turn Scotland from an ideal location for data centre investment to a no-go area.

Ten days ago, campaigners fighting data centre plans across Scotland joined in a demonstration outside the Scottish Parliament, which has morphed from individual, localised objections into a national call for a moratorium against all applications until the Scottish government produces a data centre and energy strategy. It echoes the earlier call for a halt on renewable energy applications because of the proliferation of onshore wind developments which already produce far more power than the grid can handle.

But as data centre investments are coming largely from the United States, delays in a fast-moving sector mean the cash can easily be redirected, not necessarily to other European countries.

Minister says no to moratorium

Scottish Climate Change Secretary Gillian Martin has previously been bullish about windfarm opposition and, at last month’s rural affairs committee, her attention was turned to data centres and her response was equally robust. “I will not support a moratorium,” she told Borders Green MSP Laura Moodie, “because we feel that planning regulations are already in place for any development, whether it is a data centre or another development.”

She has a point, and calling a halt would run counter to councils’ ambitions to grow their economies, especially in those areas with historically low levels of job creation and housing investment, like the Borders and much of Ayrshire.

The irony is that if all the data centres went ahead they would need more electricity than Scotland can produce. The answer then, could be small nuclear plants next to data centres but imagine the outrage that would generate.

Maybe some clarity will emerge in the next few months, but there is no shortage of ways to give the Scottish economy a shot in the arm: power up the cities, fast-track the best-connected data centre applications, embrace nuclear energy, get the North Sea licences approved, redirect welfare into investment in colleges and apprenticeships, cut red-tape and infrastructure demands on housebuilders, slash business rates.

But what chance is there of much, if any, of it happening quickly? Sadly, it’s also a shopping list of opportunities for the perpetually outraged.