The leader of the Scottish Conservative party, Ruth Davidson, was ignored for months by her Westminster colleagues when raising concerns over changes to Scottish renewable energy support, according to new correspondence disclosed under Freedom of Information has shown.
Davidson – who was not elected as an MSP in the Scots parliament until the following year – wrote to the UK Energy Minister (them Amber Rudd) in October 2015 in relation to a Scottish windfarm.
Two months later, she had to write again – on 17 December – complaining at a lack of response despite making further contact with Rudd’s Special Advisor. Andrea Leadsom, then Amber Rudd’s junior energy minister, eventually responded on 22 January 2016.
Commenting, Fulton McGregor, the SNP MSP for Coatbridge, said: “The paper trail shows that, despite Ruth Davidson’s claims to be a strong voice for Scotland, she has little clout with her Tory colleagues in Westminster who are more than happy to make her chase a response.
“Tory cuts to renewable energy support have been of huge concern to the industry in Scotland – yet Ruth Davidson had to jump through hoops to even get a response from her party colleagues in Westminster.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: “Ruth and Amber spoke face to face on this issue following political cabinet so follow-up paperwork was simply to keep things in order.
“It’s clear the SNP are rattled by the strong opposition of the Scottish Conservatives however, if they spent less time putting in FoI requests regarding Ruth and more time getting on with the job of governing Scotland our schools, hospitals and police force might be in a better state than they are on the SNP’s watch.”
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