SNP already planting trees for a greener future

It has been very interesting to follow the political parties vying to outbid each other in the tree planting stakes.

Firstly the Conservatives pledged to plant 30 million a year. Then the Lib Dems, opportunistic as ever, trumped the Tories by promising to plant 60 million a year. Finally Labour unveiled an ambitious programme with a target of two billion trees across Britain by the year 2040.

Meanwhile, as forestry is a devolved competence, our SNP Scottish Government has been quietly getting on with the day job, resulting in the actual planting of 22 million trees last year. That represents nearly 84 per cent of total UK acreage and incidentally ten times our UK population share.

In the course of the election campaign, Fergus Ewing, the Holyrood rural economy secretary, has given a commitment to increase the annual rate of planting in Scotland to 36 million new trees by 2030.

Yet another example of Scotland leading the way to a cleaner greener future.

Bill Adams
Lerwick