Blackett, recently unveiled as an adviser to Sturgeon’s “growth
commission”, a body set up to explore the economic potential of an
independent Scotland, is facing allegations of a conflict of interest after
it emerged that he had previously endorsed the SNP’s renewable energy drive.In 2011, speaking as a trustee of think tank Reform Scotland, he said the
Scottish government’s policy had been “successful” and that “it is now the
time to go even further”.
Conservation bodies such as the John Muir Trust and Mountaineering Scotland
said Biggar’s reports “carry weight” at public inquiries and have suggested
that Blackett’s apparent support for a renewable energy drive should be
made clearer.
On Friday, Blackett said suggestions of impropriety “are entirely without
foundation” and insisted: “I don’t have political links with the SNP.” He
added: “It would not be reasonable to consider the paper that I co-authored
for Reform Scotland in 2011 as support for the Scottish government’s
renewable energy policy.”
Blackett unwittingly provoked a row with conservationists last month after
his firm Biggar published a study asserting that wind farms had not
affected tourism in parts of rural Scotland.
The John Muir Trust described the report as “misleading” while David
Gordon, a director at Mountaineering Scotland, said “a fatal flaw” in
Blackett’s study was a failure to consider tourism trends in areas where
wind farms are not present.
Blackett’s links to senior members of the SNP have come under scrutiny
after he confirmed that he worked for Alex Salmond in the late 1990s,
before Salmond became first minister. Blackett was also closely involved
with N-56, a pro-independence group.
Dean Lockhart, economy spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said:
“This only appears to confirm the widely held belief that when it comes to
economics, the SNP prefers to start with a political goal in mind and work
backwards.”
Helen McDade, John Muir Trust’s head of policy, said: “If a professional
witness has developed their expertise through an ongoing financial
relationship with one side of a debate, in this case wind developers, it
may be seen as misleading if their evidence is branded ‘independent’.”
David Gibson, chief executive of Mountaineering Scotland, said: “Mr
Blackett makes regular appearances at public inquiries into wind farm
planning applications in support of developers’ proposals. Our analysis of
his most recent research concluded that there were a significant number of
flaws with its design, methodology and data analysis. We find it difficult
to understand how the renewables industry, which promotes its otherwise
professional standards and credentials, can repeatedly justify the
promotion of such research which is inherently flawed and misleading.”
Blackett has said that he believes “none of the criticisms made of the
methodology is reasonable”. He said his firm, which he set up in 2002, had
been hired by up to a dozen wind farm developers to provide economic and
tourism assessments, adding: “We work to the highest professional standards
and we are motivated by the desire to produce high-quality analysis and to
provide an evidence base that will lead to better policy and improved
economic performance.”
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