YOUR report on Tory minister Claire Perry had me choking on my cornflakes (Tory minister tells Scotland to cheer up, The National, October 20).
In relation to the commissioning of Statoil’s Hywind floating wind turbine array off Peterhead, you quote Perry as claiming “that’s being done by the UK Government, because this is not a devolved matter and has been done because it was the combination of policy, government leadership and working with industry”.
All very fine Perry, except that the project has been enabled by the final elements of the Scottish Government’s “innovative offshore wind” band of the Renewable Obligation Scotland, ie the scheme it operated before powers of differentiation from the rest of the UK were recovered by Westminster with the introduction of the replacement Contracts for Difference system.
And all very fine Perry, except that it was the Scottish Government and Marine Scotland that fast-tracked the marine license for the project. As far as I am aware, the Westminster government has been a bystander as far as practical support to the project is concerned.
Raymond Hunter
East Kilbride
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