In these hard times, it’s important to celebrate any success story there is here in Scotland. Let’s have a few nice examples on how it’s done!

Energy Success

The company Flotation Energy is planning to build a large floating wind farm off Peterhead in Aberdeenshire but unfortunately was tied up in famous Scottish bureaucracy. Luckily, the project was granted consent in April, after SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn lobbied ministers to break this “consent logjam”.

And this is important – producing more energy to bring the bills down, even if it’s with a wind farm. Business should have an easier time to build and create – otherwise there will be always a suspicion of corruption when obscure rules, which are supposedly necessary, are dropped for good friends. In this case, the project was granted consent just weeks before the firm’s co-chief technical officer, Allan MacAskill, donated £30,000 to the SNP.

Should we be glad this project goes forward because climate change and not just keep questioning everything? Or, perhaps, we could improve the business environment so that bureaucrats don’t have so much power and there is less room for corruption.

Building Success

We need more houses! And the Scottish house-builder Springfield Properties is doing a great job. Just recently, it has signed a £10m contract with the Moray Council for the construction of affordable housing. This needs to be celebrated. The company has agreed to new contracts totalling more than £50m for affordable housing delivery, returning to the sector after a change in Scottish government policy.

Springfield Properties was also going to build more houses on the banks of Loch Ness. The proposals were refused by The Highland Council in February. Luckily, following an appeal raised by Springfield to the Scottish Government, the decision has been overturned. It’s great to see that the Scottish Government cares about Scottish businesses after all!

Springfield Properties is owned by the property tycoon Alexander Adam, who has been in the field for years. He doesn’t let up easily, even in face of adversity. In 2015 he has been party to a scandal where he and his firm have given the SNP and the pro-independence campaign nearly £100,000 over the previous three years. Over the same period, the company has been given a government loan of nearly £1 million, has been selected to take part in a lucrative construction scheme and has been extensively promoted in public by Ministers, including Nicola Sturgeon.

It’s a good thing one of the few homemade tycoons hasn’t given up and is still building.

Political Success

And the last success story for today is the most Scottish of all parties, the SNP – and despite political differences we are all big fans here. The SNP has found itself in recent years in financial difficulties with donations drying up and members leaving, so that this former giant has to start let people go. Unkind observers like Wings Over Scotland say the party has struggled to attract major donors for years, since Nicola Sturgeon (and later Humza Yousaf) scared off its wealthier benefactors from the world of business.

But this is not true any longer! The SNP is finally attracting donations from living people again, including large donations from businesspeople. The second largest donor was aforementioned Allan MacAskill. But the largest living donor this year is our faithful Alexander Adam with £270,000.

This is a clear sign that the SNP is turning back towards supporting businesses – and the businesses, in turn, support the SNP. More success all around!

Or, you know, we could just remove all the bureaucracy and then there wouldn’t be constant suspicions of corruption. And people could build more houses rather than having to rely on large corporations. Just a suggestion.

See the Scottish Libertarian Party’s policy on Housing with practical proposals on how to improve the situation and get more housing built.