A FORMER UK business secretary has questioned the UK Government’s block on a Chinese firm’s £1.5 billion factory in the Highlands – suggesting it arose because Labour ministers did not want to "align with the SNP”.
Chinese renewables giant Ming Yang had proposed a large-scale wind turbine factory at Ardersier, outside Inverness, which it said would have created 1500 jobs.
However, in March, the UK Government stopped the development going ahead, citing “national security”.
Questions quickly arose as to why Labour ministers had blocked the factory but in January approved a Chinese “mega-embassy” in central London. The embassy decision had been long delayed amid warnings that it was close to cables that carry vast quantities of highly sensitive City trading data and could be used as a spying base.
Ming Yang called on the UK Government to explain the rationale behind its decision, while the Scottish Government has called for a U-turn.
Now, speaking to the Scotland China Brief news outlet, former UK business secretary Vince Cable has added his voice to the critics, suggesting that Labour ministers blocked the Scottish factory because "Westminster-based parties" are "reluctant to align with the SNP administration".
Cable, a former LibDem leader, also told the Scotland China Brief that there were questions around why now-Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband had agreed to the block on the Ming Yang factory despite having previously said that renewable energy should be at the centre of UK-China relations.
The former business secretary’s comments come after he wrote two blog posts mentioning the case.
In the first, he wrote: “For British partners and the Scottish Government, utilising China’s impressive ‘green’ technology was thought to be a safe and sensible form of collaboration …
“I don’t normally warm to the Scottish National Party but I have some sympathy with the then Scottish deputy chief minister and economics minister, Kate Forbes, who said the decision was ‘simply, sabotage of Scotland’s industrial future’.”
Cable added: “‘National security’ was given as the reason for vetoing the investment. What exactly was involved is unclear … there are far more obvious ways of engaging with Britain’s energy system including the (minority) Chinese stake in our new nuclear power stations.”
He then said: “Since security advice is not, for obvious reasons, in the public domain it is difficult however to judge how much is prudent caution and how much is simply paranoia.”
Last week, in another post, Cable said “the bar on Ming Yang’s collaboration with Octopus to build wind turbines in Scotland, transferring advanced technology to the UK, was a mystery yet to be explained”.
He concluded: “In any event, Britain – an economically struggling ‘middle power’ - is hardly able to turn its back on one of the world’s two superpowers when it has deeply unsatisfactory, one-sided, relations with the other one and has turned its back on the EU. Engagement with China is not a luxury, but a necessity.”
First Minister John Swinney has called on the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, to rethink the UK Government’s block on the Ming Yang factory.
“While recognising the importance of national security considerations, the First Minister has written to the new Prime Minister urging the UK Government to undertake a review of the assessment, highlighting the economic and industrial significance of Ming Yang’s £1.5bn investment proposal and the potential benefits for Scotland's economy, supply chain development, and the wider UK renewable energy industry,” Scottish Energy Minister Stephen Gethins said.
However, a UK Government spokesperson responded: "After careful consideration the government concluded that there are national security risks associated with the use of Ming Yang wind turbines in UK offshore wind projects.”
