John Swinney could face a backbench rebellion in a crunch Holyrood vote designed to halt plans for supersized AI data centres, the Sunday Mail can reveal.
It comes as campaigns opposing the controversial developments are ramped up amid fears they will cause energy and water shortages while destroying the environment and causing noise pollution. Critics have also pointed out they will support few jobs when operational while helping replace millions of workers globally with AI bots.
Blackout fears over hyperscale sites
In Scotland, activists have also raised fears of blackouts if even just the four “hyperscale” sites currently at planning application stage go ahead - saying combined they would use as much energy as produced by Torness nuclear power station.
The Scottish Greens plan to use a debate on Wednesday to force a vote on whether ministers should hit the pause button on up to 20 proposed schemes in the planning system.
Greens MSP Patrick Harvie said: “We will be forcing the Scottish Government to make a very simple choice.
“Will they put a pause on the rush to build hyperscale data centres, or will they continue to allow speculative applications to keep piling up with no national strategy in place?
“The Scottish Government has had plenty of time to act and until now has chosen not to.”
Energy and water demand
Demand for large data centres in Scotland is driven by our plentiful energy and water - required at massive scale by US big tech giants as they build advanced AI systems.
There are UK Government proposals to give operators cut price energy deals despite soaring domestic bills plunging many households into poverty.
Dr Kat Jones, director of charity Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS), warned the power needs of the four planning applications - in Auchtertool in Fife, Larbert, Chapehall near Airdrie and Greenock - were just “the tip of the iceberg”.
She said: “The Scottish Government needs to start looking at the risk of blackouts if all four data centres currently under consideration by local authorities get the go ahead.
“We welcome the Scottish Government’s announcement that they would like a strategic approach to hyperscale data centres.
“But unless they get a move on and put a moratorium in place to allow them the time and space to do it, then it will be too late.”
Programme for Government criticised
Campaigners were left disappointed by John Swinney’s Programme for Government this month which committed only to new rules requiring councils to notify ministers when a data centre application is submitted.
That’s despite SNP MSPs and the party’s National Council coming out in favour of a moratorium.
The Scottish Greens say all data centre applications above 50MW should be paused. By comparison, the enormous data centre proposed next to tiny Auchtertool alone would be 600MW, one of the largest in the world.
Harvie added: “Telling councils to notify ministers when an application arrives is not a strategy, and it does nothing to stop these developments.
“This vote is opportunity for every MSP, regardless of party allegiance, to stand with communities across Scotland and demand a pause while proper national rules are put in place.”
Backbench support for pause
Scottish Greens sources said they think they can win the vote, with one saying: “We suspect the number of SNP MSPs who support a moratorium both publicly and privately could run into double figures.
“That’s what the SNP voted for in its National Council over the summer and many were surprised the Scottish Government didn’t take that forward.
“Some of these MSPs face hyperscale data centres in their backyards and large numbers of very concerned constituents. They’re under pressure to take a stand.”
In a Holyrood debate this month on data centres, a number of Nationalist backbenchers raised concerns.
Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley MSP Alan Brown said “serious consideration” should be given to a freeze and Gary Bouse, MSP for Falkirk West, called for a “pause”.
Both have massive data centres planned in their areas - the 540MW ILI Rufus plant at Hurlford, near Kilmarnock, and Apatura’s 300MW development in Larbert.
Another SNP MSP, Fulton McGregor, told the Sunday Mail he personally backed a moratorium but was “not sure” how he’d vote, saying it would depend on the motion and amendments lodged and the direction of the wider SNP group.
It follows fears that private Silicon Valley firms leading the AI race are increasingly losing control of advanced models.
A top safety researcher at Anthropic, which handles some of the most cutting-edge AI on the planet, warned last week the technology is progressing to superintelligence so quickly there’s a one in ten chance it “could kill all humans”.
