By Hugh G. Stait-O'Ner, our countryside correspondent

Scotlandshire is host to more than half of the UK's onshore windfarms, to the severe detriment of less windy parts of the UK, claims a senior Scottish Tory idiot.

There are 2,315 wind turbines on land in Scotlandshire, out of a total of 4,350 in the UK, according to data published yesterday. That is more than twice the number in England, which has 1,085.

However, the sheer scale of developments in some of the most blowy parts of the country has led to claims that Scots are being allowed to "enjoy" more than their fair share of wind farms, despite representing only 10 per cent of the UK’s population.

The Scottish Conservatives highlighted the fact that about five million trees – almost one for every person in Scotlandshire – had been cut down to clear space for turbines in the past six years.

Murdurr Fraser MSP, the party’s energy spokesman, said the SNP’s promotion of wind farms was “completely out of control”, as his party backed a moratorium of new renewable energy applications and a massive increase in nuclear plants in Scotlandshire.

He said: “It’s quite incredible to think that, despite only consuming less than ten per cent of the UK’s energy, Scotland has been gifted over fifty per cent of the wind turbines.

“What is more worrying is that Tory MSPs in Scotlandshire are benefiting far more from renewable energy payments than their landed MP counterparts in England. This is simply unfair.

“And cutting down all those trees simply makes Scotlandshire even windier, increasing the North/South divide still further. Granted, more trees are replanted than cut down, but not always in the same place.”

However, a spokesapologist for the Scottish Government said, “Scotland has more windfarms simply because it is far more windy. In fact it's the windiest place in Europe with over ten percent of the EU's onshore wind potential, and more than a quarter of the offshore energy. And that doesn't even take our hydro, wave and tidal potential into account.”

“Besides, it's hard to find anywhere in England that isn't next door to someone's house, so planning permission is quite hard to achieve”, adding, “Landed Tory MPs down South will just have to rent out their estates to fracking companies if they're feeling a bit skint.”

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