Alex Salmond was pushed into setting the record straight over green energy jobs because he was “caught out”, a campaigner claimed last night.
Lyndsay Ward said the first minister only acted after she challenged him for a second time to back up claims the renewables industry supported 18,000 jobs. The anti-windfarm activist from Beauly revealed she first wrote to the SNP leader on the issue on October 30 – five days after he made the assertion in the Scottish Parliament.
Ms Ward said that when no information was forthcoming, she sent Mr Salmond a second e-mail on November 14 – the day before civil servants asked Holyrood staff to amend the official report to reflect the fact only 11,000 jobs were supported. Ms Ward said: “I don’t think Alex Salmond had any intention of doing anything until he was pushed. I think he thought I would go away but he had a rude awakening – he was caught out.”
Aberdeenshire West SNP MSP Dennis Robertson said the time had come for opposition parties to follow the example set by the first minister and correct the mistakes that they had made in the chamber.
He said Labour leader Johann Lamont had wrongly claimed that the Chinese steel contract for the Forth Replacement Crossing was valued at £800million, when in reality the value was only 5%-10% of this.
Mr Robertson said Conservative leader Ruth Davidson had wrongly listed a number of college courses which she claimed were “no longer available.
A spokesman for Mr Salmond said: “The first minister treats all correspondence from the public with great importance, as he did on this occasion.”
