A SOCIALIST MSP has branded land reform legislation “a boon to billionaires, barons and bankers,” despite the SNP government’s “radical” claims.

Scotland’s semi-feudal pattern of land ownership remains some of the most concentrated in the world.  

According to analysis from land reform expert Andy Wightman, despite changes to facilitate community right to buy since devolution, 50 per cent of private land in Scotland remained in the hands of just 421 people in 2024, down from its 2012 tally of 440.

The SNP Scottish government tabled the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill with the stated aim of challenging that by increasing opportunities for community buyouts and in limited circumstances forcing the break-up of estates as they change hands.

Ahead of the final vote in Holyrood on Wednesday, SNP Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick urged parliament to unite behind the Bill as the “most radical land reform legislation in the history of devolution”, but not everyone was convinced.

Land reform campaigner and Labour North East Scotland MSP Mercedes Villalba MSP said:

“The SNP insists that this Land Reform Bill is somehow ‘radical.’

“It will do little to tackle Scotland’s archaic patterns of land ownership.

“Scotland’s second-largest land owner will barely be impacted. 

“Gresham House, which manages more than £8bn of assets, holds 244 separate landholdings across roughly 74,000 hectares. 

“As only a handful of those 244 holdings exceed 1,000 hectares in size, Gresham House is likely to escape new regulation.

“The Scottish government’s resolute refusal to take a nationwide approach to aggregate landholdings is, therefore, a boon to billionaires, barons and bankers.

“What’s more, its failure to include a presumed limit on individual land ownership over 500 hectares serves only to embolden those seeking to grow their already immense property portfolios. 

“Gresham House is just one of many ‘mega-lairds’ procuring swathes of Scotland. 

“Treating our glens, moors and lochs as assets, these private corporations manage land for the benefit of their foreign investors.

“This Bill offered the Scottish government the chance to create an equitable and democratic system of diversified land ownership.

“Instead, the final product is almost toothless. “Far from ‘standing up for Scotland,’ the SNP has, once again, bowed before vested interests, passing up an opportunity to deliver lasting change in the interests of those who live and work on Scotland’s land.”