THE Treasury should pay back the £167 million deliberately kept out of the devolved Crown Estate in Scotland, the SNP said yesterday.
The scandalous “money grab” by the Crown Estate which The National revealed last year saw Fort Kinnaird retail park in Edinburgh classed as part of the estate in England and Wales and not as part of the devolved Crown Estate Scotland.
Yesterday it was revealed that the subsequent sale of Fort Kinnaird for £167m represented just under half of the £343 million which the Crown Estate made for the UK Treasury.
The SNP said: “The UK Crown Estate refused repeated requests from the Scottish Government during the Smith Commission to transfer Fort Kinnaird to the devolved Crown Estate Scotland.
READ MORE: Money Grab: This is how Scotland was ‘conned’ out of £167m by UK in retail park sale
“Just two years later, the UK Crown Estate put its share of the site up for sale in a move described by the SNP as “duplicitous asset-stripping”.
“The chief investment officer for the UK Crown Estate today attributed the resilience of the group’s property portfolio in England and Wales to selling off retail parks, including Fort Kinnaird in Scotland.
“The SNP is today calling on the Treasury to pay back the £167m it has wrongfully gained at Scotland’s expense.”
The Crown Estate controls the land and assets of the monarchy, including the seabed around the UK for a distance of 12 miles – offshore wind leases have been a major cash driver for the estate.
In England and Wales a quarter of the annual income goes towards the upkeep of the royal family and their properties. The Crown Estate Scotland was devolved in the 2016 Scotland Act but Fort Kinnaird was kept out of the devolved deal.
The head of the Crown Estate England and Wales, Dame Alison Nimmo, who is stepping down after her second four-year term in charge, was quoted as saying: “Everyone remembers your last set of results. I’m really proud to bow out on what’s a really strong set of results in what I think has been a challenging market.”
Paul Clark, the Crown Estate’s chief investment officer, told The Times that £435m of retail parks, including Fort Kinnaird, had been sold in the past five years “in an effort to strengthen the portfolio”.
Commenting yesterday, Linda Fabiani MSP, who sat on the Smith Commission, said: “In the run-up to the Scotland Act in 2016, the UK point blank refused to transfer Fort Kinnaird as part of a devolved Crown Estate Scotland.
“And now it’s clear why. It was a duplicitous asset-stripping exercise, so they could flog off the site and cash in to the tune of £167m. But, disgracefully, Scotland will see none of that benefit. It’s gone straight towards helping the Crown Estate balance its books in England and Wales and shoring up its portfolio south of the Border.
“Selling off Fort Kinnaird represents almost half the Treasury’s takings from the UK Crown Estate last year. Meanwhile the devolved Crown Estate in Scotland is being forced to sell off tenanted farms in the north of Scotland to raise revenue.
“The Treasury should pay the money back – it was wrongfully gained, but they have the opportunity to put things right.”
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