en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Scottish government is considering a large-scale moratorium on new data centers. The Scottish National Party (SNP) voted last Sunday to freeze all new projects, and the motion has been submitted for ministerial review.
According to the draft, the freeze could cover all data center projects that have not yet obtained planning permission, with the specific scope determined by the government. Lesley Backhouse, one of the constituency MSPs who proposed the motion, described the current plans as "extreme overdevelopment." UK officials had previously promoted Scotland as a prime location for data centers due to its abundant renewable energy, making the freeze a tricky issue. The policy could halt projects such as the "AI Growth Zone" in Lanarkshire, which is central to the UK's national plan to build AI infrastructure in rural areas across the country.
The SNP resolution counted 24 "hyperscale" projects in Scotland at various planning stages, stating that their total electricity consumption would exceed 1.5 times the country's peak demand. Graham Simpson, a Scottish Parliament member for North Lanarkshire, said he hoped for "proper research at the government level" to determine how many data centers the UK needs, adding that few people are entirely opposed to data centers.
The vote comes amid growing doubts about the UK's AI advancement plans. The Guardian recently found that, despite OpenAI's support, the "Growth Zone" in North Tyneside was more of a publicity stunt than a viable project, and other large-scale plans have proven to be "fake investments." The data center construction boom is straining the power grid and driving up electricity costs. Andy Burnham, rumored to be a potential successor to Keir Starmer, is said to want to review technology policy.
Chi Onwurah, chair of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, called the overall strategy "very speculative," and the committee urged the next government to protect its access to key technologies. Last month, the White House restricted foreign access to the most powerful tools of leading US AI company Anthropic, which the committee said showed that the UK "may not even be able to count on allies." Europe is already struggling to maintain access.
The freeze will not end AI in the UK, and data centers will still be built in Scotland and elsewhere. But this vote marks a shift: communities and politicians want a say in where the boom lands and want jobs to materialize. As governments continue to pour billions into data centers and national AI plans, Scotland's message is that today, permits, power, and local interests are as important as raw capacity, and ministers must decide whether one of the UK's best locations remains open for business.
