Moves to strengthen new land reform laws will be made today after SNP ministers refused to back radical proposals that would prevent offshore tax dodgers from owning chunks of Scotland.
Land Reform Minister Aileen McLeod will today move 49 amendments she said will improve the SNP's Land Reform Bill, which is at its second committee stage at Holyrood.
The Scottish Government said its proposals would improve measures around a land reform responsibilities statement, public engagement and the Gaelic language.
Dr McLeod has already signalled her intention to include clauses that would allow a future administration to introduce a public register of people who control land in Scotland.
She said: "We are strengthening an already radical Land Reform Bill - which will result in fundamental improvements in how land in Scotland is owned, used and managed. These amendments will help ensure the provisions in the Bill are far reaching and best deliver for the people of Scotland. This strengthened Bill will change the relationship between the people of Scotland and the land that we live, work and depend on."
The measures follow the SNP leadership being given a bloody nose by its membership at the party's conference last autumn, when delegates refused to endorse the proposals arguing that the measures did not go nearly far enough and rejecting ministers claims that they amounted to a "radical" package.
The Scottish Government has refused to support proposals from the Scottish Greens to stop companies registered outside the EU from owning land in Scotland, despite the move being backed by Holyrood’s Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee and 79 per cent of respondents to a public consultation.
An estimated 750,000 acres of land in Scotland are owned by secretive companies and trusts based in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
Patrick Harvie, the Green co-convenor, has put forward his own amendments to the Bill which will also be considered at today's committee hearing.
SNP ministers have said his plan, designed to increase transparency and reduce tax avoidance, would be "outwith the competence of the Scottish Parliament" and a "would be a restriction on the free movement of capital".
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