THE crowing by Patrick Harvie over Shell’s decision to pull out of the Cambo project has given clear notice of the conceits which have been embedded into Nicola Sturgeon’s devolved government. The Greens are the masters now.

According to Mr Harvie only the “hard right” support further North Sea activity. It is “remarkable”, he preened, “how much the political landscape in Scotland has shifted” with the First Minister coming out against Cambo.

SNP figures in the north-east, alarmed by what the New Orthodoxy might do to their prospects, queued to register indignation. “Stupid and offensive”, they called it. The SNP’s energy spokesman at Westminster, Stephen Flynn MP, tweeted: “You can support a Just Transition without denigrating an industry that supports the jobs of thousands of my constituents.”.

Well, of course you can, but why should Mr Harvie care what they think? Regardless of his offensiveness on this or anything else, he now has his billet inside the tent and Scotland will just have to live with it. Responsibility for that lies with the woman who put him there in order to shore up a majority she had anyway.

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It’s a mistake to think about North Sea jobs purely in north-east terms. For example, the offshore industry is probably still the biggest employer for the Western Isles with men travelling to do “three on, three off”. As the North Sea has receded, many travel further afield – Taiwan, Philippines, Angola and so on.

More of them will now do so because none of these places is going to stop developing their oil and gas any time soon, any more than Norway or the Faroese. So apart from the bill for additional imports and the carbon footprint of bringing them from all around the world, add that social factor to the smug claims of superior virtue.

I’m not sure Scotland quite realises what the SNP has signed the country up for through this coalition. Their persisted failures on environmental targets are entirely of their own making and could be remedied through competence and commitment rather than buying the loyalty of Mr Harvie and Ms Slater.

Take another couple of Green policies now going ahead without any consultation or regard for implications in parts of Scotland which are disproportionately affected. The instant ban on funding for the replacement of oil-fired boilers has brought vital schemes to help the vulnerable grinding to a halt.

There is a 40 per cent fuel poverty rate in the Western Isles and more than half the homes are dependent on oil to heat their homes. This is not down to their occupants being enemies of the planet but because there no practical alternative and the same will be true in other parts of rural Scotland.

“Instal air source heat pumps” is about as far from reality as it is possible to travel on grounds of cost, supply and construction, for starters. But who cares about a statistically insignificant group in society when the great prizes of absolute power at Holyrood and green posturing are at stake?

Another area in which policy has changed sharply is inshore fishing. The Greens have insisted on a total ban on mobile gear within three miles of the shore and a massive expansion of Marine Protected Areas. Sounds great – unless you know anything about the reality of the fishing and processing industry in the Western Isles which is almost wholly dependent on methods which are now under threat.

It is a case that cries out for local management rather than blanket bans. The Canadian-owned MacDuff Shellfish have just invested £5 million on a facility which will market Wild Hebridean Langoustines, adding place-specific value for the first time.

However, the Western Isles Fishermen’s Association is warning that the SNP-Green agreement constitutes the biggest threat to their industry in 30 years.

Fifty per cent of the value of island catches are by methods the SNP-Green agreement commits to banning. But who cares outside of those directly affected? Very few in Edinburgh and certainly not enough to consult before signing their pious agreement.

On Cambo, it is fair to recognise this was not a Scottish Government decision though neither was their virtue-signalling without influence. “Too much hassle” seems to have been the Shell conclusion with plenty options for investment around the world.

Other examples are, however, fully devolved. The dangerous roads that won’t be improved. The poor people’s homes that won’t be heated. The long-established sustainable fisheries that face irrational bans…

And anyone who cries foul risks being branded “hard right” for their pains. The only consolation is that the nationalists just might have bought themselves more trouble than they bargained for when they invited Patrick and Lorna into the tartan tent.

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