Power fears drive Scottish datacentre freeze, risking UK AI plans
A proposed moratorium on new datacentres in Scotland threatens to derail the UK’s artificial intelligence strategy and exposes deep flaws in how London plans to secure its digital infrastructure.
The Scottish National Party’s national council has passed a motion to freeze all new datacentre construction, sending the proposal to the devolved government for implementation. The moratorium could halt any project that has not yet secured planning permission, directly challenging a central pillar of the UK’s artificial intelligence strategy.
British officials have championed Scotland as an ideal location for datacentres because of its abundant renewable energy. However, the SNP resolution warns that the scale of planned development would overwhelm the grid. There are currently 24 hyperscale datacentre projects in the planning pipeline, which together would demand more than one-and-a-half times Scotland’s peak electricity usage.
The political backlash stems from local resistance to the physical footprint of these facilities. Lesley Backhouse, a local councillor who backed the motion, described the current pipeline as extreme “overdevelopment” that is intrusive and out of keeping with the local environment. This follows revelations that the UK government and developers misrepresented the technical feasibility of a planned AI growth zone in Lanarkshire, stoking community fears that promised jobs and investments would never materialise.
A flawed industrial strategy
Scotland’s freeze is symptomatic of a wider upheaval in the UK’s approach to technology infrastructure. Projects touted as AI growth zones, including a site in North Tyneside supposedly backed by OpenAI, have been dismissed as publicity stunts or "phantom investments" after the government failed to audit jobs and investment claims.
Beyond flawed domestic planning, the crisis exposes the UK’s strategic vulnerability to foreign technology providers. Chi Onwurah, chair of the Commons science and technology select committee, criticised the broader AI investment strategy as “very opportunistic” and lacking a plan to ensure local benefits.
The committee warned that the UK risks being cut off from vital technology "at the whim of a foreign government," pointing to the White House’s recent block on foreign access to advanced tools made by US firm Anthropic. This reliance is mirrored in the government’s own funding mechanisms. Under a £500m Sovereign AI Fund launched in April, freedom of information data shows that four of the nine companies receiving cash or supercomputer access are ultimately controlled by American firms.
The future of these policies now rests with Andy Burnham. He is preparing to replace Keir Starmer in Downing Street and is reportedly planning a review of critical technology planks.
