FOSSIL fuel giants, influential PR firms and the short-term lets industry are among the top lobbyists of the Scottish Government since John Swinney became First Minister, The Ferret can reveal.
Energy company SSE, oil major BP, and the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers were the three business groups who met Swinney’s ministers or their advisers most, while the National Farmers Union of Scotland was the most active lobbyist overall.
Message Matters, run by former Tory spin doctor Andy Maciver and ex-Conservative MP Peter Duncan, was the public relations firm that had the most time with ministers on behalf of a range of clients.
In the first nine months of Swinney’s premiership, 44% of lobbying was by companies and business groups – higher than any other sector, including charities, campaign groups and trade unions combined (38%).
As part of our month-long series, Who Runs Scotland, The Ferret analysed hundreds of records from the Holyrood lobbying register via Transparency International UK’s Open Access tool.
Experts said Scotland needed more “public policy expertise and far less spin”. Loopholes should be closed to bring lobbying “out of the shadows”, campaigners argued.
Deputy First Minister and Economy Secretary Kate Forbes was the most accessible minister for lobbyists. She chalked up more than 100 meetings between May 2024 and February 2025 – 80% of which were with business interests.
Lobbying is a normal and legal part of the political process, which allows different stakeholders and interest groups to meet with lawmakers and attempt to influence the direction of policy.
But while it often goes under the radar, lobbying can have a big impact on policy decisions. Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme, for example, was shelved after a major lobbying effort by opponents including the whisky industry.
Campaigners with lobbying experience, including a former spin doctor, claimed the process favours businesses while “marginalised” communities are largely shut out. They alleged that Scotland’s democracy could be “undermined” by lobbying from big business, and called for all meetings to be minuted and made public.
The Scottish Government said the public would expect it to “meet with a wide range of groups on a variety of subjects”.
So what did top lobbyists ask for?
Energy giants
THE energy industry – including both renewable and fossil fuel companies – accounted for 11% of lobbying activity under Swinney, more than any other business sector.
SSE, based in Perth and one of Scotland’s biggest companies, met ministers 13 times.
In one meeting with Swinney, the multinational lobbied for changes to Scotland’s planning system to “unlock more flexible” energy generation, including that equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
The Government is considering a controversial bid from the firm to build a new CCS-equipped gas power station at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. SSE argues the site would produce mostly clean power but environmental campaigners fear approving it could be incompatible with climate targets and keep Scotland “locked into volatile gas markets”.
In other meetings, the company promoted its renewables projects and frequently asked that the planning process for green energy projects be sped up.
An SSE spokesperson told The Ferret that it regularly engaged with “politicians from all parties, community groups and others about our work”.
They added: “That engagement is carried out ethically and transparently and it’s no secret that to unlock this investment we want to ensure Scotland’s planning system keeps pace with the rest of the UK.”
BP representatives met with ministers 10 times since Swinney came to office, including multiple meetings with the First Minister, his deputy Forbes, and Acting Energy Minister, Gillian Martin.
The company lobbied ministers via its exhibition stand at the SNP conference last year. It also met Forbes and Public Finance Minister Ivan McKee at the Holyrood Magazine garden party and political awards last September.
According to the register, BP’s lobbyists mostly promoted the impact of its North Sea oil and gas business on Scotland’s economy, and discussed the government’s energy strategy. The firm recently scaled back its green targets in an effort to increase value for shareholders – a move that outraged environmental groups.
An analysis of climate-related lobbying by Transparency International (TI) earlier this year found two in three meetings on the issue in Scotland were with business rather than civil society. TI warned this imbalance of access could be “delaying more radical policy” to tackle the climate crisis.
Farming
THE National Farmers Union of Scotland (NFUS) clocked up 25 lobbying meetings, including with Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie, himself a former NFUS member.
The group asked for future agricultural funding to be ring-fenced, and promoted gene editing crops, which it argues make growing more efficient and environmentally friendly, but ministers oppose over fears of tainting Scotland’s reputation for natural food.
NFUS said it meets ministers “to ensure the real-life experiences” of the 9000 farmers and crofters it represents “are understood by policymakers and reflected in decisions that affect rural Scotland”.
Short-term lets
THE Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers (ASSC), which represents owners of short-term rentals listed on sites like Airbnb, met ministers eight times.
It targeted Forbes, Housing Minister Paul McLennan, and McKee, who is responsible for planning. He met with the body five times in nine months, while Forbes and McLennan also met with Airbnb.
The group’s lobbying has focused on the impact of the introduction of a licensing scheme for short-term rentals in 2023, which was aimed at addressing the sector’s impact on local communities and housing demand. Many short-term let landlords were angered by the move.
In its meetings with ministers, the ASSC claimed the regulations were having a “materially negative impact” on its members and the “wider tourism economy”.
The association “makes no apology for championing the interests of our members,” a spokesperson said. They claimed it was important “that ministers and MSPs hear first-hand from a sector that has been negatively impacted by Scottish Government regulation”.
Public relations
PR firm Message Matters met the Government 18 times on behalf of various different charities, private firms and trade bodies. Shetland Islands Council was its biggest client.
Campaigners criticised the number of meetings that ministers had with business interests compared to community representatives and campaigners, saying this reinforced the idea that only big business was important to economic growth and stability.
Talat Yaqoob has worked in the Scottish policy sphere for decades. She said communities have “nowhere near” the level of engagement with decision-makers compared to others.
“It is par for the course that governments will be lobbied by different actors, but this can only be acceptable under conditions of full transparency and equal access for all,” she said.
“The number of lobbying meetings, particularly by big business, reflects the misconception that economic growth and stability is only accomplished through them. A strong economy is also enabled by communities being invested in and having their needs met – if space for these conversations is not given the same prominence, then we all suffer.”
Her concerns were shared by James Mitchell, a professor of public policy at the University of Edinburgh. He said that while ministers and MSPs should engage with different interest groups, “not least to gain insights and ideas”, there must be an “even playing field” for all stakeholders.
“There is a particular issue regarding paid lobbyists who are not likely to be expert in a subject matter and thereby can offer little in the way of expertise on policy formulation and, crucially, delivery, but may have easy access,” Mitchell claimed.
Bring lobbying ‘out of the shadows’
SCOTLAND’S lobbying law came into force in March 2018. It requires organisations that hold face-to-face meetings – including online – with MSPs and government representatives to record who they lobbied and why within six-and-a-half months.
The law doesn’t cover lobbying by phone, letters or email, by organisations with less than 10 full-time staff or by people who are unpaid. Meetings also don’t have to be registered if “factual information or views on a topic” were requested by ministers or MSPs.
Organisations often meet with multiple politicians and advisers at the same time, and log an event on the register for each MSP or government representative present, meaning some meetings are recorded more than once.
Lobbying rules had “gaps that undermine accountability”, said Juliet Swann, nations and regions programme manager at Transparency International UK.
“Knowing who lobbies our politicians, and why, is vital for open and transparent democracy,” she continued.
“While Scotland’s lobbying register has revealed much about influence at Holyrood over the past eight years, significant issues remain.
“We must close gaps that undermine accountability – like the ‘Zoom loophole’ that lets lobbyists escape scrutiny simply by turning off their cameras during virtual meetings. We also need to reconsider exemptions for meetings requested by MSPs and cross-party group discussions.
“These reforms are essential to fully bring Scottish lobbying out of the shadows.”
James Mackenzie is a freelance campaigner, lobbyist, and former spin doctor for the Scottish Greens. He claimed that while “well-intentioned”, the lobbying register “does not really address the core ways in which our democracy is undermined by business interests”.
He added: “It would be more useful if all meetings ministers and special advisers have with external bodies were minuted and those minutes made public. That way the arguments being made in private – for example, efforts to reduce environmental protection in the name of profit – could be aired in public.
“We should also see an end to corporate donations to political parties, which is a more direct problem than any number of meetings.”
All organisations named in this story were asked to comment.
