Scottish Conservative MSP Finlay Carson has attacked the SNP government over the huge wildfire burning in the Highlands, arguing ministers had been warned about the danger but failed to take action before the crisis unfolded. The row comes as smoke continues to drift over the Cairngorms and emergency crews deal with what has been described as one of the largest wildfires Scotland has seen.
Carson’s criticism focuses on whether the Scottish government had enough notice of the wildfire risk in the Highlands and, if so, why stronger preventative steps were not taken earlier. His argument is that the government is now trying to explain events after the fact instead of showing that it was prepared before the disaster struck.
The scale of the blaze has intensified scrutiny of the government’s response. With firefighters still battling the fire and the impact visible across the Cairngorms, attention has shifted from the immediate emergency to questions about planning, risk management and whether warnings were properly acted on.
The political fallout is likely to continue as the response is examined more closely. For the SNP government, the central issue is not only how the wildfire is being handled now, but whether earlier decisions left Scotland more exposed when conditions worsened.
