Scotland could freeze datacentre projects in challenge to UK’s AI strategy | Scotland

The Scottish government is about to consider a blanket moratorium on building new data centres, putting at risk a key plank of the UK’s AI strategy.

Last Sunday the national council of the Scottish National Party (SNP) passed a motion to freeze all new data centers in Scotland. This motion has been sent to the Scottish government for consideration.

Applicable to all data center projects that have not yet received planning permission; but its full implementation depends on the decision of the Scottish government.

Lesley Backhouse, who attended the national council meeting, said Scotland’s current data center plans amounted to “overdevelopment” and were “intrusive and do not fit the local environment”.

The move emerged on Monday as the Guardian revealed how the developer and the UK government had misrepresented the technical feasibility of a major data center hub in Scotland in the face of community fears that their land would be engulfed by development, promising jobs and investment would never materialize.

The site in Lanarkshire would be an “AI growth zone”, a key element of the government’s strategy to build national AI infrastructure in rural Britain.

The SNP’s decision comes amid signs of a wider upheaval in Britain’s AI strategy as Andy Burnham prepares to replace Keir Starmer in Downing Street. Starmer is reportedly considering reviewing several critical plans of his technology policy.

The Guardian previously reported that an “AI growth zone” in North Tyneside was more of a publicity stunt than a viable project, despite allegedly being backed by OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Many other major AI projects in the UK have been revealed to be “phantom investments” after the government failed to audit investment figures or job claims.

Graham Simpson, the member of the Scottish parliament representing North Lanarkshire, said: “I don’t think anyone is arguing that we shouldn’t have any data centers in the UK or Scotland.”

“But in terms of our resources, there needs to be a proper study at the government level to decide how many the country needs and what our capacity is for them.”

A moratorium on data centers in Scotland could strike at the heart of the UK’s wider AI strategy. British officials have touted Scotland as a prime location for data centers due to its access to abundant renewable energy. The SNP’s decision could halt projects such as the Lanarkshire AI growth zone.

The SNP decision suggests the number of massive data centers planned in Scotland could exceed renewable energy capacity.

It is stated that there are 24 “hyperscale” data center projects in various stages of planning in Scotland. In total, they will use more than one and a half times the power that Scotland uses at the peak of demand.

“This is extreme overdevelopment. I am very supportive of the local community and their efforts to prevent this from happening,” Backhouse said.

Meanwhile, Chi Onwurah, chairman of the Commons science and technology select committee, criticized the UK’s wider AI investment strategy on Monday, saying it was “very opportunistic” without a proper plan to achieve sovereignty.

He described the process this way: “X or Y or Z says they will invest [and so] “We will consider this as part of an investment plan, then the investments do not happen.”

He also said the Starmer government’s plan for AI growth zones was affected by “a lack of clarity around ensuring the benefits of AI are felt on the ground”.

“As I think Andy Burnham might put it, they haven’t been matched by a comprehensive ground-based strategy to make this happen,” he said.

Onwurah’s committee, meanwhile, called on the next government to set out how it plans to maintain its dominance in AI, saying: “It is crucial to ensure the UK is not cut off from key technologies at the whim of a foreign government.”

The warning comes after the White House last month blocked foreign access to the most powerful tools produced by leading US artificial intelligence company Anthropic. The cross-party committee said the White House’s temporary export ban “should serve as a powerful reminder that the UK cannot rely even on its allies to access vital technology”.

“I hope that the next administration will learn from the mistakes of its predecessors and move quickly to create a clear plan for how to work internationally in science and technology,” Onwurah said.

The call for greater sovereignty comes after the government released more details about the nine companies it has supported so far under the £500 million Sovereign AI Fund launched in April to support indigenous AI founders. Four of the nine companies so far awarded cash investment for bids to use the government’s supercomputers in Bristol and Cambridge are ultimately controlled by American firms, according to a freedom of information response.