:00:11. > :00:14.Scotland. You know it's home. You know it's beautiful. But do you ever
:00:15. > :00:22.wonder who actually owns it? We're not short of space in
:00:23. > :00:24.Scotland, but just 432 individuals own half of all the privately held
:00:25. > :00:25.land in the country. We're not short of space in
:00:26. > :00:33.Scotland, but just 432 individuals I want to meet the people behind those
:00:34. > :00:37.numbers. I'm going on a journey - it'll take
:00:38. > :00:39.me around Scotland. I'll visit beautiful places and meet powerful
:00:40. > :00:43.people - the multimillionaire property tycoon dressed in tweed,
:00:44. > :00:46.the man whose family own some of our most spectacular lochs and mountains
:00:47. > :00:57.and the laird whose family marched with Wallace and Bruce who's up to
:00:58. > :01:01.his oxters in mud. This is a story which matters to all of us. It's a
:01:02. > :01:09.story about who owned Scotland in the past and who should own it in
:01:10. > :01:12.the future. If we don't see a fairer distribution of land, then we at
:01:13. > :01:16.Parliament, we will have failed the people of Scotland. It may not be
:01:17. > :01:19.fair, but I mean, is it fair that your wife is prettier than mine? If
:01:20. > :01:24.someone doesn't have the bank balance to be able to buy it, maybe
:01:25. > :01:37.that is unfair, but that's the way life is.
:01:38. > :01:46.I have thousands of miles ahead of me. My quest? To meet the men who
:01:47. > :01:52.own so much of Scotland. The question is, do they want to meet
:01:53. > :01:56.me? I'll let you into a secret - they aren't all keen. But here in
:01:57. > :01:59.Wester Ross, I've struck lucky. In these parts, there's one chap who
:02:00. > :02:01.knows more about this stuff than anyone else and he's agreed to get
:02:02. > :02:23.on his bike and help. Morning, John. Morning. How are you
:02:24. > :02:27.today? And a nice morning it is, too. I wasn't expecting a
:02:28. > :02:33.traditional Highland laird to arrive dressed quite like this - I was
:02:34. > :02:38.expecting tweed. Bad luck! John Mackenzie owns 53,000 acres.
:02:39. > :02:46.His family was given this land by James IV in the 15th century in
:02:47. > :02:49.recognition of loyal service. Being close to the source of power pays,
:02:50. > :02:54.but these days, it's renewable energy rather than royal patronage
:02:55. > :02:57.which helps balance the books. John's new hydro scheme here has an
:02:58. > :03:05.added bonus - heartbreakingly beautiful views over the sea to
:03:06. > :03:08.Skye. John, there's one thing sitting here
:03:09. > :03:13.which I just can't get my head around, and that is this - what does
:03:14. > :03:17.it feel like to know that you own all of that? It may seem odd - the
:03:18. > :03:24.notion that's mine doesn't really occur very often. It's always been
:03:25. > :03:28.in my family. Yeah, I'm every proud of it and delighted that it's still
:03:29. > :03:32.in one piece, that it's passing on - I'm pretty much redundant now
:03:33. > :03:36.anyway. My son is in charge and, um...he's taking over so we continue
:03:37. > :03:40.another generation. And so it goes on. So it goes on at the moment, but
:03:41. > :03:44.under today's political pressure, we'll see. Whether we'll do another
:03:45. > :03:50.500 years, I'm not entirely certain, but...I won't be around, so I don't
:03:51. > :03:53.care. Go west and you discover John's land
:03:54. > :04:03.is a classic Highland sporting estate, created to provide deer to
:04:04. > :04:09.shoot and salmon to fish. But John also owns thousands of acres further
:04:10. > :04:13.east. In these fertile fields, farming is the name of the game -
:04:14. > :04:20.one family, tens of thousands of acres. He's one of the 432 people
:04:21. > :04:26.who own half of Scotland's privately owned land.
:04:27. > :04:32.Is it fair that so few people own so much of our country in the 21st
:04:33. > :04:39.century? Is fairness really a critical element in life? It may not
:04:40. > :04:44.be fair, but I mean, is it fair that your wife is prettier than mine?
:04:45. > :04:49.That you win the lottery when I don't? Um...I... It's a concern
:04:50. > :04:53.stirred up - as far as I can see - by those with axes to grind, but
:04:54. > :04:56.frankly, the people who live in these large areas of single
:04:57. > :05:02.ownership, it doesn't seem to bother them. It sounds like you're saying
:05:03. > :05:07.to me, "Life's not fair. Get over it." Perfectly fair - yes, that's
:05:08. > :05:12.how it is. I don't think fairness is, of itself, necessarily a
:05:13. > :05:17.terribly critical thing. John may not think fairness is an
:05:18. > :05:25.issue, but many other people do. And some of them are determined to do
:05:26. > :05:28.something about it. If we were starting from scratch, I
:05:29. > :05:32.doubt anyone would design a system where you ended up with only 432
:05:33. > :05:35.people owning half the private land. There's some degree of doubt about
:05:36. > :05:39.the actual figures, but let's take it as a given that is the accurate
:05:40. > :05:42.figure. I wouldn't design a system where you ended up with such a
:05:43. > :05:47.concentration of wealth and ownership in such a small group.
:05:48. > :05:51.Fundamentally, is the system we have here in Scotland fair or unfair? I
:05:52. > :05:55.think there are still unfairnesses in the system. I think that's a fair
:05:56. > :05:59.comment to make. And that's why we are on a journey, in this particular
:06:00. > :06:10.parliamentary session, to try and deliver radical reform.
:06:11. > :06:13.SCOTTISH ACCORDION MUSIC PLAYS. Our current system of land ownership
:06:14. > :06:18.has deep historical roots. Land has always been intertwined with
:06:19. > :06:22.privilege and power. And the thing that makes Scotland distinctive is
:06:23. > :06:25.the dominance of sporting estates. Even today, around a quarter of the
:06:26. > :06:36.country is still devoted primarily to shooting, hunting and fishing.
:06:37. > :06:39.The league table of big landowners includes the government, the
:06:40. > :06:44.National Trust for Scotland and even the RSPB. But traditional estates
:06:45. > :06:52.still hold five of the top ten places, with the Duke of Buccleuch's
:06:53. > :06:56.estates leading the pack. I wanted to speak to one of the really big
:06:57. > :06:59.traditional landowners, maybe even a duke, but despite trying pretty
:07:00. > :07:07.hard, none of them wanted to talk to me.
:07:08. > :07:10.This is the man who fights their corner and his time is often spent
:07:11. > :07:17.staving off the blows of land reformers.
:07:18. > :07:20.Are landowners being demonised? I think landowners, to an extent, are
:07:21. > :07:28.being demonised. Fundamentally, is the argument that life isn't fair?
:07:29. > :07:32.One big landowner said to me my wife may be more beautiful than his wife.
:07:33. > :07:35.We've simply got to get over that. Well, as I said earlier, there's an
:07:36. > :07:39.open property market there, there are estates, small bits of forest,
:07:40. > :07:42.bits of land for sale every day. They're there for everyone to take
:07:43. > :07:46.the opportunity. If someone doesn't have the bank balance to be able to
:07:47. > :07:51.buy it, maybe that is unfair, but that's the way life is.
:07:52. > :07:59.Ayrshire has changed a lot since I grew up here. Today, I've come home
:08:00. > :08:03.to meet another local boy. We have a lot in common. We're about the same
:08:04. > :08:12.age. But while my earliest years were spent in a bungalow, his were
:08:13. > :08:15.spent in a walloping great castle. Simon Craufurd and his family own
:08:16. > :08:19.600 acres in Ayrshire. It's a relatively small estate but the
:08:20. > :08:32.family has played a big part in Scotland's history. Their reward?
:08:33. > :08:35.Land...and that castle. It's not bad, living in a castle,
:08:36. > :08:39.but there's always the concern about what's going to go wrong next and
:08:40. > :08:43.the repair bills in a building this size are not inconsequential, so
:08:44. > :08:46.it's... That can be quite a worry, sometimes, yes. This isn't Downton
:08:47. > :08:50.Abbey, is it? LAUGHING: No, I don't think it is Downton Abbey. It's a
:08:51. > :08:55.little bit more like real life, but I like doing it, that's why I do it.
:08:56. > :08:58.But I don't do it cos I'm making lots of money doing it. This is a
:08:59. > :09:07.semidetached castle. Simon and his family live in one half. The other
:09:08. > :09:10.is let as holiday accommodation. Simon's ancestors, friends of kings,
:09:11. > :09:13.would never had suspected their home would, one day, have to accept
:09:14. > :09:22.paying guests, but that's the reality. We were with Wallace, at
:09:23. > :09:29.his time - the family and Wallace's mother were close relations. We were
:09:30. > :09:32.at Bannockburn, we were at Flodden. It sounds as if the family have
:09:33. > :09:35.always been a part of Scottish history, like a line of thread
:09:36. > :09:41.running through the tartan of Scotland's history. That's a lovely
:09:42. > :09:45.way of putting it, yes. We've been there at all the major points in
:09:46. > :09:49.time, I think. Where do you want to break history? Simon works hard and
:09:50. > :09:57.he thinks his family is well-placed to go on. There's a trout fishery to
:09:58. > :10:00.run. The servants' quarters are now a boarding kennel. He'll even sell
:10:01. > :10:03.you a cardboard coffin if you want to be laid to rest in Craufurdland's
:10:04. > :10:11.environmentally friendly burial ground.
:10:12. > :10:20.My time here is almost over, but the dirty jobs keep on coming for Simon.
:10:21. > :10:25.He's putting on his waders, but this laird's not going fly fishing. Simon
:10:26. > :10:31.has some heavy-duty cleaning to do - preparing for a mud race.
:10:32. > :10:36.People come from all over central Scotland to run through your mud.
:10:37. > :10:39.They do, yes. And spend good money along the way? Yes - it's another
:10:40. > :10:54.revenue stream for us. Horrible things in there - em... Quite
:10:55. > :10:57.repulsive. Think of a traditional Scottish landowner and the chances
:10:58. > :11:02.are you won't think of someone like Simon. But his family have been here
:11:03. > :11:05.since 1245 and there are those who would argue people like Simon
:11:06. > :11:15.shouldn't be able to inherit an estate like this one. I have to say,
:11:16. > :11:20.after seeing just how hard he's worked through the course of today,
:11:21. > :11:23.I'm asking myself "Why not?" This debate isn't just about who owns the
:11:24. > :11:29.land - it's also about what big landowners do with it. Those lucky
:11:30. > :11:32.enough to own tens of thousands of acres have huge influence on the
:11:33. > :11:43.land and the people that live on it and how they use that influence can
:11:44. > :11:47.be crucial. I've left the southwest behind and travelled to one of the
:11:48. > :11:52.wildest corners of the northeast. This is the Cabrach and Glenfiddach
:11:53. > :11:59.estate. It's remote. It's beautiful. But the local councillor here warns
:12:00. > :12:03.the community is in crisis. I represent a very large rural area
:12:04. > :12:10.and this is probably the one at the furthest edges of decline. What
:12:11. > :12:15.could this place look like in the future if you don't achieve the kind
:12:16. > :12:19.of changes you want to see? Well, the few houses that are left will be
:12:20. > :12:27.gone and unoccupied. There just will be nobody here but sheep and maybe a
:12:28. > :12:30.few grouse, and that's about it. This glen has lost three quarters of
:12:31. > :12:35.its population over the last century. For the last 35 years, the
:12:36. > :12:41.landowner here has been Christopher Moran. He's a wealthy, self-made
:12:42. > :12:49.man, worth ?264 million, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. And
:12:50. > :12:55.he's another of the 432 landowners who own half the privately held land
:12:56. > :12:58.in Scotland. He's a noted philanthropist, but he was also the
:12:59. > :13:07.first man to be banned from Lloyds of London.
:13:08. > :13:11.Mr Moran is usually very keen to protect his privacy, but today, he's
:13:12. > :13:16.agreed to be interviewed for the first time about his running of the
:13:17. > :13:20.estate. First of all, I couldn't resist asking if he really was worth
:13:21. > :13:27.more than a quarter of a billion pounds. Uh... Perhaps those figures
:13:28. > :13:33.are true, perhaps they're not. I really...don't pay much attention to
:13:34. > :13:38.it. Why did you choose to come here, buy land and invest in this
:13:39. > :13:46.community? I walked pretty well every hill in Scotland, north,
:13:47. > :13:57.south, east and west... ..as a young man, and loved Scotland. I love the
:13:58. > :14:05.Highlands. Things here at the Cabrach have been in decline since
:14:06. > :14:09.the start of the 20th century. What was a thriving community has seen
:14:10. > :14:12.its population ebb away. I want to know, has Christopher Moran done
:14:13. > :14:21.enough for the people who live on his land? There is so much that a
:14:22. > :14:24.landowner can do, just by being here and the sort of efforts that he puts
:14:25. > :14:28.into the surrounding estate and the community - the jobs, the housing
:14:29. > :14:32.that can be provided here. I'm afraid we're just not getting any of
:14:33. > :14:42.that support. We could rebuild this community. There are lots of rural
:14:43. > :14:46.areas that, with the right landowner and their support, have been able to
:14:47. > :14:48.bring themselves back to life and I'm afraid this is just not
:14:49. > :14:52.happening here. But is it fair or realistic to
:14:53. > :14:56.expect a single landowner to resolve a century's worth of decline? One of
:14:57. > :15:01.Christopher Moran's tenant farmers told me the answer is "no." My
:15:02. > :15:06.experience is, I've never had any problems with him at all. It's
:15:07. > :15:14.inevitable, what's happened was going to happen anyway, I'd say.
:15:15. > :15:18.Does the laird always get the blame? Basically, yes, I would say - yes,
:15:19. > :15:21.yes. The estate is littered with
:15:22. > :15:26.abandoned houses. What it needs are homes and people. Mr Moran's answer
:15:27. > :15:34.is a wind farm - the neighbours have already built one. He's spent years
:15:35. > :15:38.battling opposition to his plans. Now they've got the green light. The
:15:39. > :15:41.scheme should make him even richer but it'll also provide enough cash
:15:42. > :15:51.to refurbish local houses and build new, affordable, homes. But it will
:15:52. > :15:57.also provide enough cash to rebuild local houses and create new homes.
:15:58. > :15:58.The reality for the community here is it's Mr Moran's vision, or
:15:59. > :16:02.nothing. Is it right that someone with your
:16:03. > :16:06.financial backing can come to a community like this, buy the land
:16:07. > :16:11.and exert so much influence over the community? Well, you see, I
:16:12. > :16:15.would...I would put it back to you the other way around - that if you
:16:16. > :16:17.don't have landowners such as myself who are thinking about the
:16:18. > :16:20.regeneration, the sustainable regeneration of these types of
:16:21. > :16:27.estate - remember this is 1,100 feet over sea level. The type of
:16:28. > :16:32.conditions that we have to experience in the winter are
:16:33. > :16:35.extreme. So the sort of investment that's necessary to bring about
:16:36. > :16:40.sustainable regeneration is substantial. If you end up splitting
:16:41. > :16:43.up estates like this, where is that type of investment going to come
:16:44. > :16:50.from? Where are the running losses of estates like this going to come
:16:51. > :16:53.from over many, many, many decades? It's time to head south again, but
:16:54. > :16:57.something's troubling me. The message I'm getting from landowners
:16:58. > :17:09.large and small is that owning land doesn't make you rich.
:17:10. > :17:12.In fact, operating an estate has sounded like a kind of public
:17:13. > :17:17.service, provided by benefactors with deep pockets. But is that the
:17:18. > :17:20.whole story? We asked the leading estate agents
:17:21. > :17:23.Knight Frank to pull together some numbers for us and they show that
:17:24. > :17:29.investing in land is a very lucrative proposition indeed.
:17:30. > :17:36.Money invested in land performed four times better than the stock
:17:37. > :17:39.market over the last ten years. That's almost as good as gold. And
:17:40. > :17:45.agricultural land - unlike most property - isn't itself taxed.
:17:46. > :17:50.Profits from any activity on the land are, and taxes are paid when
:17:51. > :17:53.land is sold or transferred. But exemptions mean taxes on sale or
:17:54. > :18:02.transfer often don't apply - which leads to some very odd quirks.
:18:03. > :18:08.Anders Holch Polsen, a Danish multimillionaire, is now Scotland's
:18:09. > :18:14.second largest private landowner. He owns 160,000 acres. Danish nationals
:18:15. > :18:19.pay tax on all the land they own, regardless of where it is. That
:18:20. > :18:25.means Anders Holch Polsen is paying a tax on his land and property in
:18:26. > :18:28.Scotland to the Danish Government. Put another way, tax revenue raised
:18:29. > :18:40.here is paying for schools and hospitals in Denmark.
:18:41. > :18:43.What it does is it exposes the fact that we've never really properly
:18:44. > :18:47.thought about how we govern land, how land is owned, who owns it, how
:18:48. > :18:51.we should tax it. We've never thought about that in a coherent
:18:52. > :18:54.way. You know, land in Britain has predominantly been an issue about
:18:55. > :18:59.class politics, actually, and about the...the haves and the have-nots.
:19:00. > :19:06.Britain is a country that's never really had a revolutionary moment so
:19:07. > :19:12.we haven't done what the French did. And... It makes me feel we're not
:19:13. > :19:15.living in a modern country. No-one's expecting a revolution. But
:19:16. > :19:20.landowners are under growing pressure from MPs. They've launched
:19:21. > :19:22.an investigation into whether landowners pay enough tax and
:19:23. > :19:28.deserve the agricultural subsidies they receive. The man leading that
:19:29. > :19:39.investigation isn't known for pulling his punches.
:19:40. > :19:42.We want to clarify whether or not the amount of money that big
:19:43. > :19:46.landowners, rich landowners get is justified, whether or not they make
:19:47. > :19:49.a fair contribution by paying the complete amount of tax that they
:19:50. > :19:53.should and see whether or not the balance is right. I think there is
:19:54. > :19:56.an extent to which the big landowners see themselves as being
:19:57. > :19:59.in Scotland, but not really of Scotland, and that they're above it
:20:00. > :20:03.all. They don't really like the oiks or the rough coming along and asking
:20:04. > :20:06.questions. They're willing enough to take public money but they're not
:20:07. > :20:12.really keen on having the public question the privileges and rights
:20:13. > :20:16.that they have. 'Landowners and farmers are no different to anyone
:20:17. > :20:20.else.' They pay tax where tax is due in this country, but of course they
:20:21. > :20:23.have tax planning, much like you or I would do, and that's normal and
:20:24. > :20:26.it's a good business practice. You're under intense scrutiny at the
:20:27. > :20:29.moment, the parliamentary Select Committee are looking at this.
:20:30. > :20:37.You're going to lose this argument, aren't you? No, we're not, no. And,
:20:38. > :20:40.you know, I'm all in favour of scrutiny because we've got a good
:20:41. > :20:43.and very positive story to tell, so bring it on.
:20:44. > :20:46.It was perhaps a little surprising to hear Doug being quite so relaxed
:20:47. > :20:49.about the possibility of wide-ranging changes to the tax
:20:50. > :20:55.system, because if I was a big landowner, I'd know I have,
:20:56. > :21:01.potentially, a lot to lose. North, south, east, now west.
:21:02. > :21:05.There's one place I have to visit if I'm going to understand why this
:21:06. > :21:12.debate really matters - to hear how changes in land ownership can change
:21:13. > :21:16.the way people live their lives. That place is the Isle of Eigg. It's
:21:17. > :21:26.almost 20 years now since the islanders made history and the
:21:27. > :21:32.headlines. In 1997, the island was owned by a German conceptual artist
:21:33. > :21:39.called Maruma. The islanders launched an appeal and bought him
:21:40. > :21:43.out. Today is a giant leap for Eigg and its people and hopefully another
:21:44. > :21:48.small step towards the future of land ownership in Scotland - thank
:21:49. > :21:53.you. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
:21:54. > :21:56.It was a huge step for a tiny community and, as it proved, for the
:21:57. > :21:59.whole country. That, in part, led the Scottish Government to
:22:00. > :22:11.legislate, giving communities across Scotland the right to buy and
:22:12. > :22:15.creating a fund to help them. Sarah Boden left the island when she
:22:16. > :22:22.was just a child - and now she's back. I came back four years ago,
:22:23. > :22:30.and prior to that, I was a music journalist on the Observer newspaper
:22:31. > :22:41.in London. Now I farm this side of the island with my parents. We took
:22:42. > :22:45.over the tenancy of my uncle's farm. Her partner, Johnny, has come with
:22:46. > :22:48.her. Bizarre as it may seem, he's busy running his own record label
:22:49. > :22:52.from a caravan on Eigg. Johnny and Sarah are just two of the young
:22:53. > :22:56.people who the buyout has brought to Eigg. I came up here and fell in
:22:57. > :23:05.love with the lady and with the place - the island itself. It's
:23:06. > :23:08.going to be a Wendy house, with a roof like that. Next spring, they'll
:23:09. > :23:12.build a house here. It's the community buyout which has made that
:23:13. > :23:17.possible. The trust which owns the island is providing the land they'll
:23:18. > :23:25.need. That would never have happened under a laird, definitely. So what
:23:26. > :23:29.does the future hold? Will you be starting a family here? Uh... Well,
:23:30. > :23:35.actually, I'm already six months gone. Hopefully, yeah. And I think
:23:36. > :23:38.that's... There's much more younger people here who have started
:23:39. > :23:42.families and it means that your kid's not going to be going to
:23:43. > :23:48.school with one other person, which...so, yeah... It's a definite
:23:49. > :23:57.priority for us, of which I'm reminded most days. So big changes
:23:58. > :24:00.ahead for Johnny and Sarah. But life has also changed for the rest of the
:24:01. > :24:05.islanders. The buyout allowed them to build a renewable energy grid to
:24:06. > :24:09.power their homes. It doesn't generate millions of pounds in
:24:10. > :24:15.profits, but it does keep the lights on. Suddenly, you know, we've got
:24:16. > :24:18.24-hour power which...huge amount of difference.
:24:19. > :24:22.Until they actually switched it on, they didn't know that it was going
:24:23. > :24:25.to work. Literally - the electrical engineers went, "Oh, it might, it
:24:26. > :24:34.might not." Anyway, it did, much to everybody's...not surprise, but...
:24:35. > :24:37.This was the biggest project we tackled since the buyout. But
:24:38. > :24:40.fantastic, brilliant, the difference it's made to everybody. If you can
:24:41. > :24:44.imagine before, with a generator, you only used it for a few hours a
:24:45. > :24:47.day, really expensive, real hassle getting diesel here to the island,
:24:48. > :24:55.and suddenly, we've got 24-hour power, which...huge amount of
:24:56. > :25:03.difference. Could you have done this under another model of land
:25:04. > :25:07.ownership? I doubt it very much. That's all very well, but is Eigg
:25:08. > :25:15.really a template for other parts of Scotland? Is it a realistic
:25:16. > :25:19.alternative to large land holdings? There are those who would argue
:25:20. > :25:23."You're a bunch of old hippies "doing this at the taxpayers'
:25:24. > :25:28.expense." SHE LAUGHS.
:25:29. > :25:31.Are they wrong? I mean, I might be one. But...there's a lot of people
:25:32. > :25:35.here who'd be very offended by that. We certainly don't... We don't use a
:25:36. > :25:39.lot of taxpayers' money, that's for sure. I mean, we bought Eigg. Eigg
:25:40. > :25:45.cost 1.5 million and only 17,000 of that came from the public purse. The
:25:46. > :25:52.rest of it was by donations from the general public.
:25:53. > :25:55.There's a problem, though. Community buyout has largely run into the sand
:25:56. > :26:05.- a few highly motivated communities have done it, but is it really
:26:06. > :26:08.possible elsewhere? There's an estate on sale in Angus, 5,000
:26:09. > :26:11.acres, ?29 million. There's an estate in Argyll for sale, ?11
:26:12. > :26:16.million. There's a farm in Berwickshire for sale at ?8.5
:26:17. > :26:20.million. The total fund in the Scottish Land Fund to buy land on
:26:21. > :26:25.behalf of communities is six for the whole of Scotland. So we've got to
:26:26. > :26:28.do something about land values, to bring the value of land down to
:26:29. > :26:32.affordable prices, essentially to its economic value. Strip out the
:26:33. > :26:36.whole of the speculative gain that people expect to make in the land
:26:37. > :26:39.market and return land to its economic value, then you'll have all
:26:40. > :26:42.sorts of people - not just communities, I mean, individuals.
:26:43. > :26:52.This is the big revolution, is to get many, many more individuals
:26:53. > :26:56.owning land. I set out to meet the men who own
:26:57. > :27:01.Scotland. That's what I've done and they've told me they're doing a good
:27:02. > :27:06.job. Their message? "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But no-one's
:27:07. > :27:13.been able to explain to me how the system we've inherited is fair.
:27:14. > :27:17.In just a few months' time, ministers will receive a report from
:27:18. > :27:23.a team of experts who are studying land reform. We're told to expect
:27:24. > :27:33.radical proposals - proposals which could change Scotland forever.
:27:34. > :27:36.I am confident that the land reform review group will come forward with
:27:37. > :27:40.radical proposals. That's what we've charged them to do and I'm keen to
:27:41. > :27:43.see what they come forward with in April. My party genuinely believes
:27:44. > :27:45.that there should be a fair distribution of land, that
:27:46. > :27:48.communities should have access to land to fulfil their aspirations and
:27:49. > :27:52.that's something I think we're sending out a vision as to what we
:27:53. > :27:56.want to achieve. And, if in decades to come, we still have a pattern of
:27:57. > :27:58.land ownership across Scotland - certainly rural Scotland, where our
:27:59. > :28:04.landscape is dominated by big, traditional sporting estates - will
:28:05. > :28:07.that be a failure of government? I think if we don't see a fairer
:28:08. > :28:13.distribution of land, then we at parliament, we will have failed the
:28:14. > :28:16.people of Scotland. Ministers are being cautious - the
:28:17. > :28:20.process towards land reform is at a very sensitive stage. But it would
:28:21. > :28:25.be a mistake to forget that within the SNP, there is a deep-seated
:28:26. > :28:31.desire to see change. Change is coming. We just don't know what form
:28:32. > :28:40.that change will take. And I'm not sure the Government does either.