SNP plans to lease large swathes of Scotland’s forests to a private company should be removed from the Climate Change Bill, according to a report published today by the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee.

Welcoming the report, Highlands and Islands Labour regional MSP Rhoda Grant said, "Labour has opposed these deeply unpopular plans from the time they were published.

"The SNP’s ill thought out proposals have created uncertainty for Forestry Commission staff and we believe they are damaging for forestry related industries, public access and biodiversity.

I am still receiving letters from community groups who are against the plans and the i-petition launched to oppose the sell off has now attracted 986 signatures.

"The SNP must not privatise our Scottish forests. In the Highlands our forests are economically important and also widely used for leisure and tourism purposes.

The SNP should start listing and abandon these plans."

Elaine Murray, Labour's Environment Spokesperson and a member of the committee, added:

"Evidence received by the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee was overwhelmingly opposed to these proposals, and Scottish Ministers failed to convince even the SNP committee members that these proposals were viable.

"We believe that there are other ways of raising funds to support woodland creation, and we believe that forestry development should form part of an integrated land use strategy which also considers food production, flood prevention and conservation.

"The Scottish Government got this badly wrong and these plans should be ditched."