ScotRail has handed a £2 million contract to its former private owner - claiming the deal will provide "value for taxpayers".

The state-owned rail firm has contracted out its finance and payroll functions to Solvd, a company set up by former owner Abellio - which the Scottish Government stripped of its franchise in 2022 after concerns over poor performance.

ScotRail bosses awarded a two-year extension to Solvd on January 29 without putting the contract out to tender. They believe the move, valued at £1.9 million in the official paperwork, will buy time to work out whether these functions should be carried out in house.

But Scottish Labour transport spokeswoman Claire Baker said private firms were "cashing in on the SNP's incompetence".

She told The Ferret: "Scotland deserves a reliable, affordable rail service but the SNP is squandering the opportunities of public ownership and contracting out its responsibilities."

Just two days after the new contract was confirmed, SNP ministers announced fares would go up by 3.8 per cent this year - following an 8.7 per cent rise a year ago and the reintroduction of peak fares last autumn.

Scotland deserves a reliable, affordable rail service but the SNP is squandering the opportunities of public ownership and contracting out its responsibilities.

Claire Baker, Scottish Labour

Abellio's UK arm is now known as Transport UK, after it was sold by the Dutch state in a management buy-out led by chief executive Dominic Booth. He was ScotRail's ultimate boss before nationalisation.

The contract describes Solvd as a "small to medium-sized enterprise", even though Transport UK's website boasts that it employs 15,000 employees across Britain.

Train drivers' union Aslef, which campaigned for ScotRail to be brought into public ownership, called on ScotRail to "come clean" over continued "profiteering" in the railways since nationalisation.

"Despite its chronic failure to run ScotRail effectively, this revelation shows that in its new guise Abellio is going to still profit from the now publicly owned ScotRail," the union's Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said.

He added: "For ScotRail to be truly public it needs to in-source its operations and end - not extend - these contracts and this type of outsourcing that incredibly allows this failed company to continue to profit from ScotRail, taking money that should be reinvested back into services, and still turning it into shareholder dividends."

Scottish Conservative MSP Sue Webber said: "Nationalisation of ScotRail was justified by the SNP on the basis that they could do a better job than Abellio. So it's humiliating that they are now having to lavish public money on the company in return for supposedly expert advice.

At a time when passengers are paying through the roof for chronically unreliable services, SNP ministers should explain why they think it is acceptable to hand this contract to ScotRail's former owners.

Sue Webber MSP, Scottish Conservatives

She added: "At a time when passengers are paying through the roof for chronically unreliable services, SNP ministers should explain why they think it is acceptable to hand this contract to ScotRail's former owners."

Justifying the decision not to put the contract out to tender, ScotRail said it was introducing a new rostering system that would "take a period of 12-18 months" to implement. It said the "full impact of this change will not be known until the implementation is complete", and that "to tender these services now will result in duplication of resource and cost".

Finance director Derek Marchant said: "In 2023/24, ScotRail built on the successful transition into public ownership with year-on-year growth in passenger numbers and revenue, and with nine out of ten services meeting their punctuality targets.

"All of this has been achieved thanks to our dedicated and highly-skilled workforce that deliver for our customers every single day.

"We recognise that, as part of the public sector, we must ens...

A £4bn project to help replace nuclear-armed Trident submarines on the Clyde has been branded as "unachievable" for the third year running by a UK government watchdog.

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) has again given the manufacture of new reactors to power replacement submarines its lowest rating of "red" for 2023-24. There are "major issues" that do not seem to be "manageable or resolvable", it said.

The IPA has badged eight other major UK nuclear weapons projects, with a combined overall cost of over £55bn, as "amber". This means they are facing "significant issues" which require "management attention".

These include building new facilities at the Faslane nuclear base, near Helensburgh, and dismantling nuclear submarines at Rosyth in Fife. The construction of the entire future nuclear-powered fleets of submarines - Astute, Dreadnought and Aukus - was also rated amber.

Campaigners attacked the UK nuclear weapons programme as "an unaffordable shambles" and a "disastrous money pit". They have demanded its cancellation, and asked for the money saved to be spent on public services.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) accused the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of being "totally unable" to deliver a cost-effective replacement for Trident on time. The Scottish Greens said that public money shouldn't be wasted on "deadly Cold War hangovers."

The MoD insisted that the Dreadnought programme was "on track" for submarines to start entering service in the "early 2030s". It was working to "improve delivery confidence".

Rolls-Royce, which is making Dreadnought submarine reactors for the MoD, accepted that the work was "challenging". But it said progress was "accelerating" and it was "confident" it could deliver in time.

Trident nuclear project can't be delivered, says watchdog

The IPA's latest report for 2023-24 was published in January 2025, six months late. It assessed the feasibility of 227 major government projects, including 44 run by the MoD with a total cost of £298bn.

Nine of the MoD projects were related to nuclear weapons and submarine programmes, with a total cost of at least £59bn. The one that was given a red rating was to construct reactors to be installed in four Trident-armed Dreadnought submarines to replace ageing Vanguard submarines at Faslane in the 2030s.

The project was also rated as red in 2022-23 and 2021-22, as The Ferret reported. According to the IPA, that means that "successful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable" and it may need its "overall viability reassessed".

It said: "There are major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which at this stage do not appear to be manageable or resolvable."

The Dreadnought reactors, which are being built by Rolls-Royce in Derby, faced "ongoing challenges associated with achieving the required delivery date" in 2028, the IPA added. This was an "important milestone" for the UK's policy of keeping at least one nuclear-armed submarine on patrol all the time, known as "continuous at sea deterrent".

Among the eight other nuclear projects rated as amber, was a £1.9bn scheme to build new facilities at Faslane and nearby Coulport, on the Clyde, to support new submarines. Its rating was kept secret in 2022-23 and it was red in 2021-22.

Amber is defined by the IPA as: "successful delivery appears feasible but significant issues already exist, requiring management attention". The issues "appear resolvable at this stage" and should not cause delay or increased costs "if addressed promptly".

The Clyde infrastructure project was entering its "most complex phase" over the next four years, the IPA said. It highlighted "two main issues affecting delivery confidence".

One was rebuilding existing facilities while they continue to be used for submarine operations. The other was attracting and retaining suitably skilled staff "to a remote site in a very tight labour market in western Scotland."

Costs of some nuclear projects k...

The new chairman of the Scottish Conservatives led a company which admitted benefitting from "corrupt payments" made to a Russian firm.

Oil drilling multi-national Abbot Group told prosecutors it profited from the transactions which were made in 2007 in relation to a contract to supply oil rigs.

At that time, the new Tory chair Alasdair Locke was executive chairman and a major shareholder of Abbot, which he also founded.

After making the admission to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in 2012, Abbot - by then under new owners - agreed to pay a £5.6m settlement under Proceeds of Crime legislation, the amount of profit the company said it made from the Russian deal.

Locke - who left Abbot in 2009 - criticised the new owners' decision to admit wrongdoing and "vigorously denies" any payments made by Abbot were corrupt.

But former Labour MSP Neil Findlay said: "The reputation of politics is already at an all time low and here we have the Scottish Tories appointing as their chairman someone whose company had to pay a £5.6m 'settlement' under Proceeds of Crime legislation as a result of a dodgy deal with a Russian oil company.

"Tory leader Russell Findlay's attempt to paint himself as 'Mr Law and Order' will lie in tatters if this appointment stands."

Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project added: "In a dynamic world, there is so little we can safely rely on. The Catholicism of a new Pope, the ursine preference for wooded areas when nature calls, and the embroilment of senior Tories in bungs for contracts scandals.

"It may seem like everything changes - but some things remain the same."

Locke claimed to The Ferret the payments were actually made to cancel a contract in Russia which an employee in Germany had entered into without the knowledge of Abbot's board.

Abbot was a victim because it had to make payment to get out of the contract which would have been "loss-making" for the company, he said.

The businessman added that police have investigated "thoroughly" and found there was "no case to answer".

Professor Richard Barrington, an expert in anti-corruption who has advised both the private and public sector on bribery issues, said the case "raises all sorts of questions" now that Locke holds a "senior position with a Scottish political party".

A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: "Mr Locke responded to this 12 years ago. We don't have anything else to add."

Billionaire lairds and Tory donors broke rules around rural subsidies

Locke was appointed Scottish Tory chairman in November and has donated over £1.2m to the party since 2001.

According to COPFS, the payments in 2007 only came to light after they were flagged by an "overseas tax authority" in 2011, prompting an internal investigation within Abbot which was by then under new owners.

Abbot subsequently came forward in 2012 to confess wrongdoing under a self-reporting scheme for bribery set up by COPFS.

Abbot's settlement with the Civil Recovery Unit - which recovers the proceeds of unlawful conduct on behalf of the Scottish Government - meant the company was protected from prosecution.

But when the settlement was first reported in 2012, details of where the payments were made were not released in case there was a criminal investigation into individuals involved.

COPFS has now said the payments were made in connection with a contract entered into by a German subsidiary of Abbot, Bentec Drilling, to "supply drilling rigs to a Russian company". Bentec was wholly owned by Abbot at the time.

A COPFS spokesperson said: "There are no active criminal proceedings and, given the historic nature of the case, it would not be appropriate to comment."

Abbot said in 2012 it was "deeply disappointed" that "improper" payments had taken place and that all personnel involved had left the firm.

After discovering the payments the company commissioned auditors to "review more than one hundred contracts" covering a period of 12 years and none were reported to COPFS....

The King, J.K. Rowling, billionaires and politicians are among those who have been given tens of millions of pounds of taxpayer forestry subsidies, The Ferret can reveal, prompting claims that wealthy landowners are prioritised over rural communities.

Nearly 2,000 recipients, including estates, investment firms and timber giants, were given £240m to create and manage woodlands between April 2016 and December 2024, according to data we obtained from Scottish Forestry.

Top claimants of Scottish Government-issued taxpayer subsidies included the Duke of Buccleuch, a Scots MP, House of Lords peers and the Scottish Tory chairman.

Others were Brewdog, a former Daily Mail chief, the Duke of Westminster, the Church of England, and a past chair of the Scottish Government's investment arm.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing from claimants. But land and forestry campaigners accused the government of financing wealthy landowners rather than rural communities.

The subsidies, alongside a wide range of tax relief and the ability to sell carbon credits, have fuelled surging land prices, and some experts question the environmental benefits of industrial forestry.

But Scottish Forestry said handouts were "a vital driver" of the government's aim to cover 21 per cent of Scotland with trees by 2032 and soak up carbon dioxide (Co2). Half of applications were for smaller woodlands, and big commercial schemes were key to meeting green targets, the agency said.

Billionaire lairds and Tory donors broke rules around rural subsidies

Billionaires, landowners and politicians

Guernsey entrepreneur Julia Hands, who is reportedly worth £250m, received the most in subsidies of any individual - £3.8m. Hands' private equity boss husband, Guy, also owns swathes of Scotland's forests. In 2009, he left the UK for Guernsey, a tax haven, to avoid higher taxes.

WildLand Limited subsidiary, Glenfeshie Limited, was handed £1.5m. The firms belong to billionaire Anders Povlsen, Scotland's biggest landowner and wealthiest person.

WildLand CEO Tim Kirkwood said the funding, alongside the firm's own investment, focused on planting native trees to support "nature recovery", "national climate change and biodiversity goals", and new "economic and social opportunities" for local communities.

Fellow billionaire Mahdi Al Tajir's Blackford Farms was given £1.3m. It is owned in the tax haven of Liechtenstein and last year overclaimed and misused public subsidies.

The Duke of Buccleuch's Buccleuch Group, whose subsidiaries received £3.1m, told The Ferret it is playing a "key role" in helping the Scottish Government meet its annual target of increasing woodlands by 18,000 hectares.

Kinnaird Estate's co-owner, Crawford Gillies - a Barclays director and former chairman of government investment arm, Scottish Enterprise - netted £938,000, while Charles Sinclair, the former chief of a trust behind the Daily Mail, got £865,000.

Care home moved to spare view from billionaire's hotel

Dornells Estate, which claimed £1.3m, belongs to James Jack, brother of the former Tory Scottish Secretary, Alister Jack. He also is also a controller of the Annandale and Lochwood Estates partnership, which was awarded £746,000, but broke the rules by overclaiming or failing to start subsidised activity.

The partnership said Jack was involved in his capacity as a trustee of the Raehills Trust. "He is neither a beneficiary nor an owner of any of the properties or businesses within the partnership," it added. Other listed partners include the Earl of Annandale and Hartfell and his son, David, a NatureScot board member.

Landowning politicians in receipt of subsidies include millionaire Lib Dem MP, Angus MacDonald via Doughty Hill (£1.85m), former Tory MSP and shadow land reform secretary, Lord Donald Cameron, via Achnacarry Estate (£560,000), and Tory lord and former environment minister Baron Robbie Douglas Miller via Bavelaw Estate (£512,000).

Glenrinnes Farms' owner Alasdair Locke, received £238,000. He gave...

The Scottish Government has been criticised for working "in-step with the Foreign Office" over a controversial meeting with an Israeli official.

Emails seen by The Ferret reveal that civil servants at Holyrood urged external affairs secretary Angus Robertson to meet with Israel's deputy ambassador Daniela Grudsky after consulting with UK Government officials.

A Scottish Government official had stressed the importance of being "on the same page" as Westminster ahead of the meeting, the emails show.

The meeting, on August 8 last year, prompted criticism from senior SNP and opposition figures after a picture was circulated by Grudsky on social media.

At the time, the late former first minister Alex Salmond said the meeting called into question whether both external affairs secretary Robertson and first minister John Swinney could continue in office.

Commenting on The Ferret's findings, Greens co-leader Lorna Slater said it was "concerning" that Scottish ministers had aligned their foreign policy with Westminster, while Christine Grahame, one of the SNP's longest-serving MSPs, blasted Robertson's "lack of judgment".

The Scottish Government said it was "normal" for officials to consult the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) when ministers are meeting international contacts, "given their central role in UK foreign relations".

The emails were released under freedom of information law. The Scottish Government is still refusing to publish the minutes of the meeting between Robertson and Grudsky despite an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner by The Ferret.

The Scottish Government's international relations team wrote to the FCDO almost a month before the meeting, the emails reveal.

This confirms why people were appalled at Angus Robertson's actions. This worsens an already bad situation.

Kenny MacAskill, Alba Party

They said they had received a request "for the new Deputy Head of Mission to see the FM and Cabinet Secretaries".

Stating that they were inclined to "recommend that the Cabinet Secretary accepts the meeting", they requested "a briefing on the visit". A Foreign Office civil servant said Whitehall could provide the "latest briefing lines".

A Scottish Government official replied: "Yes please to the lines - I'm keen we're on the same page."

In public, SNP ministers have emphasised their different attitude to the Gaza war, calling for a ceasefire before either Labour or the Conservatives backed the demand. Swinney wrote to both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer last May demanding that the UK recognises a Palestinian state.

Another email stated that SNP special advisers had "asked what the FCDO advice was on these matters", with a civil servant replying: "On meeting the Deputy Head of Mission, they're relaxed. It's a normal diplomatic meeting. I'll ask them for all the latest lines in advance of any meeting."

Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater said: "The Scottish Government has rightly taken a different position from Westminster on the killing, and has actively, and publicly condemned Israel's actions and demanded a ceasefire, which made the meeting even more shocking.

She added: "The UK government has armed and supported the Israeli bombardment right from the start, so it is concerning that the Scottish Government worked in-step with the Foreign Office to get the go-ahead for such a meeting to take place."

The emails reveal that Swinney's private office was closely involved in planning the meeting - and responding to the backlash - throughout. International relations officials even discussed tweeting a picture of the event with Swinney's press adviser Jack Middleton. The official asked: "Just to check before I publish tweet - did we get the pic from embassy? If not, I'll issue without."

Alba Party acting leader Kenny MacAskill, who served as justice secretary under Salmond, said: "This confirms why people were appalled at Angus Robertson's actions. This worsens an already bad situation.

"No wonder the ...

Young people leaving care are still being left homeless and at risk, in unsuitable hostels surrounded by drugs, or too afraid to sleep at night despite a Scottish Government "promise" to ensure they are given a safe and loving home for as long as needed, The Ferret has heard.

The failures are being highlighted by a new report - due to be released this week - which calls for urgent action to be taken to prevent homelessness for care leavers.

The "progress report", which The Ferret was given exclusive sight of, marks the fifth anniversary of then-first minister Nicola Sturgeon's flagship care review - known as 'The Promise'.

The Promise - aimed at improving the life chances of children in care homes, foster and other forms of state care - was launched in February 2020. It said all children in the care system must grow up "loved, safe and respected". Its recommendations are due to be fully implemented by 2030.

But now the Promise oversight board, appointed to oversee the commitment, has made a sharp critique of the Scottish Government's failure to address youth homelessness in its latest report, due to be published on 5 February.

What young people need is not just housing - it's a home.

David Anderson, The Promise Oversight Board

While commending progress in some other areas, the report will say that the oversight board's direct requests for the government to address the number of children leaving care homeless have gone unheeded.

"No reasonable explanation" has been given as to why action has not been taken, according to the report.

The chair of the review's oversight board told The Ferret "the promise has already been broken to some young people" and said the commitments to young people in care could not be fulfilled unless their right to a home was upheld.

In the last two years there has been a 14 per cent increase in care leavers under 25 being homeless or threatened with homelessness, according to the latest Scottish homeless data.

Pressure on housing is well established. In May 2024 the Scottish Government announced a national housing emergency, following similar declarations by councils in Glasgow and Edinburgh the year before.

Homeless crisis sparks call for Scotland to declare 'national housing emergency'

The Scottish Government said tackling the housing emergency for everyone, including those in care, would "remain the Scottish Government's focus for 2025".

The row over the lack of homeless support dates back to October 2022 when the Scottish Government "paused" a 2019 agreement with local authorities which stated young people leaving care should have priority for housing support.

The Promise oversight board raised concerns in its second report in July 2023. Four months later the board wrote to both housing minister Paul McLennan and Marie Todd, minister for social care and mental wellbeing, calling for the government to reconsider.

Both letters made the link between homelessness and the raised risk of "tragic early death" for young care leavers. Yet despite follow-up meetings the policy has remained stubbornly on hold.

The oversight board's latest report disputes the government's claim that "current action is sufficient" and reassurance that "local authorities are continuing to prioritise young care leavers," pointing out that the homeless statistics show the situation is getting worse not better.

"We strongly urge government to either reinstate or replace this provision," the report adds. "The right to a home is fundamental to the promise being kept."

The report also calls for more affordable homes, particularly those suited for larger families and for action to be taken on the number of children spending months or longer in temporary accommodation, which puts pressure on already stretched families.

People need to think 'what if it was my child?'

Emily Cutts, G20 Works

Speaking to The Ferret , the board's chair, David Anderson, acknowledged work towards resolving the issue was ongoing. Last Thursday a Scottish Gove...

Residents of Leith's famous "banana flats" claim Edinburgh City Council is breaching their human rights after persistent issues with toxic black mould, faulty lifts, drug dealing, and problems with rats and mice.

A new report by the campaign group residents have formed alleges that the council, which owns all but four of the flats, has failed to invest in the building, depriving those in the block of their human right to decent housing.

Cables Wynd House - known as the banana flats due to its curved shape - is an Edinburgh landmark made infamous as the home of Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson from Irvine Welsh's 1993 novel Trainspotting.

Built in the 1960s in the brutalist architectural style, it was category A listed in 2017, which means it is considered to be a building of national or international importance.

Last summer the group successfully petitioned the council over its failure to repair lifts. Now it has released a report revealing over half of residents experienced dampness and mould last year. The report is based on three years of research, with residents surveyed in 2022 and 2024.

Residents fighting back

Fifty-three per cent of residents reported problems with mould and 63 per cent said they had problems with pests such as mice, rats and pigeons. Four in ten said the problems with their home negatively impacted their mental health.

In August 2022 Edinburgh City Council announced it was planning a refurbishment of the flats. But residents, while welcoming the news, insist that their views must be at the heart of plans. They are concerned about the length of time that it may take and have called for action on the most pressing issues by July this year.

Kirsty Chatwood, who has been a resident of Cables Wynd House for 22 years, said living in the flats had positives such as great views and neighbours. "But there are downsides too, such as the lack of maintenance and the impact that has on all our lives," she added.

A previous refit of kitchens and bathrooms did not work out as planned and the group are determined that this time they will get the housing that they are entitled to under human rights legislation.

Issues like black mould that won't wait for five years. We need those sorted. We're doing this not only for residents here but for those in similar situations across Scotland.

Kirsty Chatwood, resident

"Last time we were promised the moon and back. But that's not how it worked out. The council has been completely irresponsible. So there's a lot of fear and anxiety about how successful this next planned refurb will be," she added.

"Issues like black mould that won't wait for five years. We need those sorted. We're doing this not only for residents here but for those in similar situations across Scotland."

When Stacey Panda moved in with her baby 10 years ago she had previously been homeless and was grateful for somewhere to stay. But soon the mice and drug dealing in the building started to wear her down.

"To be honest, I would happily leave, but it is so extortionate to rent privately and hard to find anyone to swap," she told The Ferret. "So I want to fight to make it better. Some people have just given up. I want to do this for them too."

Cables Wynd residents have lived with substandard housing for too long. The health and wellbeing of 250 residents is being impacted by housing failures.

Lorraine Barrie, Making Rights Real

Lorraine Barrie of human rights campaign Making Rights Real, who has been supporting the residents group, said: "Cables Wynd residents have lived with substandard housing for too long. The health and wellbeing of 250 residents is being impacted by housing failures.

"With the millions of pounds being invested by the council it is vital monies are well spent and the best outcomes are achieved - by listening and involving residents. Their report is an impressive collection of the experiences of residents young and old. This is true grassroots community participation in action."

The report was al...

A major trade union has challenged an elite Scottish golf club - which costs more than £100,000 to join - to honour its commitment to pay the living wage after it advertised a job paying below the benchmark fee.

Unite criticised Loch Lomond Golf Club's November advert for a £12 per hour spa receptionist position, after the real hourly living wage for over 18s was raised from £12 to £12.60 the previous month.

The golf club, a certified living wage employer, did not respond to a request to comment.

The Living Wage Foundation, which accredits the club, told The Ferret that employers have six months to up their pay after it publishes the living wage each year. But Unite called the discrepancy "inexcusable".

The row comes after the union accused the Living Wage Foundation of "ethics washing", following allegations from cleaners that it had accredited another firm paying outsourced workers below the living wage.

Revealed: The secret owners of elite Scots golf club

On 19 January, we revealed that Loch Lomond Golf Club has counted major political donors, a Labour lord, footballers and senior bankers among past shareholders of its parent company, which is registered in the Cayman Islands - a tax haven.

The club is open only to members who can join on a strict invite-only policy, and the entry fees are estimated at well over £100,000 today.

A recent advert for a housekeeping role at the club does not specify an hourly rate, but promises tips, free meals and, in 2025, £2,500 per annum in addition to wages. Workers can also access discounted use of the club's facilities, including a round of golf.

But Unite argues the club should immediately raise salaries for its lowest paid workers.

Golf club living wage discrepancy 'inexcusable'

"For any employer - especially a prestigious local brand - to claim to be a living wage employer without actually paying the rate is inexcusable," said Bryan Simpson, Unite's lead organiser for hospitality.

The real living wage "exists to ensure that workers are paid a wage they can live on and customers can be made aware of who the decent employers are," he argued.

"Hospitality is already the lowest paid sector in the Scottish economy." He added: "We would urge Loch Lomond Golf Club to do the right thing and pay their workers the *real* living wage of £12.60 which they claim they pay before any more reputational damage is done."

Lorna Slater, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, echoed Simposn's view. "I urge Loch Lomond Golf Club to address this immediately," she said. "Every worker deserves a real living wage and an end to the stress, anxiety and pain that comes from poverty pay.

"Prestigious and high profile venues need to be leading by example."

A spokesman for the Living Wage Foundation said: "We encourage accredited employers to implement the new rates at the earliest opportunity, and we know that many do. However, to make it practical and possible for employers, we do offer a six-month implementation period, so the deadline for employers to implement the new rates is May 2025.

"Loch Lomond Golf Club are therefore in compliance with the terms of their accreditation as long as all real Living Wage roles are uprated to the new rates by this deadline."

Header image credit: Kindel Media via Pexels.

The physical and mental abuse Sana suffered took place over many years and left her isolated, lonely and "psychologically destroyed".

A Kurdish refugee living in Glasgow, she is talking candidly about the extreme violence she suffered at the hands of her former husband and his family.

Sana - we've changed her name to protect her identity - is speaking to The Ferret at Freedom from Torture's (FFT) centre in Glasgow where torture survivors are counselled and helped to rebuild their lives.

She has agreed to talk about her past as part of a new campaign by the charity's Women Together group which aims to raise awareness about the scale of gender-based violence in the UK and abroad, while urging politicians to ensure there is effective support to help survivors overcome trauma.

Many people supported by FFT in Glasgow are refugee women and all have survived horrific violence in their home countries and also some in Scotland. They include Sana who had to leave Iraqi-Kurdistan for safety. As a child, she was deprived of an education when her father arranged her marriage to an older man who constantly beat her. His parents supported the abusive behaviour and Sana was even separated from her only child.

"Being physically and psychologically tortured daily was not easy to bear, and the pain and suffering were unimaginable," she explains. "I lost myself and my sense of existence - I felt like I was just nothing. This constant state of fear made me feel even more powerless and trapped. Additionally, I was deprived of my right to be a mother, which compounded my feelings of loss and despair."

Violence against women is endemic in many countries. In the UK, the government said last year it was treating violence against women and girls as a "national emergency" after it emerged offences in England and Wales had risen by 37 per cent between 2018 and 2023. At least one in every 12 women will be a victim each year, a report by the National Police Chiefs Council said, with the exact number of victims expected to be much higher.

In Scotland, where figures are logged differently, there were 14,484 sexual crimes recorded by Police Scotland last year and 63,867 incidents of domestic abuse - an increase of three per cent compared to the previous year. That equates to 5,322 incidents every month, or around 177 each day.

Only this month, the family of a young mum who died four years ago demanded that police investigate claims her death might not have been suicide. Demi Hannaway, from Airdrie, died in May 2021 after being the subject of physical and mental abuse at the hands of her partner Andrew Brown.

FFT - which campaigns against torture and for the rights of survivors seeking asylum in the UK - is one of many charities helping women who have survived violence. Established in 1985 in England, the UK-wide charity has helped more than 50,000 people from at least 100 nations. Savage beatings, whippings, burnings, cuttings and rape are all common methods of torture, FFT says.

Its Scottish facility opened in Glasgow in July 2004. The organisation's head of clinical services in Scotland, Paula Shiels, says that on a daily basis staff witness first-hand the "very real impact" that gender-based violence has on people's lives. "It's shameful that the survivors we support, who have endured violence in their home countries, continue to encounter it in this country," adds Sheils, who is calling on both the Scottish and UK governments to invest in programmes to better protect women and girls.

The campaign by the Women Together group aims to advance women's rights and ensure they have better access to vital services such as mental health support and legal assistance. Women from Black and ethnic minority communities who suffer domestic violence often face additional barriers around language, police discrimination and immigration rules, which means crimes may be under-reported.

Being physically and psychologically tortured daily was not easy to bear, and the pain a...

Fish farms have broken environmental rules more than 100 times in the last two years, according to Scottish Government regulators.

Figures released by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) suggested that the industry's record was one of the worst in Scotland. Breaches included waste discharges, pesticide misuse, seabed pollution, misplaced fish cages and excessive numbers of fish.

The biggest offender was Norwegian-owned salmon farming company, Mowi, which had 60 breaches at 40 sites. Other salmon multinationals with significant numbers of breaches were Scottish Sea Farms with 22, Bakkafrost with nine and Cooke Aquaculture with eight.

The companies said that the breaches were often "not submitting mountains of paperwork on time". They insisted that the industry was one of the most regulated in Scotland, and that compliance was "extremely high".

According to Mowi, the majority of the breaches were "administrative". There was "little to no evidence" to suggest lasting negative impacts on the marine environment, the company said.

Campaigners, however, attacked the industry for harming the environment and "putting profits before planet". They demanded a "crackdown" on offending companies and a moratorium on any new or expanded fish farms.

They also criticised Sepa for being a "toothless regulator", allowing fish farms to break the rules "with impunity". Companies should be fined and prosecuted if they keep breaking the rules, they argued.

Sepa also came under fire from salmon companies for failing to replace its compliance assessment scheme, which was lost after a cyber attack in 2020. Sepa said it was developing a "new approach", which will be subject to public consultation.

Sepa released a list of recent "non-compliances" by all industries in Scotland in response to a freedom of information request by The Ferret. On 12 January 2025 we revealed that there had been a total of 1,616 breaches at 966 sites.

'Alarming' environmental breaches spark calls for tougher action

Breaches by fish farming companies were the second highest of any sector regulated by Sepa. There were 117 breaches listed at 85 sites, including 36 in 2024 (up to 4th September), 79 in 2023, one in 2022 and one in 2021.

That was higher than the metals industry (116), the packaging industry (106), landfill sites (101), poultry production (71), whisky distilleries (60), chemical manufacturers (31) and oil and gas plants (10). Only water and sewage sites recorded more breaches (426).

Sepa categorised 53 of the breaches by fish farming companies as "major non compliant" and 64 as "non compliant". In its released spreadsheet, the agency just said these were due to "emissions", "monitoring, recording and reporting", "site management" or "unauthorised" activities.

When asked to explain further, Sepa told The Ferret that the breaches included "the failure to comply with effluent quality standards at fish hatcheries", and "failures to comply with the authorisation conditions relating to the use of medicines at fish farms."

Other breaches were fish cages "located outwith the area identified in authorisation conditions" and "exceedance of the authorised biomass". Another was the impact on the seabed "being greater than that which is permitted".

Of the 85 sites with breaches, 25 recorded two or more. There were 60 breaches at 40 Mowi sites, 22 at 20 Scottish Sea Farms sites, nine at four Bakkafrost sites and eight at seven Cooke Aquaculture sites. There were 18 breaches at 14 other sites.

Sepa said it intervened "swiftly and effectively where necessary" and was "dedicated" to tackling non-compliance. It expected operators to "comply with their obligations in legislation," a spokesperson added.

"Where Sepa identifies non-compliance, we will communicate this in writing to the authorisation holder. This approach is central to our efforts to ensure environmental responsibilities are met and maintained."

Sepa said it was "developing a new approach to compliance assess...