Thousands march on Scotland’s parliament to stop 23 giant AI data centres

An estimated 6,000 people marched down Edinburgh’s Royal Mile to the Scottish Parliament on Saturday to fight at least 23 giant AI data centres planned across Scotland. Backed by more than 75 groups, led by Friends of the Earth Scotland and Action to Protect Rural Scotland, they want every project paused until the public gets a say.

A pause, then a “national conversation”

The 6,000 figure came from Kim Pratt, a senior campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland, who said that was the number she had been told; no police estimate was reported. The coalition, which includes trade unions, tenants’ groups, anti-war campaigners and local residents fighting individual sites, wants the Scottish Government to consult the public on AI data centres before it approves any. Speaking at the march, Pratt said:

What we would like to see is a pause on all the developments that are happening right now, and then a national conversation for the people of Scotland.

Kim Pratt, senior campaigner, Friends of the Earth Scotland

She said the government had still not explained why it thinks the data centres need to be built in Scotland. Gail Scott of the Cockenzie Communities Action Group, whose East Lothian village faces a hyperscale project on a 70-acre site, said her community was facing “constant pollution and health risks”, adding: “Elected representatives are meant to protect the interests of their citizens.”

In statements issued before the march, Claire Robertson of Edinburgh Trades Union Council said “We demand that public resources are protected under democratic control”, and Gordon Maloney, chair of the tenants’ union Living Rent Edinburgh, said “We need our politicians to stand up for the people who live in Scotland”. Organisers called the march one of more than 70 protests against data centres in 15 countries this month.

Three times Scotland’s peak power demand

The scale is what alarms campaigners. In evidence to Holyrood’s Climate Action Committee on October 20, Action to Protect Rural Scotland said there are 23 proposals for hyperscale data centres in planning or pre-planning, each between 125 and 1,000 megawatts, totalling 7.3 gigawatts of demand. Scotland’s peak winter electricity demand is around 4 gigawatts, according to the National Energy System Operator, so building them all would more than triple it.

By contrast, the group estimated that Scotland’s operational data centres added up to between 10 and 30 megawatts in 2024. It says the new sites are plainly for AI, meaning model training and inference for US tech companies, not the banking, NHS records and web hosting that existing centres handle.

What Holyrood has already done

MSPs have already moved part of the way. On September 16 the Scottish Parliament debated a Scottish Greens motion from Patrick Harvie calling for a moratorium, and passed an amended version instead. It asks the government to report on national planning guidance for hyperscale data centres by the end of 2026, publish it within 12 months, and says no planning or consenting decisions on such applications should be made until it is out. Some reports called this a halt on approvals, but it is a parliamentary motion rather than a legal ban.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said it “will be publishing new planning guidance on data centres before the end of the year”. Councils must now notify ministers of new data centre applications, and a new planning direction requires an environmental impact assessment for any data centre over 50 megawatts. The government said it is also “developing a strategic approach to maximising the public benefit from data centres located in Scotland”.

A backlash that crossed the Atlantic

Edinburgh’s march follows the fights MadRobot has covered in the US, from Palm Beach, Phoenix and Memphis to the midterm votes against data centres in Ohio and Texas. Amazon Web Services boss Matt Garman has warned that this kind of resistance could cost the US the AI race, and Europe faces the same question of who pays for the grid.

Why it matters

Scotland is one of the first places in Europe where opposition to AI data centres has turned into mass street protest and a parliamentary vote. The planning guidance due by the end of the year will decide whether those 23 projects, and 7.3 gigawatts of new demand, go ahead.

Sources: Scottish Parliament Climate Action Committee papers, October 29, 2026, including Action to Protect Rural Scotland’s submission; Scottish Parliament motion S7M-01177; Radio News Hub, via Rother Radio; The NEN (North Edinburgh News).