A SCOTTISH Conservative candidate who was suspended in a row over race has become embroiled in a fresh controversy over climate change. Philip Lardner, the Tories' Westminster candidate in North Ayrshire and Arran, said the link between carbon emissions and global warming was being exaggerated by "doom sayers" and a self-interested "climate change lobby".

Lardner, 41, an advocate of nuclear power, attacked those promoting wind farms as a sustainable energy source.

"I hugely resent the subsidies that are being paid to wind-farm companies," he said. "Literally billions of pounds are being handed over to these people. They make a profit whether they generate any electricity at all."

Some of Lardner's comments were captured on film last month in Renfrew at the inaugural Scottish meeting of the right-wing Freedom Association. Lardner, a primary school teacher, is the association's Scottish spokesman. The clip has been posted on the internet.

The remarks are an embarrassment for David Cameron, the Tory leader, who has gone out of his way to portray his party as more environmentally sensitive, and accepts carbon emissions cause global warming.

At the Conservative national conference in Birmingham recently, Cameron's "plan for change" in government included a new levy to encourage "low-carbon energy use", and "at least three carbon capture and storage" projects over the next decade.

Labour and the SNP said Lardner had become a serial liability to the Tories, and a symbol of outdated attitudes.

The Conservative shadow Scottish secretary said the matter would be investigated by the party.

Lardner admitted his "scepticism" was not party policy, but denied he was at odds with the Conservatives' official line. "I'm not saying that the climate change argument is completely wrong. I'm just saying that a lot of the facts behind it is are questionable. There's a lot of money in the climate change lobby.

"The average world temperature has not increased since 1998.

"I don't claim to have an explanation as to why the weather changes. There are lots of potential reasons."

Earlier this year, Lardner was suspended by his party after naming Ian Smith, the racist former leader of Rhodesia, as one of his political heroes.

He was reinstated as a candidate last month, 16 days before his remarks on climate change.

Kenny Gibson, the SNP MSP for Cunninghame North, said: "Lardner is someone from a bygone era who no longer has a place in the modern Conservative Party."

Katy Clark, the Labour MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, said: "I don't think local people are going to be impressed by these comments. They're completely out of line with Conservative national party policy."

Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "Lardner's comments are clearly ill-informed. David Cameron argues that tackling climate change is a massive job- creation opportunity for our economy."