Highland development has made major strides - but there is still more to be done
Last week I hosted newly-minted Secretary of State for Scotland, Douglas Alexander MP, to dinner in Inverness. Douglas had a series of events in the north, including a major Green Freeport announcement, along with Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes.
It was a pleasure to see Douglas again – we were MPs together during my eight years in Westminster. It was clear to me then that he was a rising political star. He is uber smart, articulate and had close relationships with both Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. He lost his parliamentary seat to the SNP landslide in 2015, to 20 year old Mhairi Black. Many critics wrote him off then, but he returned to a different Scottish seat and was immediately promoted to Minister of State at Trade by Sir Keir Starmer after the general election last year.
His elevation to the cabinet a few weeks ago puts him in pole position, along with Anas Sarwar, to drive Labour’s Scottish Parliament election next year.
Over dinner, we touched on several key Highland issues. I also flagged up an important political event this year – the 60th anniversary of the formation of the Highlands and Islands Development Board (HIDB) in November 1965.
I guess this, then, is the Diamond Jubilee of a transformational organisation, which has been so influential on the economic and social life of Highlanders in the 1960s and beyond.
But I am getting ahead of myself – why set up a development agency for the region in 1965? A journalist for the Picture Post – a prominent British magazine in the 1950s and 60s - painted a gloomy picture: “the Highlands & Islands having become Britain’s most gravely depressed area.”
Willie Ross, the Labour Secretary of State for Scotland under Harold Wilson, said: “For 200 years, the Highlands has been the man on Scotland’s conscience. No part of Scotland has been given a shabbier deal by history.”
Government reports in the early 1960s studying the Highlands and Islands describe population decline, outward drift, ageing population, poorly-paid employment and remoter areas “no longer able to maintain themselves.”
The legislation to create HIDB was rushed through Westminster by the Labour government to fanfare and cross-party support. Its remit was impressive and wide-ranging – including preparing, concerting, promoting, assisting and undertaking measures for economic and social development of the Highlands and Islands.
Of course, HIDB was not a silver bullet which was going to cure all the historic structural problems of the area overnight, but even the fiercest critic of the organisation would acknowledge the turnaround in population growth, living standards, introduction of new industries and the wealth of opportunities created over subsequent decades.
However, that turnaround did not change the mind of one unnamed Highland regional councillor, who proclaimed: “All that the HIDB has done is waste public money. But thank God that money’s being wasted here!”
HIDB is no more, but its successor body, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), has worked on HIDB’s foundation to support centres of excellence, such as the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney and the Highland Diabetes Institute in Inverness.
HIDB was a seminal organisation that turned around economic and social conditions in the north, but the battle has not yet been won – we need to further devolve power and decision-making to the Highlands, so that devolution does not stop in Edinburgh.