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Highland workers to protest against Scottish Government rural policy


By Andrew Dixon

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Hugh Macqueen, a farmer and contractor from Strathnairn, who is backing the protest. Picture: LNRC
Hugh Macqueen, a farmer and contractor from Strathnairn, who is backing the protest. Picture: LNRC

Regional land and river workers are set to take part in the first ever online rural protest, demanding politicians take greater account of their contribution to Scotland.

Representatives from the Loch Ness Rural Communities group and Tomatin and Speyside Moorland Groups will join the Rural Workers’ Protest 2021 on Friday.

The event has been organised by the Scottish Gamekeepers Association and Scotland’s regional moorland groups and will replace a physical demonstration at Holyrood, originally timetabled for last spring.

That mass event in Edinburgh had to be postponed due to national lockdown but Friday’s protest will be an online event spanning 15 hours – the first such rural demonstration of its kind.

Gamekeepers, shepherds, fishing ghillies, deer managers, businesses, international visitors, chefs, butchers, farmers, equestrian interests, anglers, falconers, pest controllers, wildlife photographers and some MSPs have pledged support.

Rural workers have grown frustrated at a lack of proper representation in parliament which they feel poorly reflects their contribution of centuries of practical knowledge on land and river.

They feel Scottish Government is playing more to urban voters.

After May’s election, they want a specific cross-party forum established at Holyrood where politicians can hear rural workers’ issues first hand and practical learning events can be planned.

“This has been building up for some time,” said Jenny McCallum, co-ordinator of Loch Ness Rural Communities.

“Rural workers are the backbone of the countryside. They are often working unsociable hours yet they will sacrifice family time trying to write to MSPs and answer the countless pro forma consultations sent from offices in the parliament. Sometimes emails aren’t even acknowledged.”

Leanne Jaundrell, co-ordinator of Tomatin and Speyside moorland groups, said: “Politicians are no longer coming out to visit rural working constituents in their villages and workplaces yet policies impacting their jobs and livelihoods are being taken.

“On land and river, there has been a real disgruntlement at some of the Scottish Government’s decisions. People have had enough. They want to send a strong message that they need a different kind of politics.”

A protest pledge for change, which will be sent to Scottish Government, has been signed online more than 1000 times.

Poor broadband coverage in some rural areas has meant that some participants have been forced to resort to phoning messages for others to post on their behalf.

“It is good to see rural workers and their dependents coming together under one cause. Decisions being made don’t just affect one interest or sector, there is a wider network connected to estates, farms and fisheries, from businesses and trades to people who just respect the rural cultural heritage,” said Hugh Macqueen, a farmer and contractor from Strathnairn.

Click here for more on the protest.


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