Inside Holyrood: A Highland MSP's job is to make sure Edinburgh listens to the needs of communities in the north but that is not easy because after more than 14 years of SNP government 'their focus has too often been on the Central Belt'
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston argues the SNP-Green coalition will make things worse for people in the Highlands
As an MSP for the Highlands and Islands, one of the most important parts of my job is working to ensure the government in Edinburgh listens to what our communities up here need.
This is not an easy task. Because during the more than 14 years of this current SNP government, their focus has too often been on the Central Belt.
And in recent months, things have got worse. We now have a coalition government in all but name, and a First Minister desperate to keep her Green partners happy.
So while improving our roads – vital for communities like ours where cars are often the only real option – should be a priority for anyone who understands the challenges of our region, we now see promised schemes to dual the A9 and the A96 facing an uncertain future. Why? Because the Greens want to stop road-building.
And then there is the oil and gas sector, a major employer and investor across the Highlands and Islands. Nicola Sturgeon has turned her back on the industry and those livelihoods it supports, happy to oppose any further projects just to placate her new coalition partners.
Only a few years ago, the SNP were telling us that oil revenues would fund the huge gap in the public finances of an independent Scotland. But now “It’s Scotland’s Oil” … but only if it stays in the ground.
She would rather see Scotland import oil and gas from countries like Russia and Qatar than use our own resources. That makes no sense.
And there are the usual areas of concern too. The Edinburgh government’s lack of focus has left too many of our Highland communities with slow broadband. Too many with local health services threatened, reduced or lost entirely. With pressure on ambulances services – a national issue – but one which can be more acute in the Highlands because of our rurality.
And many of our local businesses – particularly in our important tourism sector - are under real pressure because of Covid and Scottish Government restrictions. But while they are still recovering from the pandemic, they are now being threatened with new regulations being introduced by the SNP to address an issue largely of concern only in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Even senior SNP figures have recognised the damage their own party is doing. We have seen growing discontent in both the SNP and the wider nationalist movement, recognising the SNP’s failure to make progress on either independence or their domestic agenda.
But Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP-Green loyalists will push on regardless, content to deliver only increasingly hollow excuses in lieu of delivering on her promises. And she will continue to surround herself with those who agree with her, because there’s no one in her government brave enough not to.
And that’s bad news for our communities up here in the north.
