MP Angus MacDonald says ‘I am giving it my all’ one year on from general election win with energy revenue for the Highlands and care homes his main issues
Can it really be a year since I was elected as MP? Time has flown past. Everyone asks - what is it like? Are the politicians awful? Don’t you hate the braying at Prime Ministers Question Time? Can you make a difference? How do you cope with the travel?
For me, the standout thing is how quickly the Labour Government, despite its massive majority, started making major mistakes. Immediately they cut the winter fuel allowance, their 8.7 per cent increase in National Insurance has hit vulnerable sectors - particularly the care sector and charities, and businesses are struggling.
They should have increased tax on the well-off and corporations, especially online giants. Labour MP’s are rebelling, Keir Stammer is deeply unpopular and his Chancellor looks set to be sacked.
Globally, things are really unsettled. Trump is lumbering around making unconsidered remarks, threatening to take over Gaza, Canada and Greenland, bullying Zelensky, crashing the global economy with his tariffs, falling in love with then fighting Musk, and introducing a $3 trillion ‘big beautiful bill’ that will make the rich richer at the expense of the poor.
At the start of Parliament, Nigel Farage was full of talk about attending Trump’s inauguration and getting $100m from Musk, how DOGE was great and of his admiration for Putin. These fair-weather friends don’t seem to have helped him. I think that Reform will be a short lived movement, but time will tell.
I was told that to be really effective I should have two campaigns, and work on them ceaselessly.
My first campaign is energy, specifically delivering community benefits from renewable energy. The Highlands is having billions invested, mostly from foreign businesses, in wind farms and pump storage.
Our energy is twice the cost of that in Europe and four times that of the USA, yet we produce much of it here. From my conversations on doorsteps, community meetings, and via emails and calls I know that too many Highland communities feel decisions are being imposed on them, not made with them.
It is with in mind that the Highland Liberal Democrats are calling for a public inquiry into how the grid is proposed to be upgraded alongside a comprehensive, transparent and effective clean energy strategy. While planning decisions mostly sit within the powers of the Scottish Government – they must not be allowed to dismiss out of hand these concerns, not least questions of proportionality, scale of disruption, and the impact on the environment.
With community benefits I have a lot more influence and so it’s been my focus. In 2023, only £9 million was paid as community benefits in the Highlands, which is clearly far too little.
I am calling for five per cent of total revenue to be legislated, and the energy department is carrying out a consultation which I’m positive will have an encouraging outcome.
The perfect scenario is to have locally owned or partially owned projects. Benefits from these projects could take the form of fuel vouchers, social housing, and investment into our health and social care. Our energy should, and if my efforts are successful, will make a real difference to the prosperity of the Highlands.
My second campaign is care homes - or rather, trying to solve the lack of them. As the population grows, Raigmore increasingly struggles. At times it has been at 103 per cent of capacity, with many of the beds taken up by elderly from across the Highlands waiting for care home space.
The Highlands has the highest level of delayed discharges in Scotland, a bed in an acute hospital costs three times as much than a care home. In April, I published a major survey and report on this issue, looking at demographic changes, staffing problems, and delayed discharges.
I’m calling for four sixty-bed care homes with staff accommodation in Skye, Ullapool, Fort Augustus and Fort William. I am continually meeting Scottish Government Ministers, top NHS and Highland Council people, and geriatric experts.
I’m hosting a roundtable to try and solve these issues this autumn in Fort William. We need capacity at Raigmore to be freed up to reduce waiting times for operations.
In addition, there’s the daily debates and bills in Parliament. With everything, my first thought is always “How can this help the Highlands?”.
I’m always here to do what I can - I do online surgeries on a Monday morning, and a superb team is always keen to help.
Please get in touch via angus.macdonald.mp@parliament.uk
Thank you very much for entrusting me to represent you in Westminster, I’m giving it my all.
