MSP SAYS GOVERNMENT CAN’T FORGET HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS POTENTIAL

SNP MSP Emma Roddick has asked the Scottish Parliament to remember the positive potential of the Highlands and Islands when considering how to address depopulation.

In a debate led by the Tory colleague Tim Eagle, she asked the Government not to think of rural and island areas simply as places that need money to remain sustainable, but as places that Scotland needs to be “vibrant, productive, and innovative.”

She said:

“I think it’s important that people remember the positive impact of our rural and island areas. It’s not just a matter of us needing investment, it’s about us deserving investment and vibrant, productive, and innovative rural and island areas being a necessity for the success of the whole country.

“We can acknowledge the challenge that services are under while also promoting the opportunities to people who may want to move areas that are suffering depopulation.

“If we have busy agricultural, fisheries, space, energy, and other rural – and island-led sectors, all of Scotland benefits. It’s not that we are a charity case: we provide green energy, world-leading ideas and research, and food and drink resilience. Our success is not a bonus, it’s a necessity.

“I’m proud to live in the Highlands and Islands, and to have connections from Argyll to Shetland. I don’t want people to think I’m trying to divert blame or deny challenges: we have to acknowledge and tackle challenges and shortfalls in support for rural an island areas. But we have to talk ourselves up at the same time if we want people to join us and move into the new houses we must build and take up the new jobs we must create.”