Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick has expressed her delight in regards to vital funding support that will be available in next year’s Scottish Budget, including the Welfare Fund and the Discretionary Housing Payment. This is a part of the 2022-2023 Scottish Government Annual Budget announcement and includes ambitious plans to be implemented to make [...]

Emma Roddick has quizzed the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Kate Forbes, on how her new Scottish Budget will address depopulation in the Highlands and Islands. Roddick said: “The drivers of depopulation range from infrastructure issues to wages and job opportunities, and internet connectivity to healthcare. “If we are serious about tackling depopulation in our rural [...]

SNP MSP Emma Roddick has urged residents of the Highlands and Islands to respond to the ongoing consultation on the fourth iteration of the National Planning Framework, which will set out Scotland’s development and infrastructure needs up to the year 2045. Commenting, Roddick said: “People only tend to object to or express support for proposed [...]

Emma Roddick MSP SNP MSP Emma Roddick has welcomed the news that teachers in Shetland are paid £1,350-a-year more than the UK average teaching salary. UK government figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the average annual salary for full-time Scottish teachers and other education professionals is £41,350. This compares with a UK average of just more than £40,000. That extra £1,350 for 329 [...]

SNP MSP Emma Roddick has called on the Tory UK Government to make good on the money Scotland and Northern Ireland are owed as their share of the £20 billion from Boris Johnson’s ill-fated plan to build a bridge to Northern Ireland. The project – promoted by Boris Johnson – was costed at £20 billion, [...]

Emma Roddick MSP Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick has expressed her support for including inter-island ferry fares in the planned rollout of free bus travel for under-22s. Roddick said: “I am supportive of the free bus travel scheme expanding to include inter-island ferries and have previously written to the minister to pursue this. “On [...]

https://twitter.com/Emma_Roddick/status/1458466941014790148?s=20 Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick has pressed Tom Arthur, Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth, for clarifications regarding supporting suitable renewable energy developments which will ensure the case for an interconnector for Orkney. Ofgem’s approval for a new cable is reliant on at least 135 MW of new energy generation projects [...]

Emma in Parliament delivering a speech Speaking in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 28th October, Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick highlighted the need for extra funding to social housing providers in Scotland’s islands to assist them in meeting new building standards introduced in the last session of parliament. Social housing providers are now required [...]

SNP MSP Emma Roddick today slammed the UK Government budget, criticising it as “an act of class warfare on the side of the rich.” The budget, described by the head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies as “actually awful” for living standards, was panned by the Highlands and Islands MSP, citing its failures to tackle [...]

Emma Roddick MSP is pleased with the announcement made today, the 25th of October, regarding a ‘Framework for discussion’ being reached in the Highlands and Islands air traffic control dispute. Roddick said: "I am delighted to hear that Prospect and HIAL have been able to come to an agreement regarding the future of the airports [...]