Official Report 881KB pdf
The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-17598, in the name of Mairi Gougeon, on empowering Scotland’s island communities. I encourage members who wish to participate in the debate to press their request-to-speak buttons now or as soon as possible.
15:17
I am glad to open the debate and highlight the enduring importance of Scotland’s island communities and businesses. I will take this opportunity to outline the work that the Scottish Government has undertaken in partnership with communities, businesses and local authorities to promote our islands’ voices and support their aspirations. In addition, I would like to update members on the development of a new national islands plan and on the progress that has been made on implementing the carbon neutral islands project.
Scotland’s islands are an integral part of our national character, and they continue to play a vital role in how we are perceived around the globe. Island economies combine a mix of tradition and innovation that spans a diverse range of sectors, from farming and crofting to agritourism, and from food and drink to spaceports and, of course, fishing and aquaculture.
I know that island entrepreneurialism was, rightly, celebrated through a recent members’ business debate that was promoted by Jamie Halcro Johnston. It is only right that we take every opportunity to recognise and champion rural and island businesses and their central role in sustaining our island communities. Next week, we will mark seven years since the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 was approved by this Parliament. To this day, Scotland remains one of the few countries worldwide with an island-specific piece of legislation. We should be very proud of that and continue to celebrate it.
The 2018 act introduced an explicit requirement for ministers and 70 other public bodies to have due regard for island communities. Island communities impact assessments are a formal mechanism to ensure that public bodies island proof their decision making by considering our islands’ unique circumstances.
The cabinet secretary is speaking about the due regard that ministers must give to island communities. Why, then, does her motion about empowering our island communities fail to mention ferries?
We are talking about the national islands plan, and this is the opportunity for Parliament to feed into that. I will of course come on to transport, which is an integral part of getting to our islands.
To deliver on another key provision of the 2018 act, Scotland’s first-ever national islands plan was published in December 2019. It was the result of extensive consultation with island communities, and it set out the strategic objectives that have since guided the Scottish Government’s policies and investments for islands.
In the space of just a few years, we have encountered a formidable mix of challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the on-going cost of living crisis, which have impacted our islands significantly. In implementing the plan, we have also had to navigate the detrimental impacts of an unwelcome Brexit. As members have regularly heard me say, Brexit has had profoundly negative consequences for Scotland’s rural and island areas. It has exacerbated labour shortages, created new barriers to trade and stemmed the flow of crucial European Union funding.
In engaging with successive United Kingdom Governments, the Scottish Government has consistently championed the distinct needs of our rural and island communities. However, arbitrary decisions by Governments at Westminster have compounded the damages of Brexit and continue to cause lasting harm to our island communities.
What we witnessed earlier this week is no different. Although the UK-EU summit represents positive momentum in rebuilding our relationship with the European Union, I am deeply disappointed by the UK Government’s lack of meaningful engagement in general and on fisheries in particular. Fisheries is a devolved area, and impacts on fisheries have a disproportionate impact on island jobs and communities.
Despite being at the sharp end of Brexit and the other crises that I mentioned, island communities have shown remarkable resilience. However, the Scottish Government has not taken that for granted. Throughout these difficult times, we have worked with islanders to develop tangible measures to support their economies and wellbeing. For instance, since December 2022, our islands cost crisis emergency fund has helped local authorities to support vulnerable households that are exposed to cost of living pressures. The fund has already distributed £3.4 million, and I am pleased to confirm that a further £1 million will be distributed over the course of 2025 and into 2026.
Much has also been delivered under the national islands plan. Through the islands programme, we have invested more than £15 million in capital for critical infrastructure, which has been used to address locally identified priorities and to fund community-led projects. The fund has supported 70 projects across 51 islands, including the provision of social care facilities on Tiree, a new nursery in Orkney, harbour facilities on Skye and a community hub on Eriskay. Earlier this month, I was delighted to write to local authorities to confirm that another £5.3 million has been allocated to the islands programme for the coming year.
We know that the delivery of more affordable homes is important for islanders. Between April 2016 and March 2024, we delivered almost 1,300 affordable homes in island communities. Between 2023 and 2028, we are making up to £25 million available through the demand-led rural affordable homes for key workers fund, which is available to local authorities and registered social landlords to purchase existing homes, where there is an identified need.
I get the point that money is being put into those communities, but does the cabinet secretary accept that we still face critical rural depopulation, because there is not enough housing, education and healthcare provision to keep people on the islands? How can the Scottish Government fix those points?
I will touch on that. The member raises a really important point. Depopulation is a critical focus for us as we develop the new plan. It is not an easy thing to fix. We know that there are a number of contributing factors, which is why the work that we are progressing in areas such as housing and transport is hugely important. I will address some of those issues later.
In addition, our £30 million demand-led rural and islands housing fund continues to deliver more affordable homes in island communities, and we recently announced its extension to 2028 as part of our programme for government. To date, 44 per cent of the projects that have been completed with support from the rural and islands housing fund have been delivered on islands.
Each year, we provide nearly £40 million to croft businesses, including through schemes such as the crofting agricultural grant scheme, which, since 2015, has committed more than £31.5 million to help more than 5,000 crofters with their croft businesses. We have also delivered almost £26 million to help to build and improve more than 1,160 croft homes; more than 80 per cent of the grants that were awarded over 2024 were awarded to island-based crofters.
Those are just some examples of the projects that have been delivered; the list is much longer. I refer colleagues to the reports that we have laid annually to update Parliament on investments and initiatives that have been undertaken across portfolios to deliver on the strategic objectives that we set out in the national islands plan.
At the end of 2023, we carried out a public consultation to inform a review of the plan. I put on record the Scottish Government’s gratitude to the many organisations and individuals who contributed to that review.
Does the cabinet secretary agree that the lack of local residents from the islands represented on the boards of quangos and public bodies that provide lifeline services—notably Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd, CalMac Ferries and Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd—means that we lack the local knowledge, which is so important, and which—you never know—could have helped us to avoid the ferry fiasco in the first place had it been available?
Having local voices and engaging with communities is of course vital as we look to deliver critical services.
As I was saying, at the end of 2023 we carried out a public consultation to inform a review of the national islands plan. While the plan was found to be ambitious and comprehensive, those who responded were clear that more needs to be done to improve outcomes for island communities. Notwithstanding the tumultuous times that have had to be navigated in the delivery of the national islands plan, we fully accept the results of the consultation and recognise that island communities continue to face challenges in areas including some that have been touched on today, such as housing, transport and access to health and social care services. I stress clearly that we are listening, and we will continue to work with islanders to deliver real improvements.
Having heard what we did through the consultation, and having reflected on what islanders have told us, we have concluded that a new national islands plan is needed. We have heard that the new plan must be more targeted, with fewer objectives and an even stronger focus on delivering tangible and relatable commitments. In recognition of the demographic challenges that many islands face, population attraction and retention will be the key and overarching objective for the new plan.
Will the cabinet secretary give way?
I am sorry, but I have to make progress.
When we tested the proposal with island communities and local authorities, it received robust endorsement. Commitments that feature in the plan will be geared towards the strategic objective.
We propose having community wealth building as a key principle that underpins delivery of the plan, so actions that feature in the plan will be designed to create and retain wealth and wellbeing locally. Key to all that is ensuring that islanders are at the very heart of the new plan. We have been engaging with island communities and local authorities to inform the new document, and in-person engagements across island areas are on-going. In fact, officials from the islands team are currently in the Outer Hebrides to engage with those communities directly.
Will the cabinet secretary give way on that point?
I am sorry; I am approaching the end of my speech and I need to progress.
While the new national islands plan takes shape, our determination to continue addressing islanders’ challenges and ambitions is already fully reflected in the latest budget and programme for government. On transport, we have introduced free interisland ferry travel for all residents of Shetland, Orkney and the Outer Hebrides who are under the age of 22, and we have extended the free travel voucher scheme.
Another key project that I want to address is the carbon neutral islands project. The Scottish Government continues to take its climate obligations seriously, and we recognise that our islands are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. From the outset, communities have been central to the project, and we have directly supported the employment of community development officers to lead delivery on the ground. There have been several key achievements to date but, to build on those early successes, we have worked closely with island stakeholders and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to develop a financing road map, which is being published today. It sets out a range of initiatives that are in development. We will continue to invest in the islands, with a further £1.6 million of capital allocated this financial year.
The Government is committed to working with our island communities to deliver on their priorities. The next iteration of the national islands plan will build on the progress that has been made to date. As with any work that we undertake—whether it is the development of the new plan, the carbon neutral islands project or all the other activities that I have mentioned—we are deeply conscious of doing things with, and not to, island communities.
I look forward to today’s debate and to continuing to work collaboratively to deliver positive change for our islands. I move the motion on empowering Scotland’s island communities,
That the Parliament recognises Scotland’s islands’ invaluable contribution to Scotland’s economy, culture and identity; welcomes the investments that have accompanied Scotland’s first ever national islands plan; recognises the positive impact that the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 has had, but notes the need for further action to tackle island challenges; welcomes the extensive community engagement to develop the new national islands plan, and notes that measures to address depopulation and create community wealth should be key themes of the new plan; further welcomes the positive progress and impact of the Carbon Neutral Islands project, and agrees that the Scottish Government should continue to work towards prosperous and sustainable island communities.
15:29
As my party’s spokesman on islands, as convener of the Parliament’s cross-party group on islands and as an islander myself, I am delighted to open today’s debate for the Scottish Conservatives.
I do not think that people really understand island life and its challenges unless they live on one—and that is particularly true, it seems, for the Scottish Government. I appreciate that the minister and the cabinet secretary want to talk only about positives today—the Scottish National Party motion makes that very clear—but I want to focus on the challenges of island life and of running a business on our islands, where the SNP could and absolutely should be doing a lot better and where, in too many cases, it is failing islanders so badly.
Colleagues who came to the island showcase that I hosted in Parliament last month, and which the cabinet secretary has mentioned, will know that our islands are all different, with unique characteristics and unique challenges. However, there is a common thread of problems that many of them face, as highlighted in our amendment to the Scottish Government’s motion.
I am sure that colleagues will concentrate on a variety of areas of concern—for example, the challenges of supporting education and learning in our island communities. They might also focus on the growing pressures on health and social care, which mean that far too many people are left without the care that they need, are left waiting for treatment or cannot access a general practitioner. An increasing number of GP services are now available only online, but broadband connectivity does not support that. Indeed, colleagues might focus on farming on our islands—as we will—where costs can be significantly higher.
Those are only some of the issues that islanders and island businesses face. The most high-profile issue is ferries, which are one of the most serious challenges that we face on our islands, both now and in the future. There is a crisis in our ferries network. Between 2015 and 2024, the number of ferries that were cancelled due to technical faults on the Government-owned west coast routes rose by 531 per cent. In 2015, technical faults accounted for only around one in every 10 cancellations; they now account for almost four in 10. Our ferry fleet is ageing and increasingly unreliable, and although this worsening crisis is, for now, largely affecting the west coast, it is a threat to services across Scotland.
Island councils such as my own, in Orkney, and our friends a little bit further north, in Shetland, operate internal ferry networks that keep our island communities connected, but our fleets are ageing, too, with replacement costs likely to run into billions of pounds. There have been talks between island leaders and Scottish ministers—there are always talks; the Government loves talking—but we still do not have a definitive timetable, cost projections or funding commitments that cover the entirety of what needs to be replaced.
When I look out of the window of my home in Orkney and see the nearly 30-year-old MV Hoy Head ploughing through the waves of Scapa Flow, what confidence can I have that she will be replaced when she needs to be, and not be forced to plough on as growing technical issues risk her reliability? Given the SNP’s record, with the over-budget and delayed Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa, the answer is: not a lot. The SNP ferry fiasco, scandal or boorach—delete as appropriate—means that no islander, except perhaps the most loyal SNP supporter, has any real confidence that the Government will get on top of the problem.
In Orkney, we are fairly lucky, because our ferry links with the mainland are operated by NorthLink Ferries and Pentland Ferries. I would suggest that that luck is not entirely unconnected to the fact that SNP ministers have no direct control over the operations of either company.
Ahead of the island showcase that I mentioned, I hosted a number of round tables on various different subjects, with attendees from across our island communities. They were extremely informative, but what was most striking was that virtually every issue came back to a lack of housing in those communities. That has an impact on people’s ability to stay on our islands and bring up their families, and it stops much-needed public sector workers, teachers, nurses and police officers taking jobs on our islands and ensuring that vital services are delivered locally. It means that employers simply do not have the accommodation for staff, which often severely impacts their businesses and even their viability.
Scottish ministers have failed time and again to come anywhere close to the solutions that we need. It is not rocket science—we need to build more houses. Even when Scottish ministers say that they are doing something, the devil is in the detail. The cabinet secretary has mentioned the rural and islands housing funds, but the Government spent £100 million of that money building new city developments. Between 2016 and 2021, the dedicated islands housing fund delivered fewer than 20 homes. Added to that, for many of our smaller island communities, the cost of a private build can be 30 per cent higher than that on the mainland, while planning restrictions continue to be a barrier for many.
Regulatory burdens are an issue for our tourism sector, too. However, instead of reducing those burdens, the Government has forced even more new taxes and new regulations on an important sector for our island communities, and one that is still recovering from some tough years. It has been hit time and time again by this regulation-daft Government.
Short-term lets licensing has seen costs rocket for accommodation providers, forcing many to close entirely. Now they are threatened with the introduction of the visitor levy, the Scottish National Party’s latest tax, which has been so badly thought out that, in the face of widespread anger and opposition, Scottish National Party ministers have said that they are already looking at amending it—or claim that they are. However, the visitor levy is not just a tax that hits our tourism sector; it risks disproportionately hitting islanders, including those who have to travel for medical appointments and need to stay overnight, and families visiting patients in hospital. I ask the ministers on the Government front bench: is that fair? Was that even considered as the bill was developed? Is that really island proofed?
Many island communities feel increasingly detached from central Government and the decisions that are supposedly made on their behalf. They do not have confidence that ministers and officials understand or care about the impact that those decisions will have on islanders’ lives. There is a feeling that when ministers talk about island proofing, what they really mean is island box ticking.
Our islands deserve better than a Scottish Government that legislates from Edinburgh and Glasgow as though the central belt were the only place that mattered. I am an islander, and I and my party know the challenges and the opportunities of our islands. The Scottish Conservatives will always stand up for Scotland’s islanders, our island businesses and our island communities.
I move amendment S6M-17598.2, to leave out from first “welcomes” to end and insert:
“raises significant concerns about the lack of reliable ferry services for many island communities and the challenges that this creates for islanders and businesses, as well as the absence of a long-term plan to provide solutions and funding for a much-improved ferry network; draws attention to the Scottish Human Rights Commission, which found that Scotland’s islanders face a number of human rights challenges; emphasises the acute difficulties that islanders face, including in relation to the increased cost of living for households and businesses, access to health and social care, housing, fisheries, farming and island education; notes the widespread concern about depopulation and considers that not enough has been done to tackle it; highlights criticism raised about the national islands plan in terms of a lack of benefits and progress; appreciates the valuable role that the islands play in Scotland’s tourist industry; raises concern about the potential impact of the Scottish Government’s visitor levy on tourism; recognises the benefits brought by the energy sector on Scotland’s islands, but notes that this sometimes comes into conflict with communities, and urges the Scottish Government to take clear action to tackle all challenges.”
15:35
Our islands are wonderful places, and I am honoured to represent all but two of Scotland’s populated islands. Each island is different, with a different personality, but all islanders have things in common: they are resilient, self-sufficient and quick to help and support others in their community. That is the reality of island living.
The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 built a level of expectation that, I am sad to say, has not been met. The promise was that policy would be island proofed and that islanders would not be disadvantaged due to where they were born or where they had made their home, and the hope was that legislation would help build island economies and stop depopulation. Sadly, that has not happened. Our amendment points to examples such as highly protected marine areas, the ban on wood-burning stoves, the island bonds plan and many other policies that have been designed with no knowledge of islands or their needs.
We need a rural first policy approach in which every policy is tested in rural or island communities to ensure that there are no unintended consequences and that those policies are designed for our island communities. We know that policies designed in rural and island areas work well in urban settings, but the opposite is not the case. Government agencies ignore their obligations under the 2018 act and do not carry out island communities impact assessments; for example, there have been decisions such as the closure of tourist information offices that were obviously detrimental to those communities, but no impact assessment was carried out on them.
The communities of Mull have expressed concerns about the new school campus, but their concerns have been absolutely ignored. That is, of course, an issue for Argyll and Bute Council, which should be subject to the 2018 act and therefore should be island proofing that policy; however, it is also an issue for the Scottish Government, which will provide funding for the campus. It could step in to ensure that all islanders’ ambitions are met. Surely it is wrong that in a modern Scotland children are being forced to leave home to access education.
The act is a huge disappointment to islanders. It could have been a game changer, but it makes little or no difference to their lives.
I missed it if you said it, but I was wondering whether you would join me in welcoming residents of Mull who are in the gallery listening to the debate and who are probably very interested in what you are talking about.
Always speak through the chair.
Yes, I am happy to do that. I hope that the 2018 act will make a difference, because even at this stage, the Government could intervene to ensure that islanders’ views were heard.
It is also disappointing that no progress has been made on 11 out of the 13 objectives in the national islands plan, but I have to say that I am at a loss to understand which of the two objectives has seen any progress at all.
I come to the issue of ferries, on which, despite the fact that they are essential for island communities, we have seen growing disruption. The Government has failed our islands by having no ferry replacement plan, and it started a replacement programme only when the crisis loomed. The building of the Glen Sannox and the Glen Rosa has been a disaster; the cost to the public purse of building those ferries should have replaced the whole fleet, had the plan been efficiently managed. The cost to our island communities has been incalculable—there is a shortage of ferries, and the ones that we have are old and break down regularly.
When I speak to businesses, I am struck by the fact that they are surviving only through sheer determination. Had they not had island DNA, they would have upped and left for places where they did not have to struggle with constant disruption. The same is true for those who need to access healthcare off island. Against the backdrop of failing ferries, the stress of being unwell, in addition to the stress of trying to access care, will be incalculable.
Those issues are crucial to islanders, yet we do not have adequate representation of islanders on the boards of HIAL, CalMac and CMAL. The insinuation is clear: islanders cannot manage their own services. We all know, however, that HIAL was never so proactive as it was when Sandy Matheson chaired the board. Islanders are by nature seafarers and would make a much better job of running those services than people who have never set foot on an island.
The Scottish Government has promised resilience funding, but we need to know the detail of that and how it will protect businesses going forward. As we have heard, ferries are not just a problem for the Clyde and Hebrides service; the Orkney and Shetland interisland fleet is even older, and it does not even provide reasonable disabled access. Those councils cannot afford to replace their fleet, and they need help from the Scottish Government to access capital to allow them to do so.
Rhoda Grant has pointed out that those ferries are the responsibility of the local authorities. Does she accept, however, that, in Orkney in particular, we have had some very good news about replacing the interisland ferries, particularly with a ferry that has been funded through the zero emission vessel and infrastructure—or ZEVI—fund?
Rhoda Grant, I can give you time back for the interventions.
Yes, indeed. After many years of trying to get help from Government, some is now forthcoming; however, it is late, and the replacement needs to happen a bit faster than is currently the case. It is not one ferry, but the whole fleet, that needs to be replaced to bring it up to date. For example, it is not acceptable that people with disabilities are not able to access the ferry.
We should ensure that we are never in that position again. Our islands have much to offer—they provide the green energy that we need, and when we perfect wave and tidal energy technology, that potential will be even greater. At the heart of that, we have the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney. I should also add that Heriot-Watt University has sent members a briefing about its work and its concerns about the future, given the funding pressures on further and higher education.
Basically, all of that is crucial to the wellbeing not only of our islands but our whole country. We need to provide homes for young people to live in, because young islanders are being forced out of their communities due to the lack of affordable housing. Although I welcome initiatives such as the key housing fund, it does not help those young people who are already there. People with capital can come in and outbid them, which means that they can no longer stay on the island.
In health and in local government, we have the distant island allowance for workers, but colleges do not get that as part of their funding package. Paying such an allowance would make them even more financially precarious, but not paying it means that college staff are worse off than their mainland counterparts.
I could go on. The Scottish Government could, and should, take steps to deal with those issues. I urge it to do so, and to empower our island communities.
I move amendment S6M-17598.1, to leave out from first “welcomes” to end and insert:
“notes the first ever national islands plan; believes that much more needs to be done to support island communities; recognises that depopulation is a major issue impacting the islands and that not enough work has been undertaken to counteract this; notes that the Scottish Government has not used the powers available to it to ‘island proof’ policy, resulting in the need to shelve policies such as Highly Protected Marine Areas, the ban on wood burning stoves, and the island bonds plans; believes that the Scottish Government-caused ferry fiasco has had a disastrous effect on the economy, wellbeing and future of many islands; further believes that a new procurement plan that ensures the timely replacement of all ferries is vital; recognises that islanders are best placed to make the decisions affecting their communities, and calls, therefore, on the Scottish Government to empower island communities and ensure that there is proper local representation on ferry boards for CalMac and CMAL.”
15:43
I extend my apologies to everyone in the chamber for being late to the debate.
I am grateful that today we are discussing and debating the need to empower Scotland’s islands. During the four years and a bit that I have been in this role, I have recognised that Scotland is not an island nation, but a nation of islands. As colleagues have said, every single island in Scotland is different and unique. I have found that an incredible thing to understand, having travelled from the southern tip of the Western Isles to the northern tip in my very first summer recess, and having travelled to Orkney in that same recess. I took in a lot of islands in that time, and I really saw the differences.
I want to convey to members that it is fantastic that we have had power devolved to Scotland, and we now have that power. However, I want to see power devolved to our island communities at the most local level. If communities are going to tackle the climate and nature emergency, they must have power in their hands.
As I have just said, each island is different, and they face very different circumstances. When I went to the top of a tiny hill on Benbecula and looked down over the sunlit water, I noticed that Uist looks like fragile lace that has been laid across the Atlantic Ocean. The island may be completely overtaken by flooding in the not-too-distant future, and the local authority is having to consider how it will handle rehousing people.
I want us to get to a point where we are designing Scotland with islands and rural communities first. We need to start to think about policies for our island and rural communities that are different from those for urban parts of Scotland, because the circumstances are very different.
Having said that, I will go back to my notes.
Scotland’s inhabited islands are at a critical point in their 5,000 year history, having supported communities since at least the late stone age. In many places, the effects of climate change and depopulation could bring their long human history to an end. Rising sea levels, increasingly extreme storms and the unpredictability of our weather patterns could push island populations to the brink over the next few decades. Their resilience to handle what is likely to be significant change has been undermined by years of little recognition and support from the UK and Scottish Governments. That has already damaged the social fabric of islands and communities by drawing young people and local talent away to the central belt and beyond.
The Scottish Government has begun its journey towards rectifying that situation. I welcome the policy efforts, particularly the islands plan and the carbon-neutral islands project. I have met a number of the carbon-neutral islands project teams. The work that they are doing is fantastic, and it is great to see that the Government recognises the need for multiyear funding for the project, as that will allow us to roll out the work that it is doing to other communities. That is a good starting point when it comes to addressing the challenges that are presented by the climate emergency and depopulation, but we need more changes to be delivered more rapidly.
Will the member take an intervention?
That was highlighted by the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s report, which was released last autumn. It is simply unacceptable that Government policy is not delivering on the most basic human rights obligations in relation to islanders’ rights to housing and food. I hope that the new islands plan, which the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands mooted earlier, will lead to better delivery than the previous version of the plan. It is encouraging that the cabinet secretary’s motion acknowledges that more needs to be done.
How much time do I have, Presiding Officer?
You have a generous four minutes.
I will close with a couple of comments. I apologise to Mr Lumsden, but I will not take the intervention.
The review and extension of the rural and islands housing fund is really welcome, but we need to recognise a number of things. Uptake of the fund has been low because there is a high bar to access it due to feasibility studies. We need to look at that, because if there is no housing, no one will be on the islands to tackle the climate emergency or do anything with the economy. If we are going to give communities money from the rural and islands housing fund, we need to build in a resource for the communities that do not have wind energy to support someone who can deliver the plan. We need to think about building houses at scale and creating a pipeline. Switching the rural and islands housing fund on and off leads to questions as to whether funding will happen and will break the system at a time when we need to be building at least 11 per cent more houses on Scotland’s islands.
15:49
I agree with the deserved recognition of the invaluable contribution of each of Scotland’s islands to the country’s economy, culture and identity. I have said repeatedly that, in Shetland, we punch well above our weight. On numerous occasions, I have highlighted the need for much more infrastructure investment to enable islands to be viable and to contribute to Scotland, as the limitations of infrastructure in addressing issues of geography is a serious barrier to growth.
I am grateful for advance sight of the “Carbon Neutral Islands Financing Roadmap 2025-2028”, although the slightly inaccurate description and spelling of Up Helly Aa in the document leapt out at this Shetlander and is perhaps an unfortunate start.
The carbon-neutral islands project worked with the innovative and proactive North Yell Development Council, which has, unfortunately, now stepped away from the project. I was disappointed by the feedback from those involved locally. I understand that there have been concerns about islands in the CNI project being pitted against one another, overly ambitious timescales, technical complexity and the viability of projects. Reaching our net zero goals should mean bringing along communities across Scotland.
The financing road map also references low-carbon transport solutions, including increased electric vehicle charging infrastructure, yet the National Grid is not in a position to manage increased demand. The irony is not lost on Shetland, where we see the Viking wind farm reportedly generating as little as 17 per cent of its capacity and being paid enormous sums to constrain production as it is considered that the energy infrastructure is not able to cope with higher generation.
Our ferries, both the internal and external services, are often at capacity, meaning that island residents are prevented from going about their daily business because they are unable to get on and off islands internally or to access the overnight ferry service on a date that they need to. As an example of the pressures on the internal service, on Monday a constituent waited in all day for an engineer to swap out his radio teleswitch meter. The engineer did not turn up because they had failed to book the ferry to the north isles and there was no spare capacity on the crossing. Freight in and out of the islands is also constricted simply by the capacity of vessels on the northern isles route.
With investment in short subsea tunnels, not only would there be freedom of movement between islands, cutting commuting time for those who work on mainland Shetland, but our seafood sector would benefit from quicker transport of time-sensitive products, which would enable people to catch external ferries to export their goods in good time.
Tunnels would also connect communities in Shetland and ensure that cultural pursuits are not limited by the last ferry home. Decarbonisation and emission reductions in ferry transport would be welcome, and, although tunnels will not work for all islands, they would for others.
The motion references the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, which had the serious intention of empowering islands and giving island councils greater flexibility in relation to public services. There is still a debate to be had on its achievements, as I often hear constituents asking “Where’s the island proofing?” when any new legislation is brought forward, or when island impact assessment outcomes reach the conclusion that is wanted by the organisations that carry them out and which effectively mark their own homework. Surprisingly, the Scottish Parliament information centre found that the Scottish Government does not appear to record how often it undertakes island impact assessments.
On the development of the national islands plan, the community engagement events across the isles have attracted responses. I would be surprised if many of those contributions did not reference measures to address depopulation in areas such as transport, digital connectivity, childcare and housing, which should be key themes of the new plan.
Investment in housing would ensure that those looking to make a life in the isles and fill the many vacant posts in education, care and the NHS, and islanders returning home after time away, can find somewhere to live.
15:53
I was pleased to hear Beatrice Wishart talk about tunnels. Having visited the Faroe Islands and seen its wonderful tunnel network, I certainly think that the Scottish Government should do more to explore the possibility of tunnels for some of our archipelagos.
I have the privilege of representing the most beautiful of Scotland’s 93 inhabited islands—Arran, Cumbrae and Holy Isle—and it is a pleasure to debate empowering Scotland’s island communities today.
Islands hold a special place in Scotland’s culture and our collective imagination. Writing in the British Journal of Photography in 1885, Sherlock Holmes writer Arthur Conan Doyle dubbed Arran
“the epitome of the whole of Scotland”
and said:
“Nowhere can the wandering photographer find in such a small compass so many varying beauties upon which to exercise his skill”.
Further, it was in Arran, while navigating the ridge between Beinn Tarsuinn and Cìr Mhòr, that outdoor writer and broadcaster Cameron McNeish decided to dedicate the rest of his life
“to climbing mountains and exploring wild places.”
Arran can even claim that it has influenced rap, with musician Loyle Carner naming his breakout single “Isle of Arran” in tribute to the island and its deep personal significance.
Despite our reverence for our islands and their mammoth cultural footprint, they face challenges that can seem invisible to those on the mainland: depopulation, housing shortages, fragile transport links and the high cost of living.
The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 was a watershed moment, and Scotland is one of the few countries in the world to have created island-specific legislation. The 2018 act embedded island proofing in the formation of policy and legislation. The first national islands plan, introduced a year and a half after passage of the 2018 act, set out 13 strategic objectives and 134 specific commitments that are aimed at improving the quality of life for Scotland’s island communities.
The sheer volume of commitments must be addressed in the second national islands plan. The majority of individuals and organisations who responded to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the first plan believed that the number was just too high. The next plan should prioritise, and deliver on, more tightly focused commitments, especially as islanders themselves do not feel that enough progress is being made.
Let us take transport as the chief strategic concern. Work to purchase Ardrossan harbour and redevelop it to accommodate the MV Glen Sannox and the MV Glen Rosa is crucial. The Government’s intention to bring the harbour into public ownership is enormously welcome, but it must be matched by delivery.
Of course, there have been successes with ferries. For example, the introduction of the road equivalent tariff means that, for my constituents, ferry fares are cheaper now than they were 18 years ago, despite high inflation over that period. That has meant more visitors to the islands.
I was an MSP in the summer of 2007, and I remember that the second ferry to Arran was an old tub called “The Saturn”, and that 15 per cent of its sailings were cancelled because of breakdowns. It ran only for a few weeks, whereas there is now a second ferry for six months. It has not all been bad news.
More must be done to empower our island communities in relation to ferries. As Fergus Ewing touched on, it is widely recognised that the lack of islander representation on the CalMac, CMAL and David MacBrayne Ltd boards suits no one. It fuels perceptions that those organisations are detached from the islands that they exist to serve, and it leads to poorer decision making. Despite the issue being campaigned on for years, progress to improve islander representation has been limited at best.
Why has the community on Cumbrae had to fight off a short-notice attempt by CalMac to overturn a summer timetable that has been in place for more than 40 years? I thank the Cabinet Secretary for Transport for reversing CalMac’s unilateral decision within a week. Why, when the community expresses a clear preference to return to a system of return-only tickets for the sake of speed and efficiency, does CalMac refuse to listen?
Regarding Holy Isle, the peace and tranquillity of the Buddhist convent there is under threat from proposals by Forestry and Land Scotland—a Scottish Government agency—to industrialise the area around Kingscross, across Lamlash Bay, with an unwanted timber export facility. No one locally supports the plans for Kingscross, and the strength of feeling against the project cannot be overstated.
Island communities face stark demographic challenges. The number of people aged 65 and older on Arran has increased by 38 per cent since 2001, while the working-age population fell by 17 per cent and the number of children by 37 per cent. Arresting such trends requires more affordable housing, such as the £2.38 million that the Scottish Government has provided to build 34 council houses in Brodick, and the Arran Development Trust’s Rowarden project, which is a shining example of the possibilities. With £1.512 million from the Scottish Government, 18 affordable homes have been built and allocated—three of them just this week—allowing people to stay, work and thrive on the island. Crucially, Arran Development Trust did that with a proportionately much lower central Government grant than other island housing projects, which provides a possible template for other affordable housing projects.
Our islands are central to Scotland’s identity. The 2018 act and the national islands plan have enhanced our focus on them. Nevertheless, when it comes to empowering our islands and delivery, we must go further and faster.
15:58
I stand here to discuss the importance of empowering island communities in Scotland. These communities, which are often isolated and face unique challenges, are vital to the cultural and economic fabric of our nation. Empowering them means ensuring that they have the resources, infrastructure and support that are needed for them to thrive.
Islands play a valuable role in our economy through tourism, agriculture and fishing. Tourism alone generates £10.8 billion, which supports thousands of jobs and local businesses. However, under the SNP Government, those communities have faced significant challenges, such as limited access to healthcare, education, transportation and housing, which have hindered their growth and development.
In November 2023, I visited Cumbrae while serving on the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, and the lack of access to reliable ferry services was one of the main concerns of the island’s residents. It is astonishing that, despite the SNP’s promises, local businesses and job prospects are withering away due to the dire state of transport. Transport is not just a convenience for islanders—it is their lifeline.
Will the member take an intervention on that point?
Have I got time to take an intervention, Deputy Presiding Officer?
I can give you your time back.
There are 40 sailings in each direction, both to and from Cumbrae, each day—that is one sailing every 15 minutes—under the summer timetable. How would you increase or improve that?
Members should speak through the chair.
I did what the SNP needs to do: I went out and listened to the people on the ground, and that is what the people told me. I went out with the local government committee. Maybe the SNP needs to go out and listen to the people on the ground.
The same sentiments emerged while I spoke to council chief execs in islands councils when I served as the Scottish Conservative spokesperson for local government. Time and time again, the SNP has demonstrated an appalling inability to address the basic needs of the people it claims to represent.
The Isle of Arran, in my West Scotland region, is a perfect example of the SNP’s betrayal. The contract for Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa was awarded to Ferguson Marine in 2015, with both ships originally due for delivery in 2018. The Glen Sannox, which serves the Isle of Arran, entered service earlier this year, almost seven years later than was initially scheduled. It even had to be pulled out of service a couple of months after first setting sail, as a crack was found in the ship’s hull.
As for the Glen Rosa, we found out last week that its delivery will, once again, be delayed. At the same time, the cost of delivering both ferries has spiralled from £97 million to upwards of £460 million. That is a shocking figure, and taxpayers are the ones who are footing the bill. It is yet another catastrophic blow for my island constituents, who have been betrayed at every turn by the SNP’s incompetence.
The Deputy First Minister said that
“there can be no more delays.”—[Official Report, 14 May 2025; c 92.]
Yet her boss, the First Minister, could not even say what the final cost will be to taxpayers for the corrupt ferry contract that he personally signed off. Our island communities would have been much better off if that money had gone to public services instead of down the drain.
On a point of order, Presiding Officer—
Just do it at the end.
Presiding Officer, is it in order for any member to make such a scurrilous accusation? There has been absolutely no proof whatsoever of any contract being awarded that was allegedly “corrupt”, to use that word—
It is corrupt!
—as the member has just indicated.
Sit down.
Thank you, Mr McMillan. That is not a point of order, and I did not deem anything to be out of order.
Mr Ross, I will deal with points of order. I do not need assistance from you.
Locals in Ardrossan have protested about the series of expensive blunders that have plagued the launch of the two new Arran ferries. The 30-year-old ferry that has been serving the islands for generations is failing, and the two new bespoke-design ferries are too big for the Ardrossan harbour jetty. The SNP Government is now considering buying Ardrossan harbour, following widespread concern in Ardrossan that the CalMac service might not be permanently switched back from Troon.
It is disappointing that the islanders have had to endure years of being at the centre of this ferry fiasco. “Challenging” is one of the more polite words that you will hear from a lot of people on Arran when they speak about how life has been over the past few years. I hope that the SNP Government will get its act together, accept the blame for its failures and take clear action to tackle all those challenges.
16:04
Like my late mother, Winnie Ewing, I am a survivor of Up Helly Aa, except that I think she attended it on 10 occasions, showing quite exceptional stamina. Unlike my mother, I cannot claim the unique achievement that she frequently professed that she had attained, which was that she had visited every inhabited island around Scotland in her five decades as a parliamentarian. However, in my 14 years as a minister, I have greatly enjoyed working with officials and businesses on the islands—I am sure that the same is true for current cabinet secretaries and ministers. I hope that we have achieved things, but that is for others to judge.
There is a very interesting book that should be required reading for any minister and possibly for every member of the Scottish Parliament. “The Blunders of Our Governments” was written by two distinguished professors, Sir Ivor Crewe and Professor Anthony King. It was written mostly prior to devolution, and it catalogues the blunders made by the Westminster Government, including the poll tax, which was devised by a group of rather posh Conservatives. One civil servant commented on the policy by saying, “Good luck with that down Brixton way when it comes to collection time.” His advice was ignored.
The point is that the professors identified the problem as being the extent to which policy development had become separated from the realities of the world. They called it an operational and cultural disconnect. In other words, the people who are in charge of making the policy have no connection with the people who are affected by the policy—that is the point that I wish to make in my remarks. It is something that could and should have been corrected. It is sad that we have not corrected it as yet, but we should have.
As Kenneth Gibson said, doing so in this case means placing islanders at the heart not just of operational decisions, but of policy strategic decisions. That means mandatory places on the boards of those public bodies that are in charge of delivering the lifeline services—principally, but not exclusively, HIAL, CMAL and CalMac. There should be people from the islands on every one of those boards. The boards are quite small in number—there are five or six of them—and there is no reason why they could not be expanded to include, say, four or five people from the islands. As John Daniel Peteranna said,
“without the influence of Islanders on these public bodies controlling Island services the current de-populations trends ... will accelerate.”
I should also mention a long-standing campaigner and friend of mine, Brian Wilson, the former Labour minister, who said in a recent article that the
“central issue is about control. It is about the ‘who-whom’ relationship between Edinburgh and communities served by CalMac. At present, this is conducted through a tripartite arrangement with Transport Scotland as puppet-master, CMAL as procurement quango and CalMac as operator. It has been an unmitigated disaster.”
I ask, had there been islanders on the board, would we have seen the ferry fiasco? Would they have said to me, as Captain Iain Dewar did in Lochaber, back in the 1980s, that the public bodies build the wrong ferries because they do not understand how they work? That makes a very strong case for islanders’ involvement. The civil servants are in charge of the selection policy. Far be it from me to attack civil servants, who cannot defend themselves, but I think that their role is too powerful, and they guard their powers as determinedly as squirrels hoard their nuts for winter hibernation. It has got to change. There should be islanders on the selection panels for the chairmen of all these bodies.
To conclude, we have a protocolonial approach. If, as the cabinet secretary says, people are to be at the heart of the plan, they must be in the room. As the election looms ever closer, I hope that all the parties—particularly the main moderate parties, not the two extreme ones—will put it in their manifesto that there will be islanders on these boards and that that change will be introduced in the first six months of the next session of this Parliament.
16:09
As has been said this afternoon, Scotland’s island communities are a vital part of our national fabric. They are home to rich cultures, unique environments and resilient people. They contribute significantly not just to our heritage but to our economy. Yet, for far too long, they have been let down by Government policy that fails to meet their needs or match their ambitions.
In 2019, the national islands plan was launched with great fanfare. It was meant to be a turning point—a strategic framework to improve outcomes for islanders across 13 key objectives, from housing and connectivity to economic development and depopulation. However, the review and consultation report that was published last year painted a concerning picture: on 11 of the 13 strategic objectives, a majority of respondents believed that no progress had been made at all, while only 28 per cent of respondents said that the plan had
“affected their life in any way”.
That is a scathing indictment of a plan that was supposed to bring transformative change.
Equally alarming was the widespread lack of awareness and engagement. A quarter of respondents either knew nothing about the plan or had heard of it but knew nothing of its content, and a further 52 per cent only “knew a little” about it. The new plan must address that lack of awareness. To empower island communities, they should be informed, interested and invested in the process. Without that, it is little surprise that the outcomes have fallen short.
The consequences of Government inaction continue to be felt in real and painful ways. As others have said, depopulation remains a threat. Young people struggle to stay or return, because of the shortage of affordable housing, the cost of building and the lack of access to reliable healthcare, childcare and other key services. Those challenges are pushing people away and undermining the long-term viability of island communities.
We must also talk about ferry services, which are lifeline links on which islanders rely for work, healthcare and access to markets. The disruption and delays that have been caused by the Government’s failure to deliver a reliable ferry network have had significant consequences for families and businesses.
Earlier this year, the members’ business debate that my colleague Rhoda Grant led focused on the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s spotlight report on rights in the Highlands and Islands. The report highlighted the failure to deliver adequate services and the impacts of centralisation, as well as some of the key challenges for people in our islands, with food supply, healthcare access and the lack of affordable housing, for example. We need to bring services to people, rather than expecting people to navigate impossible distances and systems to access their basic needs.
Food costs more on the islands and independent shops struggle to compete on scale. As we saw with the recent cyberattack that left the Co-op on Islay bare, supply issues for island shops can leave communities vulnerable as there is nowhere else for them to shop.
Alongside those challenges, there is also innovation and strength. Employment rates on many islands are higher than the national average. Community-led co-operatives can offer sustainable economic models that are rooted in local needs. We should support those models to foster local ownership, to invest in infrastructure and to make housing genuinely affordable for young families and key workers.
The Scottish Government has blamed “a succession of crises”—Covid, Brexit, and the cost of living crisis—for the failings of the first national islands plan. However, crises are not an excuse—in fact, they should have been a catalyst for urgent action. What islanders need now is not another overly ambitious document but a new plan that is clear, measurable, and island led.
Before closing, I want to recognise the vital contribution of Rhoda Grant MSP as a strong voice for the Highlands and Islands for a number of years and I wish her the best for the future when the time comes for her to leave the Parliament next year.
In addition, now that the cabinet secretary has announced her intention not to stand for re-election, I urge her to cast a critical eye over the SNP’s legacy in the Highlands and Islands, wherever she wishes to employ her considerable skills.
We need to listen to island communities, not only in workshops, but also in the design, funding, and governance of the services on which they rely. Let us ensure that the next national islands plan is not another broken promise. Let it be the foundation for lasting, locally driven change so that our island communities can not only survive but thrive.
16:13
I am pleased to take part in the debate to highlight the importance of our island communities and the challenges that they face. However, we must also recognise their unique opportunities.
The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 gave specific legal rights to Scotland’s island communities to ensure that the Scottish Government works with and for the residents. Thanks to that act, all relevant authorities must now complete an island community impact assessment, which ensures that islanders’ unique concerns are carefully considered. If we want those communities to thrive, we must listen to the experts—the people who live there—and act on their concerns.
National Records of Scotland estimates that the island population has increased at around a third of the rate of the whole Scottish population. Between 2001 and 2020, Scotland’s population increased by 7.9 per cent, whereas the islands’ population grew by 2.6 per cent. We need to understand why that is happening and how we can help residents to remain in their communities. It does not mean that those who move towards the central belt always wish to do so, and I am sure that countless people feel that they have no choice because of multiple factors, such as housing, employment and transport.
I am pleased that the Scottish Government has recognised those issues and is acting to remedy them. In housing, the Scottish Government is delivering affordable homes across Scotland, most of which are for social rent, and it has developed a £30 million rural and island housing fund that offers capital support for local organisations and developers to deliver affordable housing.
A thriving economy is key not only for supporting jobs for islanders but for attracting new residents to live, work and raise their families on the islands, boosting the population for future generations. As I mentioned at the start of my speech, our islands have unique challenges but also unique opportunities. Our island communities can and should be a major part of our response to the global climate emergency. I am pleased that the Scottish Government recognises that and is committed to the innovative carbon-neutral island projects to support communities in several areas, not only decarbonisation.
The Scottish Government is acting and delivering several infrastructure projects that will deliver jobs and be of great benefit to wider communities. The renewables hub in Orkney is supported by a £5 million grant, and the Scottish Government has backed the deep water terminal in the Western Isles, which will support future renewable energy developments. Such projects empower the local community to be at the forefront of an energy and economic boom.
Although a thriving economy enhances our island communities, we cannot ignore culture, which so enriches our country. It is vital that we continue to support the Gaelic language, which is a fundamental part of Scotland’s heritage, and I am pleased that the Scottish Government is supporting our ancient language. The ceilidh house in Stornoway will receive £10,000, which will enable it to promote ceilidhs and live music events in Gaelic, while the Gaelic Media Service, also in Stornoway, will be modernised through £110,000 of Scottish Government funding.
We also need to ensure that our island communities are connected through efficient transport services and to acknowledge the lifeline nature of our ferry system. The Scottish Government has not got every aspect of that correct, but we should acknowledge that the ferry services are now more extensive than they were before the SNP came to office. CalMac is now operating and servicing more routes than ever before. Everyone can agree that improvements are vital, and I encourage the Scottish Government to work with our island communities to match their needs.
The Scottish Government has plenty to be proud of, but more can be done to truly empower our islanders to thrive in their communities.
16:17
Only in SNP Scotland can we have a debate, led by SNP ministers, on an SNP-drafted motion on empowering Scotland’s island communities that does not mention ferries once—there is not a single mention in the motion. I am sure that I cannot be the only one who counted how many words were in the motion, but if I am, I will explain to the chamber. The SNP motion has 109 words about empowering our island communities. In those 109 words, SNP members congratulate themselves and say how great the SNP is for the islands and islanders, but they do not mention ferries.
It got me thinking: how could that motion even have been signed off by highly paid ministers? The two SNP members who are on the front bench today get a combined salary of £216,700, which is more than £215,000 a year. When an official handed them the motion, did they say, “This is going to look a bit embarrassing if we don’t even mention ferries”? No—they rubber-stamped it and allowed it to go. Frankly, it shows the ignorance of SNP ministers about islanders’ real, hard lives and the impact that ferry delays and the lack of ferries have on so many of our island communities.
What do we get today? What is the response to our islands’ problems? It is another islands plan. I ask the cabinet secretary—I tried to intervene, but she would not take it—given all her engagement, does she really believe that islanders want another islands plan? No, they do not. If they were given the choice, they would want a bloody ferry. That is all that they are after and all they need.
Mr Ross—courteous language, please.
I was being courteous. That is the most polite thing that I have heard about—
Okay, Mr Ross. You will not repeat that word and you will apologise for the use of it in this chamber.
I will apologise, just because that is your ruling, but I have to say, that is—
You will apologise because that is my ruling.
Yes, I said that!
Now continue with your speech, Mr Ross.
I literally just said that.
I am saying that that is the mildest language that people in our island communities use when they are talking about ferries. If that is discourteous to the chamber, we should just listen to what the islanders are saying. The fact that ministers can bring a debate to the chamber to celebrate what they are apparently doing, while ignoring the impact of the lack of ferries in those communities, is shameful and something that I hope they regret.
We have also heard the defence from SNP members that we cannot call the ferry contracts corrupt. It cannot be anything other than corrupt if the ferries are years late and hundreds of millions of pounds over budget. In the past week alone, we have been told that another £35 million has been added to an already huge bill.
This morning, the Public Audit Committee was looking at the matter, and my colleague Graham Simpson asked a Scottish Government official, who I think is at director general level, what it will mean. Where is that money going to come from? So far, no minister has been able to tell us where that additional £35 million will come from. Will it come out of the rural affairs and islands budget? Will it come out of the health budget or the education budget? We do not know.
We have no answers, but we were told that there would be difficult trade-offs. Can the cabinet secretary tell us whether the Cabinet has had discussions about those difficult trade-offs? Will the money come out of the rural affairs budget?
The cabinet secretary and the minister are pretending to be speaking about something really important, but I think that this is really important and they should be addressing it.
Will the member give way?
I am in my final minute and we have heard more than enough from Stuart McMillan today. [Interruption.]
Gosh. If I have a choice to hear or not to hear from Stuart McMillan, I will go for not hearing from him.
I will finish by commenting on an article by Calum Steele in The Herald today. Speaking about the challenges for our island communities of the lack of ferries, he ends his column:
“When successful, award nominated businesses simply cannot afford to open as the lack of footfall makes it economically illiterate to do so you begin to understand why South Uist is one of the most economically disadvantaged areas in the country, and faces a depopulation crisis that is amongst the most acute anywhere.”
He finishes by saying this—and I hope that these words are ringing in the ears of the SNP ministers:
“Little wonder its residents have dripping contempt for those who talk about delivery whilst being complicit in its neglect.”
That sums up the situation with the SNP, the ferries and our islands.
16:22
I am afraid that I have one of the most landlocked constituencies in the country. Nonetheless, I adore our islands. I do not have the perseverance of Mr Ewing and his mother, who toured them, but I have spent many wonderful holidays and parliamentary trips on committee business going to our islands, not least of which was our last trip to Jenni Minto’s lovely Islay.
I say to Ms Wishart that I am really sorry that I would have trouble spelling a lot of the place names and that I will probably mispronounce a few, too. I apologise in advance.
The elephant in the room in this debate is not ferries. It was mentioned by the cabinet secretary, and it is Brexit. We know that Brexit had a negative impact on labour in our island communities. We know that it has created new barriers for trade and that we lost EU structural funds that had been absolutely—
Will the member take an intervention?
No, thank you. I am sorry—I have heard enough from the Conservatives this afternoon. [Interruption.] That is directed not at Jamie Halcro Johnston but at his colleague.
We have just had the summit with the EU, and we look forward to seeing how that might help with what we are doing. However, there is no doubt that the biggest blow to our island communities was Brexit and the loss of the EU structural funds.
The Highlands and Islands benefited considerably from European structural investment funding in the past four decades. That had a transformational impact in terms of improving infrastructural connectivity and strengthening communities. We would not have the University of the Highlands and Islands or its expertise across islands if it had not been for the European Union and the funding to create it.
Such funding had supported infrastructure projects and community initiatives in the country since the 1970s, with Scotland receiving more than £6 billion to deliver transformational projects, such as the University of the Highlands and Islands and the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney.
We have been investing in our islands. We have been looking to the future in relation to reducing carbon emissions and supporting renewable energy in our island waters and with wind technology. That has been absolutely vital to a lot of the issues that have been discussed.
Housing is essential, but we have to remember that we have to make such areas a place where people want to live and work. We want highly paid and highly skilled jobs to be available to young people. We also want to give them the opportunity to see the world, and then to return and build their own communities. How much has that been damaged by Brexit and the inability for young people to travel abroad?
Will the member take an intervention?
No—I am sorry.
There has also been much talk about the cultural exchange that happens and about the festivals. We need only look at some of the music festivals that happen in Orkney. How disappointing it is that, in this reset of the relationship with the EU, we do not have access to the creative Europe programme, which would have helped a lot of our cultural and folk festivals and would have helped folk artists to tour in the way that they did when we had free movement of people in Europe.
Although I welcome the initiative and the plan, and I am really glad that the Government is putting it out for us all to discuss today, if I have anything to say this afternoon, it is that the best plan for our island communities is an independent Scotland back in the heart of European nations.
16:26
I live in Kelty and represent Mid Scotland and Fife, so members might ask, “What does he know about islands?” However, like Fergus Ewing, I have survived Up Helly Aa more than once, and I have had brilliant times staying on Bressay and enjoying the nightlife in Lerwick. I therefore understand that island life can be different. My family lived on Bressay for many years. The costs can be far greater, and that is without some of the problems that we have had recently.
However, the central belt and the islands have some things in common. One is that, since the Parliament was established, over a number of Governments and political parties, we have seen a centralisation of powers away from local authorities and local communities and into this Parliament and successive Scottish Governments of different parties. That has to be reversed. A number of people have touched on that point the day; Ariane Burgess rightly highlighted it. Fergus Ewing highlighted the quangos, such as CalMac, in these areas, which we need to be able to address.
My favourite holiday destination is around the Oban area. There is nothing more exciting for me than getting a ferry across to Mull and being able to get a ferry to Iona. Going on that ferry and starting to see the islands will never cease to be amazing. I only wish that more people from the central belt were able to experience the islands. I have to say that the costs are sometimes far too great for people to holiday on the islands, as with the Highlands. Sometimes it is cheaper to get an all-inclusive holiday abroad than it is to spend a week in the Highlands. Those are issues for the whole of Scotland. As a youngster, I certainly never experienced the islands at all. Once I did, as I said, I have then gone back time and time again.
Housing and depopulation are absolutely major problems for the Highlands and Islands that we must tackle. We know that immigration supports jobs in the Highlands. Over the many years that I have holidayed in the Highlands, I have met families who have come to Scotland to make it their home and work here but who have not been able to get a home.
I liked Jamie Halcro Johnston’s comment that island proofing is island box ticking, which is absolutely right. Mention has been made of consultation on a new islands plan. Instead of consulting on a new islands plan, we should allow the people of the islands to develop and write that plan, and we should then give them control over its implementation.
In the short time that I have left, I will highlight a piece that I saw on STV News last week, which members might not have seen. Under the headline, “Families ‘heartbroken’ after plans to expand island’s only care home scrapped”, the story said:
“Funding to expand the number of beds at Thomson Court—the only care home on the Isle of Bute—has been scrapped amid funding concerns.
Plans to expand the number of beds at the only care home on a Scottish island have been abandoned.
Families on Bute are struggling to care for loved ones with complex dementia needs or having to send them to the mainland.”
That means that people are having to go to places such as Stirling and Fife to visit their loved ones. As well as the cost involved, for elderly people, the level of travel involved is difficult.
In October, Argyll and Bute Council announced funding to expand the number of beds at Thomson Court from eight to 14, but those plans have been scrapped because of an overspend on social care costs. The integration joint board says that it is “extremely disappointed”, but that it cannot proceed because the costs far exceed its budget. That is a ridiculous situation for the island to be facing, and it is one that the Government and the Parliament should seek to address and to fix.
We must give power to island communities, instead of giving it to quangos and IJBs. Islanders should be able to make the decisions and to come up with the plans for what the islands need. That is how we must proceed; otherwise, we will keep coming back to the chamber to have the same discussion.
We move to the winding-up speeches.
16:31
Today’s debate has clearly shown the strength of passion, feeling and support for empowering our island communities that exists among members on all sides of the chamber.
Ferries and tunnels were mentioned by a number of members. Beatrice Wishart made a good case for fixed links in Shetland, but there are a number of other obvious places where fixed links make sense, and it would be good if the Scottish Government undertook work on the feasibility of such important infrastructure.
On ferries, it was good to see the Scottish Government take up the Scottish Greens’ call for free interisland ferries for young people under 22. At the moment, the scheme covers only Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, and it would be good if it were extended to cover islands such as the Summer Isles, or to enable young people from islands such as Islay and Tiree to travel to the mainland for free.
Kenneth Gibson talked about the need for islanders to be involved in decision making about their ferries. It is astounding that that has clearly been an ask since long before the current session of Parliament. As a candidate, I learned that, despite asking for two smaller ferries, communities in Ullapool and Stornoway ended up with one larger one, which has resulted in a lack of service and limited sailings. If islanders had been on the board, different and better decisions would certainly have been made.
Claire Baker pointed out islanders’ lack of awareness of the islands plan and its outcomes. She made the point that we need to bring services to people, rather than people to services. That picks up on what I said in my opening speech: we must start designing policy with islanders and rural communities, not for them, so that it works for them, to ensure that they thrive.
The issue of housing was raised by a number of members. Colin Beattie mentioned the rural and islands housing fund. It is clear how vital that fund is, so it is essential that we listen to communities that understand how we can make it work even better.
Clare Adamson said that the elephant in the room was Brexit and the challenges that it has brought for our island communities as a result of the loss of the EU structural fund. That is certainly the case. Wherever I go in the Highlands and Islands, the ring of EU golden stars on a blue background is ubiquitous. Brexit also created a great deal of red tape and paperwork for our small artisanal fishers.
I think that the Government’s announcement of the next phase of the carbon-neutral islands scheme is a step in the right direction when it comes to empowering islanders. It is good that existing projects will be able to look ahead and plan for the next few years, but given that the initiative is already delivering a tangible impact for communities, I urge the Government to go further faster. By the time the new road map draws to a close, it will have been seven years since the project was launched, and the other Scottish island communities will not be any clearer on how the project could help them on the road to net zero.
It is imperative that we do not reach a situation in which there is inequality of opportunity between our islands, and that all islands have an opportunity to participate with enough time, so that they can hit the carbon neutrality that we are seeking by 2045. If we can get it right on the islands, we can get it right anywhere in Scotland. As I mentioned in my opening speech, more decision making needs to take place in local communities, so that islanders feel like they have a real stake. In fact, it goes beyond their just feeling like they do—islanders must have a real stake in their communities.
We have already seen the consequences of not doing that, on Mull. Communities on the island have been badly divided over the decision to build a new school campus in Tobermory. People living in the north and south of the island have been left completely at odds on the matter, because a decision was made that did not put Mull front and centre. It has left children in the south needing to spend most of their term time in mainland hostels, completely contravening their human rights and threatening their wellbeing. We need to avoid such scenarios, in which decisions are made for, rather than by, islanders.
I call once again on the Government and the Parliament to design with islanders and our rural communities, rather than for them. Let us put islanders first.
16:36
Well, there are risks as well as opportunities set out in this afternoon’s Government report. There are roadblocks on this road map, and they are listed: grid connection challenges; barriers to raising capital; funding delays and risks; shortages of labour, including of local tradespeople, and skilled labour; insufficient local contractors; and the persistent concentration of land ownership question. All are set out clearly in this report.
Now, in my view, these are not insurmountable. I was reminded just last night that 70 per cent of the population of the Western Isles now live on estates and land that are community owned. Gigha, Eigg and Ulva are thriving in community ownership, and there is a co-operative tradition on our islands, so a community wealth-building approach, which we have not really heard of this afternoon, properly supported—properly resourced—by the Scottish Government could work. I would just say: look at the magnificent employee-owned Auchrannie resort on the Isle of Arran as an example.
There have been cries this afternoon of “Islanders on the boards”, led by Fergus Ewing, but echoed by other speakers, Claire Baker included. I think that they are right and it is a perfectly reasonable demand to make, but, as Alex Rowley reminded us, simply having people on boards is not of itself sufficient. There needs to be a much greater level of islander engagement in decision making.
We know, as well, that there are still some old challenges to be overcome—illustrated all too vividly recently by the actions of the Clan Donald Lands Trust on the Isle of Skye. So, as the Labour amendment points out, island depopulation persists, and we now have a statutory island proofing policy. We have passed a law, but is it working? Kenny Gibson described it as a watershed but, as Beatrice Wishart reports, recalling evidence from SPICe, there is no record—no data—of island impact assessments being carried out.
The Conservative Party amendment this afternoon refers to the excellent Scottish Human Rights Commission spotlight report into the Highlands and Islands, which concluded:
“Across all rights examined, there is not a single human right that meets all the conditions of adequacy under international law.”
Not one—not one.
However, I hope that the conservative members of this Parliament, not all of them wearing a blue rosette, understand that we will never address these fundamental breaches of human rights—the rights to health, to social care and to education, the right to be free of fuel poverty, the right to culture, the right to a home and the right to food, the clear breach of which is causing hunger, deprivation, even malnutrition on our islands in 2025—for as long as the rich remain so rich, because that is why the poor remain so poor.
As many people have said this afternoon, Alex Rowley included, it is surely a central job of this Scottish Parliament and of this Scottish Government to focus on what is distinctively Scottish. Nothing is more quintessentially Scottish than Scotland’s islands, and nothing is more important and necessary than a reliable transport service, a reliable ferry service and connectivity on and off our islands—and yet this Government cannot even get that right.
As Rhoda Grant said, ferry disruption is growing, and the Government has only belatedly responded when there is a deep crisis. So, it is now 18 years in office, and now 10 years since the bidding process closed on the two new ferries for the Clyde and Hebrides routes. In August of this year, it will be 10 years since the then First Minister jumped the gun, pulled rank on the then Minister for Transport and the Islands and announced the award as a “done deal” on a visit to the Ferguson Marine yard, even though—and I quote—“significant negotiations” were still to be concluded.
Is it not the case that all political parties supported the award of that contract in 2014, and what we have heard today is just hindsight?
No, it is not hindsight at all. When the Public Audit Committee of this Parliament looked into what happened around the award of the contract, it heard clear evidence that the First Minister stepped in at a point when the buyer and procurer—CMAL—was not happy with the terms of the deal. So, it is my contention—and, I think, the contention of the committee at that point—that the announcement was a premature one, and that is not said with the benefit of hindsight.
I remain an inveterate and an unrepentant socialist, and I am convinced more and more that what we need is a social and an economic, not a constitutional, revolution; a challenge to landlordism; a revival of crofting; and a redistribution of wealth and power, instead of the perpetuation of this wholly unequal distribution of economic power and this wholly unequal distribution of wealth. I am convinced that all that people want from us, as members of this Parliament, is for us to act humanely, decently and democratically in the best interests of the people who sent us here, including all of those who live on our islands.
16:42
I have to be honest: when I first saw that we were to have this debate, I thought to myself, “Wow, that’s brave!”. During the same week that we heard about another massive delay to and the spiralling costs of the Glen Rosa, and on top of concerns that I was already aware of about school campuses, healthcare and rural depopulation, we learned—to my great surprise—that we were to have a debate, led by the SNP, on how we empower Scottish islands.
It is true that our islands contain many wonderful people—islanders are often very resilient and engaging—and there is much good work that goes on in our islands. I share the Government’s desire—it is probably the only desire that I share with the SNP—to ensure that our island communities are empowered, but are we really empowering them?
The cabinet secretary talked about the new carbon-neutral project on the islands and the successes of the national islands plan. I note, too, that the motion from the SNP admits that
“further action to tackle island challenges”
is needed, but that is quite the understatement, in my opinion. A lot can be said in a plan, but a plan is not the provider. Where we choose to invest and what we choose to support make a difference to the lives of our islanders.
I have yet to go to an island where the issue of ferries is not raised, yet—as Douglas Ross rightly pointed out—the SNP motion does not mention ferries at all. On ferry delays, the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister both admitted last week that it is not good enough—and indeed it is not. To be honest, I do not think that it is good enough that the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister said that line. It is their job to ensure that delays do not happen, but, time and again, they do.
Island community impact assessments offer an opportunity to ensure that the implementation of new policy makes practical sense for the islands, but the message that I too often hear is that it does not. Many people feel that authorities do those assessments because they have to, rather than because they see value in them.
It was interesting to listen to the wide range of views in the debate. Jamie Halcro Johnston and Pam Gosal mentioned ferries, the future of services on the islands, job prospects and tourism. Rhoda Grant gave a well-rounded speech in which she covered a wide range of issues that matter to our islands, including the point that I just made about island community impact assessments.
Kenneth Gibson told us, quoting Arthur Conan Doyle, that the islands are
“the epitome of the whole of Scotland”,
and he is right. It is elementary, my dear cabinet secretary, that the islands are the epitome of Scotland, and we should be serving them well—they are a microcosm of Scotland.
Beatrice Wishart talked about innovative solutions for islands, such as tunnels, and the requirement for more housing, and she gave a bit of a telling-off about the spelling of Up Helly Aa. Ariane Burgess talked about the uniqueness of our islands and the importance of devolving power to our councils in island communities. She also talked about Scotland’s islands being at a critical point in their 5,000-year history.
Fergus Ewing said that islanders should be at the heart of operations that affect them. We should not have to wait for the next session of Parliament for islanders to be on the boards of groups that take decisions that affect their daily lives. He also talked about the book “The Blunders of Our Governments”, which I have read part of. I heard that the authors were going to do an update to the book on the Scottish Government, but it was going to be too heavy to lift, so they had to stop.
I am not greatly surprised that the SNP did not like what Douglas Ross had to say, but he is right. When I go to the islands, and I have been to quite a few recently, this is what they are talking about. Not surprisingly, what we heard from the SNP in the debate was Brexit, Brexit and more Brexit, but Brexit is not causing the problems on our islands. The ferry delays and the housing delays are caused by the Scottish Government; they are not caused by Brexit.
The only person who talks more about having something to blame is Richard Leonard when he blames the rich for always being at fault. However, I say to him that I respect that.
I, too, welcome residents from the island of Mull to the gallery. It is wonderful that they have managed to get a ferry across, and I hope that they can manage to get the ferry back home today.
The Mull school project is a classic example of things going wrong when we do not truly listen to and empower our island communities. However, it is not too late; in all seriousness, I say that there is something that we can do about that.
During the debate and discussion about the Mull school project, I tried very hard not to form an opinion on what the right location was for a new school campus, because I felt quite strongly that, ultimately, the location of a new school should be the community’s decision. I fundamentally believe that. However, I was conscious that there would be families in Tobermory that would prefer the school to be rebuilt there, reducing the need for their children to travel. I could not help but recognise—I think that Ariane Burgess and Rhoda Grant touched on this—that for the whole island to be successful, it is vital that all are listened to. I have been contacted time and again by people across the island raising concerns about the consultation process. In my opinion, the financial impact on the council was, ultimately, a much bigger consideration for councillors in Argyll and Bute than the views of the residents of Mull themselves. That is the problem.
Ninety-eight per cent of Scotland is rural, and 17 per cent of the population of Scotland lives in rural areas, but it is not just about numbers. Rural life is built into our very cultural heritage, and the traditions, languages and history of rural areas are baked into our national identity. Rural service delivery comes with a higher cost, and if we want rural areas and islands to thrive, we must accept that.
In communities such as those on Mull, education that relies on the ferries, the weather and the separation of families is never a good thing. Mull required a bespoke arrangement. It needed community, Government and council to come together to agree a funding package for primary and secondary education that delivered for the island and provided equity in education provision. The specific nature of the debate for a fragile community such as Mull necessitated the involvement of the Government in order for the right decision to be made. I still believe that there is time for the Government to act to support those in the gallery and the whole community of Mull, and I urge the cabinet secretary to take that point away.
Big changes will not happen overnight, but more and more we discuss depopulation and how to stem it. I wonder whether the lack of any real empowerment is the driver that leads to further depopulation of our islands, as in the case of Mull.
There might be a handful of successes that I could agree with the cabinet secretary on, and a few pieces of work that are welcomed by the islands, but are they really empowered?
I say to the minister that he should go to the islands without an agenda. He should sit down and have a coffee or go into the pub or the local shop and talk to people. He should talk to islanders about education and health, the visitor levy and fisheries. If he is really brave, he could talk to them about ferries. Then, he should come back to Parliament and stand up and tell us whether he really believes that our island communities are empowered.
My own feeling is that—just as we heard from Kate Forbes and John Swinney on ferries last week—what the Government is doing is not nearly good enough.
16:50
I am very pleased to have the opportunity to say a few words in bringing the debate to a close and to reflect on the contributions from members.
It is clear from what we have heard that there is a strong consensus on the crucial role that islands play in enriching Scotland’s economy, culture and society. It is vital that we continue—across the chamber, when we can—to support our islands’ aspirations and to make sure that their voices continue to be heard.
Jamie Halcro Johnston and Claire Baker both made very good points. Jamie Halcro Johnston said that we want to talk only about the good stuff, but we do not—we want to talk about everything, so that we can find solutions for the island communities. That is what the debate is about.
The Scottish Government’s decision, made in partnership with the communities and the local authorities—to touch on Alex Rowley’s point, it was widely consulted on—was to have population retention and attraction as the overarching objective of the new national islands plan, as unequivocal evidence of our commitment to building a vibrant future for our islands.
Of course, the vision has to be backed by actions and investments. In her opening remarks, the cabinet secretary provided an overview of some of the initiatives that the Scottish Government has already put in train. It is also worth mentioning the support that the Scottish Government has provided for island tourism, with non-domestic rates relief of up to 100 per cent for hospitality businesses on islands continuing into 2025-26.
I am also proud of the Scottish Government’s commitment to invest up to £700,000 in the international island games, which will get under way in Orkney in July and will be one of the largest sporting events ever held on our islands. I wish everyone who is involved very well, and I hope to see Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles teams very high up the medals list.
Does the minister share my disappointment that, over many years, Arran and Cumbrae have been denied entry to those games because the organisers say that they are full up?
That will be an issue for the games organisers, I would say.
Through the Scottish Languages Bill, we are strengthening Gaelic education and elevating the role of community development through the establishment of areas of linguistic significance in places where the language has particular strengths. Those will, of course, include many island communities.
As members know, agriculture and crofting are subjects that are very close to my heart. As well as cultivating the land and tending stock, crofters contribute to protecting island biodiversity and play a key role in maintaining their communities’ heritage and resilience. Through the proposed crofting and Scottish Land Court bill, which was announced in the new programme for government, we will help crofting by streamlining administrative processes, facilitating the use of inby croft and common grazings, and making regulations less onerous.
To touch on Tim Eagle’s point, in order to get to the point at which the crofting bill can properly take shape, I spent days on the islands, talking to crofters and local communities to find out what they want to do. With crofting at the centre of our island communities, the bill is designed to strengthen and support the sector and the crofting communities for future generations.
The examples that the cabinet secretary and I have offered are testament to the Scottish Government’s on-going efforts to address island challenges and ambitions. However, we recognise that more remains to be done. The new national islands plan offers a vehicle to further strengthen our delivery for, and with, the island communities.
Consultation events that have been held to date have shown strong support for a plan that takes a hands-on and targeted approach. In line with the respondents’ advice—I say “advice” advisedly—the new plan will feature few objectives and commitments in comparison with the 2019 document. It will focus on a narrower set of tangible and relatable actions that will add to what the Scottish Government is already delivering.
We are working openly and transparently with partners to address the islanders’ expectations and to ensure that the plan features impactful commitments. The suggestions that have been made during the debate will help us to shape the development of the plan, so I thank members again for their valuable contributions.
Ariane Burgess talked about human rights. The Minister for Equalities has responded to the Scottish Human Rights Commission and has copied that response to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee and the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee. It sets out what action we are taking to address the issues that Ms Burgess raised.
Will the minister and the cabinet secretary make representations to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care about the position of the care home on the Isle of Bute, which was highlighted by STV last week, given that that is an unacceptable situation? [Interruption.]
I seem to have lost my speaking notes, Presiding Officer.
I think that Jenni Minto is taking the matter up. There is on-going work to address that.
Beatrice Wishart mentioned the road map’s spelling of Up Helly Aa, which was a point well made. However, the document was shared with Shetland Islands Council and nobody picked that up. She also talked about having connecting tunnels, and we are considering what that might look like. There are mixed views on the idea, but we are happy to continue to have the discussion. We are also committing more than £70 million to inter-island connectivity.
Fergus Ewing and Kenny Gibson both talked about the need for island communities to have board representation. I note that CalMac has a community board and the chair of NHS Highland is an islander, but their points were well made.
It is not just about where people live, though, but about the language that they speak, as Colin Beattie noted. It is important that language, as much as anything else, is recognised.
Douglas Ross made a fair point—when I say “fair”, I mean that he made it robustly—about the fact that the motion does not talk about ferries. So, I am going to talk about ferries. I note that £530 million will be invested over the coming year and that the contract for seven new electric ferries has been signed. When those are added to the Glen Sannox and the five new major vessels that will join the fleet, we will have invested to renew more than a third of CalMac’s fleet, and the 2025-26 budget confirms that we plan to do more. I commend Fiona Hyslop for the work that she has done to drive that forward. Yet again, Mr Ross has shown what a loss he will be to the chamber—I am sure that it will be improved enormously by his absence next year. As far as number 6 is concerned, talking to islanders is at the heart of everything that we do.
I have to mention the residents of Mull, some of whom are in the chamber today. Their issue has been raised with the cabinet secretary. It is a local authority issue, but I am pleased to say that Jenni Minto has agreed to meet them and is organising a round-table meeting to discuss the issue.
Listening to the voices of our island communities, with their knowledge and insights, must be our guiding principle. Therefore, I am very encouraged with the progress made in the implementation of the carbon neutral islands project. It offers an example of the results that will be achieved when communities are empowered to take action in a way that is efficient and appropriate to local circumstances. The financing road map that we have published today sets out the next steps in the journey towards achieving net zero emissions by 2040, and it will move the project into a new phase of delivery. The carbon neutral islands project also confirms our islands’ credentials as places of innovation and entrepreneurialism. In fact, islands are often at the centre of Scotland’s ambitions, from the production of renewable energy to the transition to net zero and our iconic food and drink exports, which span the globe.
I welcome the debate as an opportunity to reiterate the Scottish Government’s steadfast commitment to listen to the voices of those in our island communities, to work across sectors and to ensure that island communities and businesses maximise their potential to prosper.
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