Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 17 May 2022
Helping Scotland’s islands on their journey to become carbon neutral is an ambition that is, no doubt, shared by all members. Last year, the people of Scotland chose to elect a Scottish Parliament without a majority so that all parties would work together on the key issues that we face, and the urgent need to tackle climate change is one of the key areas in which there is strong party consensus. I agree with the Government that helping our islands to become carbon neutral is a step in the right direction towards our climate goals.
Scotland’s islands and islanders deserve our support, not just for the transition to reduce emissions and reach net zero, but because they have been ignored, misunderstood and forgotten about by this Government.
Our island communities have faced enormous difficulties over the past 15 years of rule by this Government, including depopulation, infrastructure issues, broken promises over ferries and crofting reform, and the yet-to-be-proven islands bond scheme. I have to highlight that catalogue of failures because the Government is putting the cart before the horse. Under this Government, islanders are and have been endlessly let down. I will touch on all those points.
Putting all of that to one side for a moment, I welcome the Scottish Government’s announcement today of its ambition to help the six islands. In the spirit of how we voted last year, the Government has the chance to work with all parties in the Parliament towards the shared goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2040. That goal is shared not only by all parties, but by people across the islands and the rest of Scotland. We must take the opportunity to use the proposals as a way of fixing the problems that our island communities face.
Upgrading harbour infrastructure and delivering more ferry services would be a start. The ferries community board has said that the chronic mismanagement of ferry services
“represents a real threat to our islands’ ability to retain and attract people, ensure services are sufficiently reliable and at prices that permit viable communities and thereby avoid depopulation.”
Addressing those issues must be a priority when we consider how to decarbonise our islands. The Government has an ambition to reduce ferry emissions by 30 per cent, but it cannot deliver the ferries. That is what I mean when I say that it is putting the cart before the horse.
Without strong and flourishing island communities, it will be very difficult to decarbonise those areas. It is clear that the fewer people there are on the islands, the more effort it will take for them to decarbonise the islands. Last month, The Times reported that depopulation was the top concern among Scotland’s 93 island communities according to the national islands plan. Members of the Arran Development Trust raised concerns about a forecast that the island’s working-age population will shrink by 47 per cent, which will exacerbate problems in delivering essential and everyday services and could affect the long-term sustainability of some communities.
The islands are our people and the people are our islands. The Scottish Government should be in no doubt that tackling island depopulation is vital to any plans to decarbonise our islands. Getting on top of the ferries fiasco would play a huge part in that.