Meeting of the Parliament 18 January 2017
We know now that the board of HIE is going to be dismantled, which we did not know at the time of that vote. The announcement of that proposal was sneaked out in answer to a different question. We did not have that information and we actually gave the Government the benefit of the doubt—we will maybe learn from that.
When the Highlands and Islands Development Board was founded in 1965, its main remit was to stem population decline from the north-west Highlands and the islands and at the same time enhance the way in which the economic and social needs of the whole area were met. Most people, including the cabinet secretary, agree that it has been a success. At the last count, the population had increased by 20 per cent. However, that is not to say that the job is done. Many parts of the region still face challenges that are as great as those in 1965 and we need to redouble our efforts to meet the demands of and challenges facing those communities.
That is where HIE’s social remit comes in and why we have lodged our amendment. HIE has used its funding and knowledge to support businesses that would not have been supported elsewhere in order to strengthen communities and ensure that people have access to services. It has supported businesses such as pubs and petrol pumps that would never be supported in other parts of Scotland. Our amendment seeks to emphasise that point. We have seen economic development over the past decades, but it has decreased over the past few years due to budget cuts. Communities of course complain that they cannot get the help from HIE that they once did. They want HIE to have its own distinct board and the ability that it once had to grow their local economies.
The Scottish Government’s approach should not be a surprise, as it has a track record on centralisation. In the Highlands and Islands, we once had our own police force, governed by a joint board that was made up of locally elected representatives, but the Government centralised that; it did the same with the fire service in the Highlands and Islands, which is now centralised. All that has had disastrous results for service delivery. This time, it is HIE. What next?
The Scottish Government must recognise that it has no support for the plan. The Government cannot tell us who supports scrapping the HIE board, but I can give a lengthy list of those who totally oppose it. For example, Dr Stephen Clackson from Orkney Islands Council told me:
“Before long, with a single police force, single ambulance service, single fire and rescue service etc, this country will have come to resemble a large English county. The SNP will have transformed Scotland into Scotshire!”
How ironic that, as Donald Cameron said, the HIDB was set up by a UK Government in Westminster and is now being dismantled by a Scottish Government in Edinburgh. That was not the aim of devolution. Regardless of what the Scottish Government says, the move is taking powers from the Highlands and Islands and centralising them. Power over how an organisation spends its budget is the crux of decision making, and the new board will retain power simply by being able to open and shut the funding tap.
We must make a stand to save not just the HIE board but the very essence of HIE, and to demand the re-empowering of an organisation that has made a real difference to the economy of the Highlands and Islands. I make a direct plea to SNP MSPs for the Highlands and Islands: they might have been put up for election by the SNP, but they were elected by their constituents—do not let them down at decision time tonight.
I move amendment S5M-03438.1, to insert at end:
“, and recognises the impact that the Scottish Government’s plans for centralisation will have on HIE’s unique social remit.”
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.