Hansard

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.”