Hansard

It is sad that John Farquhar Munro's sensible amendments to do with building on the common grazings and not on the arable parts of crofts were knocked back. They were good amendments and it is a shame that they were not agreed to. A great many of the people from the 17,785 crofts in the crofting counties will see the bill as a missed opportunity because it has not enabled a true improvement of the whole crofting set-up. That is because no proper review was undertaken beforehand into the value of crofting to the Scottish economy and to the communities where it takes place.

The well-known former Labour minister and Highland journalist, Brian Wilson, entreated the Executive to

"go listen to the crofters".

He stated in the West Highland Free Press that the Napier commission had done so in the 1880s but that the present Government had not done so and was not doing so, despite the fact that the Scottish Crofting Foundation and the Scottish Crofting Association, which preceded it, continually asked for that type of investigation. The Scottish Crofting Foundation told the committee:

"We have consistently asked for the social and economic benefits that crofting has delivered to be measured—to be quantified and qualified from 1886 to the present day."—[Official Report, Environment and Rural Development Committee, 19 April 2006; c 3041.]

That work was never undertaken.

Instead, the bill that was written for the Executive expressed, frankly, an outsider's agenda rather than one that came from the heart of crofting. The first time that the crofters were listened to was when the committee took to the road to the isles. At that point, it was a question of waking up and smelling the heather. By that time, however, it was a bit late. The bill had been written. The cart had been put before the horse. Next time—if the crofters get another go at crofting reform—I hope that whoever is in government gets things the right way round.

In the meantime, I impress upon the minister the importance of ensuring that the many crofting issues that are not dealt with in the bill and that require urgent resolution are not put on the back burner. For example, the bull hire scheme is important to the quality of crofting livestock but, despite a promise of action by the then Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development during a members' business debate that I secured two years ago, no effective new scheme has been put into place. On top of that, crofters have had to deal with crippling new transport regulations without any replacement so far for support schemes such as the crofting counties development scheme. Like other agricultural schemes such as the countryside premium scheme and the rural stewardship scheme, the CCDS is currently in limbo while we await advice on the future for farming in the Highlands and Islands. Ross Finnie often mentions, very wisely, the need to add value to crofting products to bring value back up the food chain, but what incentives does the Executive provide for local abattoirs and local marketing groups?

Will the SCF be funded to help it to take a leading role in the future crofting inquiry? After all, the SCF represents the crofting industry's most important element, which is the crofters themselves. During the inquiry, the SCF must have the wherewithal and strength to put forward a good case on what is needed in crofting. How will that happen? The inquiry must not simply degenerate into an argument between the Crofting Foundation and the Crofters Commission. The minister must instruct the commission to address now, under existing legislation, the neglect of crofts that has taken place.

I reiterate that the bill as introduced did not address the problems facing crofters. Although what remains contains little with which we disagree, it would have been better to have scrapped the bill to allow a new bill to be introduced after the inquiry.

If we want the crofting system to continue to play a part—as it has done since the Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act 1886, which was, incidentally, strongly supported by the Tories—in the social and economic fabric of remote communities by linking urban activity in crofting areas to rural and agricultural activity, if we want to ensure that important agricultural skills and knowledge are kept alive and if we want locals to continue to have the opportunity to produce local food, we will continue to need crofting and we will have to treat crofting land as a special asset. We need to pay attention to how crofting can best be used to support the Highlands and Islands economy in the present day. Basically, crofting is the use of a basic agricultural system in a manner that helps social and economic development in communities. It has worked in the past and it can still work in the future.