EDWARD MOUNTAIN: More to learn across Highlands after election fallout
Holyrood Notebook by Edward Mountain
While many in politics have spent recent weeks picking over the remains of the recent general election, I’ve enjoyed a more authentic experience.
My long-planned summer surgery tour took me across a number of Highland communities, spanning hundreds of miles and speaking to scores of residents and businesses.
It’s important after an electoral shock, such as the one experienced by the Conservatives earlier this month, to talk to the people who matter.
I’ve learned that the best people with whom to conduct a post-mortem aren’t necessarily political experts and commentators, but the very people who delivered the damning verdict.
My week-long tour provided me with so much invaluable insight and information that I plan to do it all again next month, including covering more of Caithness.
It’s easy for politicians of all colours to get sucked into what’s happening in the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh instead of hearing what real people are saying.
That’s particularly true of rural Scotland – people feel far away not just geographically but culturally and psychologically too.
What do people across the Highlands want from the Scottish Conservatives?
My tour told me they want us to be a reasonable, effective and constructive opposition. And that they need to be able to trust us to do this.
In practical terms, a number of themes were repeated from tiny villages to some of the region’s busier towns.
We need more planners at local level so applications for homes and infrastructure can be processed robustly but also more quickly.
Farmers want subsidies decoupled from production in order to drive up farmgate prices.
They need longer payment plans to give them the security they need to move forward and a new visa scheme for their vital workers.
Everyone’s concerned about population decline. Why are so many young people leaving these communities, and why are so few people from other parts of the UK willing to come here and settle?
Investment in schools, GP surgeries and other public services would be a strong place to start to arrest this worrying demise.
Of course, the issue of energy also came up, not least concern about the considerable infrastructure being planned for the north of Scotland in order to join up offshore energy projects to the National Grid.
People aren’t outright opposed to development, but they want energy companies to be honest with them. What is the totality of their plans for the next 20 years?
Communities are tired of having to fight every separate application which is foisted upon them, often without warning or proper consultation.
And while rural Scotland obviously has its unique challenges, people share the same concerns as they do the country over.
They’re worried about a lack of workers and specialists in the NHS, the reducing services GPs are able to provide, and the number of potholes on streets and roads.
Families are fretting about schools, both in terms of discipline and the standard of education. They value their local teachers hugely, but are worried that they’re over-stretched and under-powered.
Finally, whether they were vehemently for or against independence, they were sick of hearing about it. They just wanted more.
I’d recommend such a summer tour to all politicians, especially those forming the Scottish Government with power over policy and legislation.
They’d learn more from a week in the Highlands than a year in Holyrood.
• Edward Mountain is a Scottish Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands.
