Jamie Halcro Johnston: The First Minister missed the chance to 'reinvigorate' the SNP
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Conservative Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston was not a fan of the First Minister's Programme for Government. He argues in this column what it left out was more significant than what was in it and that it "offered nothing new for the Highlands."
Humza Yousaf’s first Programme for Government was an opportunity to herald a new approach from the SNP. To reinvigorate their increasingly tired government.
But I’m afraid it was long, of little substance, and offered nothing new for the Highlands.
He made the same old promises on dualling the A9 that the SNP have been making – and breaking – for over a decade. And he wouldn’t even say when the dualling would be completed.
He boasted about six new ferries being built, but there was nothing on plans for the troubled Corran Narrows crossing.
He claimed he would do more for rural housing, but failed to mention that the existing Rural or Island housing funds haven’t been fully used, leaving millions of pounds sitting in government coffers in Edinburgh while local families struggle to find a home in the communities they were brought up in.
He talked about Scotland’s food and drinks sector, but not about his SNP-Green Government’s disastrous Deposit Return Scheme which, before it was dumped, cost the sector millions of pounds. Everyone – except Lorna Slater, clearly – knew the scheme was unworkable.
And although Mr Yousaf mentioned a new Agriculture Bill, the uncertainty over what it will actually include continues. Farmers and crofters remain left in the dark over how our industry will be funded and how we prepare for that.
So, a new Programme for Government, but the same old Central Belt focus from this nationalist administration in Edinburgh.
It’s clear where their priorities are and it’s not Scotland’s rural and island communities.
Short Term Lets ...
Last week, the Scottish Conservatives tried to pause the introduction of Short-term Lets Licensing.
The scheme seeks to address a problem which is (largely) in Edinburgh, but will impact businesses and individuals across Scotland, and particularly here in the Highlands and Islands where tourism is so important.
By voting down our attempts, local SNP MSPs have, once again, put their party interests before their constituents.
They have green-lighted a scheme which is already costing jobs across the region.
Most of those folk impacted are not big businesses, they are just local people who have invested time and money into their B&Bs or self-catering – trying to offer the best Highland welcome to their guests – and who now see their efforts put at risk because nationalist MSPs have chosen to loyally follow their party whip and have ignored repeated warnings of the damage these new regulations could do.
But the SNP don’t care. Minister for Housing, Paul McLennan, when one of his own constituents told him she stood to lose her “source of income, her entire business and possibly the roof over her head as a result of his short-term lets policy” is said to have replied that she should start “looking for another job”.
He didn’t even deny it. What a shameful and dismissive response from an SNP minister to someone just worried about losing their livelihood. This entitled government don’t care about the damage they’re doing.
