Many would prefer to 'go it alone' under breakaway Caithness council and health board, Nicola Sturgeon is told
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A belief that Caithness would be better off running its own affairs has come to the fore as a result of years of neglect by the Scottish Government, Nicola Sturgeon has been told.
Far north MP Jamie Stone warned the First Minister that hundreds of his constituents would prefer to "go it alone" under a breakaway local authority and health board.
Blaming SNP centralisation for creating a "secessionist" movement in the area, he called on the Scottish Government to expand the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 to include remote and rural mainland areas.
Mr Stone wrote to Ms Sturgeon after a petition was lodged at the Scottish Parliament asking for Caithness County Council to be reinstated and a Caithness NHS board to be set up. The petition, submitted by Thurso community councillor Billy Sinclair, has attracted 720 signatures.
Mr Stone, the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, said: “The SNP government has neglected remote rural Scotland to the point where hundreds of my far north constituents now wish to ‘go it alone’.
“As a former chairman of Tain Community Council, and a member of Ross and Cromarty District Council, I understand the benefits of truly local democracy. That is not what we have in Scotland today.
“For years I have warned that healthcare centralisation in Highland is actively dangerous, and that the underfunding of Highland Council is pushing our communities to breaking point. The Scottish Government is now reaping what it has sown over the past 15 years, to the benefit of precisely nobody in the Highlands.
“It brings me no joy that the independence-obsessed SNP is now getting a taste of its own medicine.
"They need to heed this grave warning and sort things out. Legal recognition of remote rural parts of Scotland would be a good first step.”
Mr Sinclair's petition – entitled “Reinstate Caithness County Council and Caithness NHS Board” – is being considered by the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee. The proposal would remove Caithness from Highland Council and the NHS Highland region.
Mr Stone has written to Ms Sturgeon arguing that remote and rural parts of the Highlands should be granted the same protected status as Scotland’s islands.
In 2019, former MSP Gail Ross tried to bring forward a bill called Safeguarding Scotland's Remote Rural Communities to address the needs of rural areas. The proposed legislation would have offered protection for mainland communities in a similar way to the 2018 Islands Act.
In his letter to the First Minister, Mr Stone wrote: "Many of my constituents in Caithness and Sutherland feel particularly let down by what they see as a relentlessly centralising Holyrood government.
"It is not too late to turn the tide on the decline being experienced in Caithness and Sutherland, but the situation is very serious. Depopulation is, quite literally, an existential threat.
"My constituents are not islanders, but they face many of the same issues that island communities do. Granting rural remote parts of the Highlands the same protected status afforded in the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 would be a good first step."
Mr Sinclair reported last week that he had received "positive feedback from the public”.
Maree Todd, the SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, said: “I had a constructive conversation with Billy Sinclair a couple of weeks ago in Wick, where we discussed his petition.
"In acquiring over 700 signatures, it is only right that the issues raised and the level of local support are reflected upon. This is the purpose of the Public Petitions Committee and it’s fantastic to see my constituents engaged and represented in parliamentary procedures.
“A common theme behind the matters mentioned in the petition is depopulation. We know that a declining population threatens the sustainability of our rural communities and puts pressure on our public services, like healthcare, for instance.
“The Scottish Government is committed to engaging with stakeholders and rural communities to shape policy and has already made positive interventions to stem depopulation, from family-friendly childcare policies that support parents to work, train and study to the reconvening of the Population Taskforce.
“In driving migration to Caithness, this will contribute positively to our economy, communities and our public services.
“While the Scottish Government will be evaluating the Islands Act in full before its implementation in other rural areas of Scotland, rural needs continue to be represented in policy decisions.”
Caithness County Council operated until local government reorganisation in 1975. The county was then served by Caithness District Council until 1996.
Between 1993 and 2001 the county’s health services were run by the Caithness and Sutherland NHS Trust.
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