Can he be serious?

It is good to see Tavish Scott MSP giving consideration to alternative constitutional arrangements beyond the status quo with regard to Shetland.

It is difficult to imagine he is seriously proposing to the people of Shetland that becoming a Crown Dependency would be an attractive option.

If the experiences of other crown dependencies and international maritime law are taken into account, then under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Shetland under the rule of the British Crown would be viewed as an enclave within Scotland’s “Exclusive Economic Zone”, and would therefore only have the right to resources within a 12 mile radius of its coastline.

Crown Dependencies are also not technically part of the UK and therefore not part of the EU; although some elements of EU membership apply, others, such as freedom of movement and the Common Agricultural Policy, would not.

The ‘tax haven’ image of some Crown Dependencies is faded and jaded and not an ambition for Shetland, I think.

One of my final acts as a member of the SNP was to have a motion passed at conference for an Islands Strategy that would give greater autonomy to Shetland. I believe that this is the best way forward.

Other options offered by Mr Scott promote the idea of independence for Shetland; but not independence for Scotland. How liberal!

However, none of the options being offered by Mr Scott would have any significance at all were it not for the SNP bringing this debate to the table.

Reactionary ‘anything but independence’ tactics by those opposing can never ring true as they are at best a knee jerk reaction or cynical political wind-up.

Jean Urquhart
List MSP
Highlands and Islands