Yes, Yes in 1997

I was most disturbed to read a letter from a Mr James Whitworth of Burravoe , Yell, in Saturday’s (Glasgow) Herald.

This letter was riddled with inaccuracies, the most blatant being his claim that Shetland was “against devolution”.

For the record, in 1997 Shetland voted Yes, Yes to a Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers.

• For the parliament – 5,430 votes (62.38%)
• Against – 3,275 votes
• For tax powers – 4,478 votes
• Against – 4,198 votes

Far from having devolution “foisted upon us against our will by the rest of Scotland”, as wrongly asserted by Mr Whitworth in his letter, the Shetland electorate chose along with voters elsewhere in Scotland to approve the creation of a Scottish Parliament which accords Shetland its own separate seat instead of lumping us in with Orkney in a joint northern isles constituency as has always been the case at Westminster.

Bill Adams
Lerwick