Letters / Faroe-style autonomy feasible
Once again the SNP, this time through Bill Adams (Research the facts; SN 12/6/15) is “greetin aboot bein ill duyn tae be da media”
Tavish Scott, as a Liberal Democrat minister in a coalition dominated by central belt Labour, may well have excluded the NHS from the Air Discount Scheme (ADS) in 2006, however the discount was surely a decent advance on what had gone before and therefore creditable.
The SNP has been in government since 2007 and has done nothing to change this heinous omission by Tavish so, IMHO, it ill behoves Bill to complain about your article.
If Shetland had Faroese-style autonomy, the £80 million-a-year tax surplus versus funding received would be retained, along with, most likely, a tidy sum from the oil and fishing industries on top.
That money could be used to assist transport to, say, Scotland and between islands, install road tunnels or whatever local voters desired.
Faroese-style autonomy for Shetland is entirely feasible, it nearly happened in 1979. All it needs is Shetlanders to reserve the right to “opt out” if they vote ‘No’ in a future independence referendum, within an overall Scottish ‘Yes’ vote.
That right must be reserved by the isles’ political leaders. Caution will be imperative when voting people into positions of political power.
John Tulloch
Lyndon
Arrochar
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