Time for change
I attended the Althing hustings in the Tingwall hall the other week and was struck by how things have changed in Shetland politics. It was evident from the debate that gone are the days when the electorate in Shetland blindly voted Liberal Democrat no matter who the candidate was.
The LibDems’s spiralling free fall in popularity has been of their own making, of course.
They have shot themselves in the foot by playing kingmaker to the Tories at Westminster and have paid the price by losing the trust of the people.
A political party that is not trusted by the electorate is in desperate trouble and I have to admit I felt a degree of sympathy for Tavish Scott as the pressure he is under is not entirely of his own making.
It was evident from the way he conducted himself that he knows he has a fight on his hands and by all accounts the race to represent Shetland at Holyrood is currently running neck and neck with the SNP.
His simmering antipathy for his nearest rivals however was barely concealed, and therein lies the weakness of his position.
If the polls are to be believed there is a strong possibility that the SNP will form the next Scottish Government with Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister.
The polls are also predicting that the Liberal Democratic party will have minimal representation and therefore precious little influence in the new parliament.
This could be an extremely worrying position for Shetland if we vote to return a Liberal Democrat as our elected representative.
During the hustings debate Tavish himself admitted that during the last years of the parliament his influence was limited because SNP MSPs voted with their party position.
This is no different to the Liberal Democrats who obeyed the 3 line whips administered by a certain Alistair Carmichael at Westminster during the good old days of the Con-Dem coalition. This is how government works.
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The fact remains clear that the reason the SNP can get things done in parliament is that the people put them in this position by voting for them…in large numbers.
Shetland does not need an MSP who can only barrack and snipe at the government of the day. Politicians have to be able to build trust within government to maintain a constructive dialogue regarding the issues which may affect their constituents.
I cannot for the life of me see how that is going to happen if the Liberal Democrats are re-elected here.
The reality is that the promises highlighted in the many Lib Dem leaflets dropping through our letterboxes cannot be delivered by them.
In contrast, the SNP manifesto is a realistic document that can be delivered, and we in Shetland, need to be at the heart of this process.
I believe it is time for a change of approach. I believe the time is right for the SNP and would urge you to vote for Danus Skene on the 5 May.
Iain Malcolmson
South Nesting
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