Don’t vote – it costs Shetland too much

The official Shetland input/output figures show that, after paying all our direct and indirect taxes and getting back all the grants and subsidies we need to run the place, there is £81 million per year, every year, left in the UK treasury.

At that rate, having MPs and MSPs over the past 20 years cost Shetland £1.62 billion – enough to pay for all the fixed links, travel subsidies, rural schools and whatever else we could wish for.

None of the candidates in the upcoming by-election has the merest glimmer of hope of benefiting Shetland to the tune of £81 million per year, and they shut the door to doing anything about it by taking up the seat.

Shetland would be better served by leaving the seat vacant, and the candidates staying home finding ways to keep that money in the Shetland economy; anything else would be to the detriment of Shetland.

Stuart Hill
Cunningsburgh