News / ‘Thin promises’ from first minister on autonomy, Lib Dem leader claims on visit
THE SNP government does not care about giving Shetland more autonomy – it “cares about winning elections”, according to an opposition party leader.
Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Alex Cole-Hamilton is on a two-day visit to Shetland as the party kickstarts its bid to retain the Scottish Parliamentary seat it has held since Holyrood’s inception in 1999.
Cole-Hamilton is knocking on doors with the party’s candidate for next year’s Scottish election, Emma Macdonald, this afternoon.
He has also held talks with Shetland Women’s Aid and Shetland Fishermen’s Association on Friday, ahead of a private Liberal Democrat event this evening.
His visit comes hot on the heels of first minister John Swinney’s two-day trip to Shetland last month to support his party’s candidate, Hannah Mary Goodlad, ahead of a tussle for the MSP seat that Beatrice Wishart is set to vacate.
Swinney used his visit to say he was willing to offer more powers to Shetland, something he said would put local decision-making at the heart of the community it served.
But Cole-Hamilton, speaking to Shetland News at Mair’s Quay on Friday afternoon, was sceptical about the promises made by Swinney last month.
“If I believed John Swinney I would welcome him to our cause,” he said.
“I would think the people of Shetland would take a dim view of thin promises from a first minister who centralised things like Police Scotland, centralised the fire brigade, without the best interests of the isles at the heart of those decisions.
“This is a party that’s been in power for nearly 20 years. We’ve been calling for autonomy for not just Shetland, but for Orkney and other areas since our inception.
“This SNP government doesn’t care about local autonomy, it cares about winning elections.”
Cole-Hamilton made repeated references to news stories this week which saw the Scottish Government announce fare rises on the NorthLink ferry route for 2026.
That came on the same day that the Scottish Government also announced ScotRail – the government-owned railway – would scrap peak rail fares, making trips between Glasgow and Edinburgh during peak times almost 50 per cent cheaper.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats leader said he was “not surprised by the visible anger from Shetlanders” at the disparity between the two decisions.
“These are lifeline links,” he said of the NorthLink ferries.
“It just shows the attitudes of officials in Edinburgh. The SNP government is fixated on what’s good for the Central Belt, and the Highlands and Islands communities are always an afterthought.
“If we are trying to have a one-Scotland approach for sustainable transport, it needs to be a one-Scotland approach – we need to cut the fares of any mode of transport that gets people where they need to go.
“The message is clear – this is not a party or government that cares about giving power to the people of Shetland.”
Cole-Hamilton said his party believed that one-size fits all decision-making in Holyrood never worked for the isles, where there was a “very different way of life”.
He called Swinney’s trip to Shetland a “rare visit”.
“Shetlanders will remember and judge him on the actions of his government,” he added.
“That’s only seen power move one way, and that’s not towards Shetland.”
Referencing fishermen’s concerns about spatial squeeze in waters off the isles from offshore wind developments, he said Shetland had been seen as a “cash cow”.
“These are prime fishing grounds which have been portioned off, and they sold them off for cheap,” he told Shetland News.
“SNP were very quick to sell the family silver, as it were, in terms of Scotland’s prime seabed, and Scotland’s prime fishing grounds to the highest bidder.
“I don’t want to see a further [ScotWind] leasing round until there is an overarching strategy with the interests of Shetland’s fishing fleet at its very heart.”
Political candidate Macdonald said that connectivity – and in particular, tunnels and fixed links – would almost certainly be a major part of her election push.
She said that was “an area that keeps coming up” in discussions with constituents.
A lack of connectivity for people in outer isles is holding people back, she said, adding: “We have businesses there that want to grow but they can’t.
“That’s an area that really matters to people.”
Cole-Hamilton also met with staff at Shetland Women’s Aid on Friday morning and said his conversation with them would be used to draft a section of their manifesto focused on ending men’s violence against women.
Parts of the legal system are “perversely making it easier for perps to continue to abuse their victims,” he said.
And he added it was up to communities across Scotland “to look in the mirror and say are we doing everything we can to keep our women and girls included, respected and ultimately safe”.
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