Election / SNP candidate Hannah Mary Goodlad launches manifesto during town hall event
Photo: Shetland News
IT DOES not happen very often that a local constituency candidate publishes their own election manifesto.
In fact in 30 years of reporting local news in Shetland, I can’t recall a single case.
But the long-running contest to become Shetland’s next MSP felt different right from the start almost a year ago, and is sure to bring a few more surprises over coming weeks.
There is no doubt that SNP’s Hannah Mary Goodlad is a focused and professional operator, and launching her own manifesto during an event in the town hall is entirely within that scope.
So what’s in it and, perhaps more importantly, what has been left out of the 16-page brochure featuring the 34-year-old renewable energy executive on its frontpage?
There is, of course, reference to that by now famous “seat at the table” she aspires to take should she overcome the almost 80 year-long Liberal dominance of local politics.
And there are warnings of what might be at stake and what has been achieved by previous SNP administrations in protecting Scotland, and Shetland, from the worst of austerity.
If elected, she pledges to use her influence to strengthen local control through devolving planning decision making, giving community councils budgets and decision-making powers, improving the Islands Act and devolving the Crown Estate fully.
She promises to campaign for a Shetland Energy Act that would deliver lower energy bills, local planning control, grid priority for community owned energy projects, as well as a minimum 20 per cent community stake community in any future energy developments.
There are sections about housing and plans to bring more than 400 long term empty houses back into occupations, plans for a culture strategy and a promise for Shaetlan to be recognised as an official language in the next census.
And promising that “the best days are still to come” for Shetland and its 23,000 residents, Goodlad says she will work to ensure that 5G is rolled out across the isles, and that lessons are being learned from Faroes in digital connectivity and tunnel building.
She further wants to see a reduction in the cost of Loganair flights, increased passenger capacity on NorthLink ferries once the new freight-flex ships are delivered, as well as exploring the re-instatement of international sea connections.
All that sound extremely positive and upbeat, but is it realistic? And what is missing from the manifesto?
“Shetland is different to the rest of Scotland, geographically, culturally, heritage, everything; it’s not a copy-paste of what happens in Scotland. We need something Shetland specific,” Goodlad said when interviewed on Tuesday evening.
“The second point of this manifesto is that I want to do politics differently; I want to do it in an open and transparent way, and in an accountable way.
“My words are my currency and my contract. I say what I mean and that is why I put this in a document so that people can hold something in their hand and know what I stand for.
“It is ambitious and it is deliberately ambitious, because I wanted to create an idea and vision of what five years of a seat at the table could achieve.”
Referring to the proposed Shetland Energy Act on the same day the UK Government announced plans to offer households and business electricity at discounted rates during periods of constraints, Goodlad added that she “always [was] delighted when Westminster play catch-up”.
“I really welcome this move from the UK Government,” she said.
“The Shetland Energy Act is trying to grasp the mindset of what we had in 1974 with the ZCC Act.
“We need to get control of this on three parts. We need control on the price, on who decides if wind farms go ahead, and we get control on who benefits.
“Most of these policy and regulation changes reside at Westminster, and some reside at Holyrood. If elected, there is a job for MP Alistair Carmichael and I to work together to put party politics aside.
“I think it is a great combination having a seasoned critic in Alistair Carmichael at Westminster and having a seat at the table at the Scottish Government with me representing Shetland at Holyrood.
“That a great combination; cross-party politics can work, and it should work for Shetland.”
The most obvious omission in the manifesto document is that of independence.
While a SNP majority after the May election has been endorsed by the party as a clear route to a new independence referendum, independence is not mentioned once in Goodlad’s manifesto.
“This is an election and not a referendum,” she insisted, adding that the 7 May election was about who was best suited to represent Shetland in the Scottish Parliament.
“I am an SNP member, so it is very clear what I believe about independence,” she said, “but this is about electing who we believe can do the best day job in representing Shetland, and if there is a possible future referendum, people have a different vote to cast then, and that is democracy.”
The other five confirmed candidates for the Shetland constituency so far are, in alphabetical order: Alex Armitage (Greens), Vic Currie (Reform UK), John Erskine (Labour), Emma Macdonald (Liberal Democrats and Brian Nugent (Alliance to Liberate Scotland).
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:
- Removal of third-party ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
