Letters / ‘Seat at the table’ unlikely to have an effect
Hannah Mary Goodlad makes much of what she could do if she were elected and had “a seat at the table” in Holyrood. But look no further than the Western Isles where SNP MSPs, elected by islanders, have had “a seat at the table” and have a poor record of delivery.
The Western Isles has had an SNP MSP since 2007 as have both Arran and the islands in Argyll & Bute. Skye and its neighbouring islands have had an SNP MSP since 2011. Several of these SNP island MSPs have been ministers, some even cabinet ministers.
With them all together “at the table” you would have thought that the needs of the islands would have been addressed. But the current utter chaos with CalMac ferries shows that they have not been.
Rather than following the practice of previous governments, the SNP slowed down the ordering of new ferries and have only recently been forced into a sudden late surge of ferry orders as the aging fleet became increasingly unreliable, and an election loomed.
Before then, the SNP’s only interest in ferries was for photo opportunities.
Let’s remember the forced early launch of the ludicrously expensive and unnecessarily complex Glen Sannox with painted on fake bridge windows and dummy plywood funnels just to give Nicola Sturgeon nice TV and press pictures.
So, given the above, should Ms Goodlad be elected, while she could no doubt try arguing Shetland’s case from “a seat at the table” (until the whips silence her), it is most unlikely to have much effect.
Theo Smith
Whiteness
