Kyles Flodda
Gramsdale
Isle of Benbecula
Dear Editor
More Heat than Light
I regret to have to say that my erstwhile colleagues in the SNP party, from MP, MSP and including also a number of councillors, are again guilty of an inglorious “own goal”. The wording of the Petition to the Scottish Government Petitions Committee is a knee-jerk reaction to a political decision on Inter-Island flights taken in good faith by the Comhairle, after extensive consultation at locality level, and is in my view inadmissible.
Quick reference to the Scottish Government guidance on submitting a Petition (4 pages of A4), states the following:
“A primary role of the PPC is to hold the Scottish Government to account. It has no remit to intervene in the operational decisions or actions of other public bodies in Scotland such as health boards and local authorities. A petition which requests the Parliament to do something it clearly has no power to do is inadmissible (page 2).”
Whilst it may be politically necessary to mobilise action in response to this decision of the Comhairle, it is a bit late in the day, and is at best foolhardy, at worst anarchic. Petitions should be embarked upon with a view to seeking a positive outcome, and not utilised as a big stick with which to beat the perceived offending council, democratically elected.
I believe your readers will have witnessed similar actions taken recently by our elected representatives with regard to – Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) with massive increases in fares for Commercial traffic, as imposed by the Minister, and more increases round the corner; School Closures, with upwards of an additional £1m being wasted because of delay in implementation, and the meter still ticking re legal action and fees; and of course cost of fuel, with inept political interventions to date (still paying 154.9p per litre for diesel in the Uists). All of these measures impact negatively on island residents.
This highlights for me the concerns we should all carry re the power struggle continuing between an SNP administration at Holyrood, bolstered on these islands by an SNP MP and MSP, and an independent council which is doing its level best to work within a much reduced budget, set by Holyrood.
I have previously written publicly about Inter-Island flights, and I have also communicated with respective Ministers, expressing the view that additional funding should be found from central government to enable continuation of inter-island flights, even with a reduced service, including the Barra to Benbecula route. The Western Isles Health Board received an additional funding of £1.7m only last week from the Minister for Health and Well Being. The Finance Secretary has a budget of over £30bn, the Comhairle has a budget of £117m. Where there’s a political will, a way can be found.
Our MP and MSP are, with respect, missing the target! Surely they are best placed to speak with the key SNP ministers at Holyrood who are budget holders, and work with the Comhairle to ensure essential life-line inter-island flights continue.
Any cursory glance at the workings of the Petitions Committee will quickly reach the conclusion that
(i) only competent petitions will be considered,
(ii) they are thorough and detailed in receiving evidence from all relevant parties, and
(iii) they don’t reach decisions quickly.
Western Isles Health Board are not likely to come to the aid of the Comhairle to share costs in subsidising air services, and comfort themselves in the knowledge that the Air Ambulance Service is available in any health emergency. This is short-sighted, and will incur massive increases in costs of emergency call-outs at £8000 + per flight: politicians from all parties should be alarmed at this prospect.
My advice to Dr Allan and Mr MacNeil is to reconsider your strategy, and please get on the phone with Ministers Keith Brown and John Swinney with a view to seeking additional temporary funding meantime to ensure continuation of flights from Barra to Benbecula, even if only for three days per week, linking in with the Benbecula to Stornoway connection. This will go some considerable way to allay immediate concerns and give the necessary time for a more detailed examination of inter-island flights across all remote locations, including Orkney and Shetland.
To help inject a level of common sense into this unfolding fiasco, I will again send a copy of this letter to Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.
Yours faithfully
Andrew Walker
Our SNP elected councilors after doing.., well nothing for the last 3 months in respect to the cuts, have all of a sudden decided to take the populist reaction to try and win over the public against the work the rest of the Council has put in. It won’t work. We can all see through their scam.
The only people the SNP care about are the SNP.
Andrew Walker, once again, sets out the position clearly and unequivocally- the MP and MSP must reconsider their strategy of attacking the council at every turn and cross the corridor to speak directly to the people in their party who can help, Keith Brown and John Swinney.
If they fail to do so they will be made to “Pay at the Polls”
It is a great loss to us all that Mr. Walker failed in his bid to become a Councillor last May, I am sure he would have been able to get the SNP group to behave with some sense of responsibility to their electorate instead of slavish loyalty to the MP and MSP and the SNP.
Word from the Skye SNP group.
“The SNP group in the Western Isles are an embarrassment, lack leadership, intelect and common sense. They will lose more YES votes with their carry on, but they can’t see it”
Time for Donald Manford to re-take control before it’s too late.
Andrew Walker is having a laugh, an “independent council”? The majority of our councillors, though claiming to be independent are, in fact, stooges of the New Blue London Labour Party (Scottish Branch).
As for them being democratically elected, I’ll go along with that, though most of these Labour stooges don’t actually know the meaning of the word “democracy”. This can be seen by their pathetic attempts at holding so-called consultations with the people over various issues, e.g. school closures, then totally ignoring the wishes of the people. Then, of course, there are the two councillors who kept quiet during the discussions on fuel prices.
Andrew Walker may have some valid points in his letter to the Editor, but talking about an “independent council” is not one of them.
No doubt Monkey Subsidy will disagree, but he is just another Labour troll.
I think the very fact that the SNP is failing to win over any of the independent councillors speaks for itself, Guga – especially as some of them, far from being members of the New Blue London Labour Party (Scottish Branch), are sympathetic to the SNP.
But then your own language offers a clue as to why this might be the case. You insult people who do not agree with you, referring to them as ‘stooges’, ‘trolls’ and even in terms like the above. Guaranteed to win friends and influence people.
But even that’s better than the MP – who refuses to talk to journalists and papers who might ask him tough questions. That’s much too democratic for his tastes.
It’s much nicer to cosy up in a quiet room with the likes of Sam Chambers.
Donald, to repeat my comments from the “Cosy Chats” article:
I don’t know if our MP, MSP and councillors ever read this blog, but perhaps they should. They have all fallen down on the job of looking after the interests of the islanders, and that includes the so-called independents (London Labour Party (Scottish Branch) on the council.
In any event, the fact remains that elections for the Scottish parliament, the Wastemidden parliament and the council should be held every three years, at most. The current system is far too long and allows them to become complacent. If the elections were held at three year intervals it might make all of them buck up their ideas.
I also said that we badly need another Donald Stewart. Are you up to the job?
I’ll take that as a compliment, Guga…
However, I think three year stretches would mean even more short-term solutions. I think five years is probably right.
However, it’s an absolute disgrace that any MP doesn’t talk to every local journalist or media outlet… That’s especially the case with those who disagree with them. Democracy doesn’t need echo chambers. It requires dialogue. Time and time again, it’s been obvious this isn’t being done.
i think Guga has been salted up too much!
Plenty of independent councillors in the council……only those who are trying to put a spanner the works are the SNP bunch of idiots…….
Guga time to show your yellow colours mate…..