I’ve been meaning to get this newsletter started since being elected in May. Somehow, between constituency work, parliamentary business and the usual mountain of paperwork, it’s taken a little longer than planned!
My intention is to send you a regular short update, sharing some of what I’ve been doing on your behalf, the issues I’ve been raising and, occasionally, a glimpse of life behind the scenes at Holyrood.
I want this to be more than a list of meetings and parliamentary speeches. It’s an opportunity to explain why particular issues matter to our communities, what I’m doing about them and what happens next.
I’ll try to keep it interesting, reasonably brief and free from too much parliamentary jargon. No promises on that last one!
With Parliament now in recess, it’s a good opportunity to look back at some of the issues I raised during a busy final week at Holyrood.
Highland patients are not tourists
One of the questions I raised in Parliament last week concerned something that could become a rather ridiculous merry-go-round of public money.
Living in the Highlands often means travelling considerable distances for specialist NHS treatment. Sometimes that means staying overnight, not because you want to, but because you have little choice.
Yet under Highland Council’s proposed visitor levy, patients who need overnight accommodation could find themselves paying an additional charge.
And here’s where things get particularly daft.
A patient could pay the visitor levy to Highland Council, only for NHS Highland to reimburse that same charge through the patient travel scheme.
So public money goes from one public body to another and back again, with the patient caught in the middle, potentially paying upfront and dealing with yet more paperwork.
I asked ministers to work with councils to ensure that overnight accommodation required for NHS treatment is exempt from visitor levies in the first place.
The legislation already allows councils to introduce exemptions, and I want Highland Council to use those powers sensibly.
Someone travelling for hospital treatment is a patient, not a tourist. Surely that’s a distinction we can all understand.
Read more about my question in Parliament.
Lochaber smelter: Have we been taken for a ride?
I also challenged First Minister John Swinney last week over some troubling reports about the financial arrangements behind the GFG Alliance Lochaber aluminium smelter deal.
Nearly ten years ago, when the Scottish Government backed the deal, Lochaber was promised hundreds of jobs, new factories and substantial community benefits.
Those wider promises have not materialised.
Now, reporting in The Herald has raised questions about whether investors were being offered returns that did not depend on the smelter producing aluminium or generating electricity.
That raises a fairly fundamental question: what exactly did ministers know about those arrangements when they agreed to put taxpayers’ money behind the deal?
The First Minister defended the Government’s intervention, arguing that it had sustained economic activity and that the underlying assets, particularly the hydroelectric infrastructure, helped protect the public purse.
Protecting existing employment is important. But that doesn’t remove the responsibility to explain what happened to the additional jobs, factories and community benefits we were promised.
The First Minister didn’t directly answer my specific questions in the Chamber. Instead, he promised to write to me with further information.
I’ll be looking carefully at his response and will share what I learn.
After nearly ten years, the people of Lochaber deserve to know what was promised, what was delivered and who is being held accountable.
Watch my question and the First Minister’s response in the Scottish Parliament.
News in brief
A fair deal for communities hosting renewable energy
Communities across the Highlands are hosting an increasing amount of renewable energy infrastructure, but are they getting a fair share of the benefits? I challenged ministers in Parliament over the voluntary nature of community benefit payments and the need for stronger arrangements. I believe we should explore statutory payments so that communities hosting wind farms and associated infrastructure receive a fair, consistent and lasting benefit.
Read more about my parliamentary question →
Protecting the right to speak up for our communities
Questioning the Deputy First Minister in Parliament, I raised concerns about whether the councillors’ code of conduct and standards regime adequately protect the right of elected representatives to challenge decisions and hold public bodies to account. As both an MSP and a Highland councillor, I believe robust scrutiny and freedom of expression are essential to local democracy. The Deputy First Minister agreed to raise the issue with COSLA, and I’ll be following up to ensure councillors can speak up for the communities they represent without fear of unjustified complaints from political opponents and council bureaucrats who dislike scrutiny.
Read more about my parliamentary question →
Scotland’s fishing future
Last week, I spoke in Parliament’s debate on Scotland’s fishing industry, raising concerns about the increasing competition for space in our seas. I lodged an amendment calling for better marine planning, greater recognition of local fishing knowledge and consideration of compensation where fishing activity is displaced. Although my amendment wasn’t agreed to, I’ll continue raising these issues on behalf of the fishing communities whose jobs and livelihoods depend on getting these decisions right.
Watch my speech during the fishing debate →
And finally
One of the things I’ve discovered since being elected is just how varied the work of an MSP can be.
In the space of a few days, I can find myself questioning the First Minister about a major industrial deal, challenging the bureaucracy surrounding hospital travel, discussing the future of Scotland’s fishing industry and working through the many smaller issues that matter to individual constituents.
Not everything makes the headlines, and sometimes the less glamorous work is just as important.
That’s part of what I hope to share through Highland Voice.
Thank you for reading this first edition. I hope you’ll find it useful, and I’d welcome your thoughts about the issues you’d like to see covered in future newsletters.
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