Alasdair Allan: Short-term lets have contributed positively to our tourism industry, but high numbers of them can make it harder for people to find homes to live in. Data indicates that house prices in the Western Isles have risen by 135 per cent over the past 18 years. Given that such increases are likely to price young islanders out of areas that retain large numbers of second homes, does the cabinet...
Alasdair Allan: Will the member give way?
Alasdair Allan: I partly agree with the member. He refers to the lack of insulation being carried out under the area-based scheme. Does he acknowledge that the council, which did not run the previous scheme, and the national Government are now working together to try to recreate the scheme? I have said many times that this is a bad situation, and one that has been created by UK Government regulations....
Alasdair Allan: Transport agencies such as Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd and companies such as Loganair have a key role in ensuring that the voices of local communities are heard. Does the minister agree that both organisations must listen more attentively to island communities than they have in recent days, when many lifeline air services have been cancelled for weeks on end?
Alasdair Allan: 2. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any potential impact on turnout at future Scottish Parliament and local authority elections of the introduction by the United Kingdom Government of voter ID requirements for elections to the UK Parliament. (S6O-01965)
Alasdair Allan: Given that the incidents of voter fraud that the measure purports to tackle are extremely rare, as far as anyone can establish, does the minister believe that the measure has been introduced in good faith, or is it simply a way for the Tories to try to cling on to their final remaining seats at the next UK election?
Alasdair Allan: It would be fair to say that my island constituents are horrified at Loganair’s recent action. The impact on patients alone, including cancer patients, is almost unthinkable. Seriously ill people rely on the service to access treatment on the mainland, and it is unclear how operations, appointments and scans will be carried out otherwise. Directly and indirectly, Loganair has received...
Alasdair Allan: Retailers in my island constituency are generally supportive of the scheme, but they want to know who will uplift items and how regularly that will be done. Questions have been put to me about the fact that, in very rural areas, although small shops sell only a relatively small proportion of items in the community compared with supermarkets and online orders, they will end up having to...
Alasdair Allan: Will the member give way?
Alasdair Allan: For the record, my understanding is that no one in the independence movement would suggest that all laws since 1707 be unpicked or repealed on independence day. However, does the member agree that one of the distressing things about this bill is that it proposes to do exactly that with something in the region of 4,000 pieces of extant law?
Alasdair Allan: The Government has already committed to introducing legislation to make remote electronic monitoring mandatory on scallop dredge and pelagic vessels. Does the cabinet secretary agree that, during a period in which there are likely to be changes in how we interact with the marine environment, we must ensure that fishers are recognised for the valuable role that they play?
Alasdair Allan: 8. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on NHS Western Isles’ recruitment of a new permanent general practitioner and hospital doctor for the islands of Barra and Vatersay. (S6O-01915)
Alasdair Allan: As the cabinet secretary is aware, our health service is under a huge amount of pressure, and the long-term use of locums, as has been the case in Barra for some time, is not ideal. Connected to that matter, can the cabinet secretary confirm when the Scottish Government will take a decision on the healthcare outline business case to allow the proposal for a new home for health and other...
Alasdair Allan: The minister said something that is worth mentioning again: only one of many bids from the Highlands and Islands was successful in this round of UK Government levelling up funding. My constituency previously—and rightly—benefited enormously from EU structural funding. Does the minister believe that the UK Government’s watered-down replacement for EU funding is equitable and fit for...
Alasdair Allan: The member probably knows what I am going to ask. Is the Labour Party in favour of rejoining the European Union?
Alasdair Allan: Governments sometimes undertake tasks of breathtaking byzantine complexity, and sometimes they do something of such pointless stupidity that few in any party can truly fathom what they have done. Rarely, however, does a Government manage to pull off the two feats simultaneously. The UK Government is, however, working hard to do the political impossible in just that way, in the form of the...
Alasdair Allan: Will the member accept an intervention?
Alasdair Allan: The cabinet secretary mentioned the commitment to examine the case for fixed links on the Sound of Barra and the Sound of Harris. Aside from the obvious benefits, there is another incentive, given the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s reclassification of those waters and the potential implications for the type of replacement vessels that will eventually be required. Can the cabinet secretary...
Alasdair Allan: Scotland’s 93 inhabited islands are all radically different from one another, not just in their landscapes, histories and locations but in their cultural traditions, economic contributions and needs for the future. What all our islands have in common, however, is their shared appreciation of global environmental threats, the most obvious of those being rising sea levels and increasingly...
Alasdair Allan: As, I think, the Government has set out, although there might have been things that could have been agreed with, the amendment does not address all the needs of islands that this side of the chamber has identified as important. I am certain that, going forward, the six islands will influence what is taking place in other islands, too. On 30 November 2022, a project showcase was held in...
