Why Nigel Farage's flying visit to Shetland won't have fooled anyone
Islanders are wearily familiar with politicians who make brief visits during election time
Last week, it was revealed that Russia had been sending military assets to monitor and map cables and pipelines in our northern seas. Then this week, none other than Reform leader Nigel Farage turned up in the Northern Isles to sample our local delights. The secret to comedy is timing.
I would not dream, naturally, of suggesting that Farage is a Russian asset or that he was sent in after Vladimir Putin’s covert submarines failed. No doubt the opportunity to stand around in Lerwick being heckled by political activists was appealing enough on its own.
Whatever his reasons, however, I suspect that Farage’s most flying of flying visits – touching down in Shetland for just a few hours – is going to be met with a healthy degree of scepticism, both in terms of his motives and his ability to do more than snap photos. We have seen his type before – and we know his record on the issues that matter to our islands.
A candy-floss trawler net
Just take the matter of fishing. We are not short on gripes locally with the SNP-Green government over the highly protected marine areas fiasco of recent years (amongst other irritations). Farage, however, has been of about as much use to our fishermen as a candy-floss trawler net. He has always been happy to use fishing as a political prop and to talk up grievances with the EU, UK and Scottish governments, but he has had no interest in the substance of these issues.
After all, Farage was, for many years, a member of the fisheries committee in the European Parliament, where you might have thought he could have done some good for our communities. Instead he was a non-entity, notable only for his poor attendance record. Even TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (not an MEP himself) was noted for engaging more with the committee than Farage.
He has continued that pattern of fecklessness in the House of Commons. Neither Nigel nor any of his Reform colleagues could be bothered to attend a cross-party debate I led on the fishing industry in 2024. The best they could offer was a tweet – apparently Farage was too busy on holiday somewhere in France. Plus ça change.
It is a pattern that is wearily familiar for islanders. Some political parties – and Farage is far from alone in this – seem to see Scottish islands as a glorified backdrop for photoshoots and press releases. The real people who live here, and the issues that matter to us, always get second billing – and second-rate policy ideas.
A fundamental lack of effort
Just look at the SNP manifesto released today. Amongst a range of reheated ideas – many of which were supposed to have been delivered in the last nationalist manifesto – it promises to commission a study into “potential options” for a further subsea cable to the Northern Isles. A study. Wonderful. You can scarcely imagine our excitement.
Whatever the party, it all speaks to a fundamental lack of effort to understand our needs and act on them – or, perish the thought, to give islanders the power to act ourselves. Politicians like these are all-too happy to arrive with a bang and big rhetoric during election season – then skulk away like a Russian sub once the ballot boxes are packed away.
Alistair Carmichael is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.