Exclusive:The SNP lost the Highlands because they 'don't get rural Scotland', says new Lib Dem MSP
The Lib Dems won two major Highland seats off of the SNP at the Holyrood election - one of them believes he knows why is party was so successful in the north.
The newly-elected MSP for Scotland’s most northern mainland constituency says the SNP lost the Highlands because they “don’t get rural Scotland”.
Lib Dem David Green won Caithness, Sutherland and Ross off of the SNP by over 5,000 votes at last month’s election.
The party also won the neighbouring constituency of Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch off of the SNP and won a regional seat for the Highlands and Islands.
Speaking to The Scotsman, Mr Green said he believes the Lib Dems’ success in the Highlands is down to the SNP turning their backs on rural Scotland.
He said: “The Scottish Government has a broken relationship with rural Scotland, whether it is HPMAs [highly-protected marine areas], the A9 dualling or healthcare.
“The Lib Dem results are a reflection that this government doesn’t get rural Scotland and hasn’t been present.
“When you look at maternity services in my constituency and healthcare more broadly, we need to think about how politics works best when local people are empowered to do this.”
When it comes to healthcare in his constituency, he said many fear centralisation of services to Inverness, and said there are widespread issues with recruiting and retaining staff. He said this is partly down to the fact the Highlands does not have an NHS centre of excellence to draw in particular talents.
Mr Green, who is from Muir of Ord, said: “There is this tendency that centralisation is the way to go.
“When I hear reform from this government, I hear centralisation, and that means centralisation to Inverness.
“For example, on the west coast we lost 218 care home beds in the last year alone.
“I was speaking to someone recently in Lochinver who is at the point in their lives where they are thinking about the future, and they don’t want to go to Inverness to hospital because they think they will never come back because there are no care home beds where they are.
“Too often our language is also on people’s choice to live in these places, but they have all paid into the system and have the same rights as everyone else.
“They have grown up here, have families and friends here and are choosing to live here, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have the same opportunity to access healthcare as anyone else.”
Immediately after the election Andrew Baxter, the newly-elected Lib Dem MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, called for a designated Highlands minister within the Scottish Government to try and bring areas north of the central belt into sharper focus.
Mr Green has echoed these calls, and added: “Urban Scotland is completely different, which is why I also want a Highlands minister.
“They would be able to think through the prism of the Highlands and be a voice for rural Scotland.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “Ensuring the success of the Highlands and Islands is a crucial priority across the whole of government.”
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