Busy day on the General Election trail with Highlands issues in spotlight

Highland issues are set to play a major role in the last days of the General Election as the SNP, Labour and Conservatives laid out plans to deliver major developments north of the border in a day packed with announcements.

The SNP launched its Highland Manifesto in Inverness yesterday with Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes vowing to take Labour to task over injustices like infrastructure funding and fuel poverty saying it may have to force Keir Starmer’s party “to have that conscience”.

Labour got in on the act during shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves who vowed that the publicly-owned power company GB Energy would be based in Scotland with many hoping that it will be headquartered in the Highlands.

Then the Scottish Conservatives’ Douglas Ross, a Highland MSP, launched his party’s manifesto, promising key investment in trunk roads like the A9 and A96 as well as more police and GPs.

The SNP’s vision for the north was written by Drew Hendry (Inverness, Skye, West Ross-Shire candidate), Dr Lucy Beattie (Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross candidate), and Graham Leadbitter (Moray West, Nairn & Strathspey candidate).

It is clearly pitched as an alternative to Labour particularly on issues like Brexit where the three candidates said: “Unlike the Tories, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, we want to see Scotland rejoin the EU”.

They also had keynote policies that many – including the Liberal Democrat candidate Jamie Stone – have also called for like dualling the A9 to the Nigg roundabout to service the freeport.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes: “The UK government ultimately determines the majority of our funding available – we can raise a little bit through income tax but it's quite small in the grand scheme of things.

“So when it comes to big infrastructure investment, the more money that the Scottish Government gets from the UK government, as a result of consequentials, the more that we can invest.

“The second thing is that Wes Streeting, Labour’s health spokesperson, has been very clear that when it comes to devolved governments, in his words, this is a direct quote, ‘all roads lead back to Westminster’.

“So, if we have a Labour government, which is highly likely, you need SNP MPs to hold Labour to account”

The SNP also hopes to tackles other issues like a Highland Energy Rebate – to offset above average fuel costs and introduce a ‘Social Tariff’ – discounted energy rates for low-income households.

The party also wants to end ‘price discrimination’ for off-grid homes that can face higher energy costs as well as scrapping unfair standing charges and boost energy efficiency measures.

Asked if they would get anywhere with Labour on those issues, Mr Hendry said: “It beggars belief that we generate more than four times the electricity that we use in terms of renewables here, export the rest around the rest of the UK and yet, we have the highest levels of fuel and extreme fuel poverty here in the Highlands.

“And we're paying the highest electricity standing charges, colder climate claim and all of the things that add to that is really an unfair situation. I think that it is incumbent on all of those politicians who've heard that argument, they've all acknowledged the fact that this is unfair.

“It's up to them now to actually deliver on that but to make them deliver on that, they need to have SNP MPs forcing them to have that conscience and we've seen that with other issues, like the Gaza conflict and so forth.”

Labour appears, for now at least, to be listening as earlier the same day the Shadow Chancellor announced clean energy plans she says will “turbocharge Scotland’s economy”.

Ms Reeves set out the economic benefits of Labour’s ‘transformative green investment plans’ that include lower bills, economic growth and 53,000 clean power jobs.

She says she will cut energy bills for good by investing in cheaper, clean power and by upgrading homes through its Warm Homes Plan, which will invest an extra £6.6 billion over the next UK parliament.

Labour has pledged to set up a publicly-owned GB Energy company based in Scotland, which will be capitalised with £8.3 billion in the first parliament and will partner with industry and trade unions to drive forward clean power.

This will help to drive growth and unlock opportunities by creating clean power jobs and building supply chains in Scotland. In total, Labour’s plans are expected to create 69,000 new green jobs in Scotland alone.

Ms Reeves said: “A Labour government elected on 4 July will turbocharge Scotland’s economy. Labour will bring back economic stability, unlock investment and deliver the reforms needed to boost growth, create jobs and make working people better off.

"After 14 years of the Conservatives and 17 years of the SNP, it's time for change and a vote for Labour is a vote for change."

Scottish Conservative leader Mr Ross appeared next to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to launch the manifesto as the party vowed that upgrading Scotland’s rural trunk road network is one of their key pledges.

Those improvements will target the A9, A96, A90, A75, A83 and A1 and are listed as one of five “top priorities for Scotland” in the party document.

Mr Ross said: “Campaigning to fix these essential roads will be one of the central pledges of the Scottish Conservative manifesto.

“We know how important these roads are to communities in rural Scotland, so pushing for improvements to them will be one of the top five priorities of Scottish Conservative MPs elected on July 4.

“The SNP have badly let down local people by breaking promise after promise to fix these dangerous roads – including Scotland’s most deadly road: the A9.”

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.