HPMAs, Cervical Cancer, Climate Change and Just Transition

It was back to Holyrood on Tuesday after Easter recess and a week in which the SNP face continued questions about their finances while in Westminster the Deputy Prime Minister has resigned from his ministerial roles. Scottish Liberal Democrats will continue to represent the views of their local communities.

This week I asked the Scottish Government when it will meet with the communities that will be impacted by the Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMA) proposals. This policy would arbitrarily designate 10% of Scotland’s seas to be free of human interference. There would be no fishing, no at sea infrastructure constructed and swimming would also not be permitted, and there is no information about where these areas might be. Little wonder the Scottish Government’s proposals have caused outrage and anger in Scotland’s coastal and island communities, not least here in Shetland.  You can watch my question here.

On Tuesday I participated in a debate about brain tumours. This follows the awareness-raising event and photo opportunity in collaboration with Brain Tumour Research for ‘Wear a Hat Day’ which I sponsored in March. This is a charity close to my heart and I spoke about my family’s experience in my speech, while calling for more research funding, which you can see in full here.

I was able to quiz the new First Minister about media reports that 13,000 people had been missed off the list for cervical cancer screenings and sought assurance such a mistake could not happen again. You can see the full exchange here.

I also took the opportunity to ask the new Housing Minister about new house building in Shetland. The Minister stated he was keen to visit Shetland which would be a good opportunity to see the housing situation first hand. You can watch my question here.

I also attended the Islands Cross Party Group meeting where we heard directly from community representatives from Harris and Mull about the devastating impact on island life as a consequence of their unreliable and failing ferry services. The lack of strategic planning by the Scottish Government for a pipeline of ferry replacements impacts all island communities.

Finally this week, I took part in a Scottish Government debate on Climate Change and Just Transition on behalf of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. I was disappointed that my proposed amendment was not selected to be voted on. It called on the Scottish Government to more rigorously monitor and address the issue of sewage in our lochs, rivers, and seas. We know that the equivalent of 18,000 Olympic swimming pools of sewage flowed into our waterways last year, and that figure comes from the only 4% of overflows that are monitored. This is unacceptable. Scottish Liberal Democrats will press for more to be done to address the issue and my speech can be seen here.