At this crucial moment in history, with so much riding on the paths our society takes, Scotland and the wider UK desperately need decision-makers who learn from past errors, whether their own or those made by the individuals who came before.
“We will not make the same mistakes the Tories made when they abandoned entire communities in the 1980s,” Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar promised business leaders this week, referring to the future of the oil and gas industry, the people who work within it, and the loved ones who rely on them.
“There will be no cliff edge, there will be no turning off the tap,” Sarwar added. While his unwavering words may reassure some, and we hope they ring true in the years to come, it appears Labour is already making some of the same mistakes as the Conservative Party did in much more recent history when it comes to the north of Scotland.
Despite repeated promises to spend time in the area this summer, UK Labour leader Keir Starmer has not made a meaningful visit to discuss local concerns around the transition to renewables face to face. While Sarwar made a valiant attempt at smoothing things over, he did so from Glasgow. Similarly, Downing Street hopeful Starmer announced his party’s energy policy plan from the Central Belt, many miles from the towns and cities that will be most affected by the move away from fossil fuels.
People in our part of the world are, unfortunately, all too used to having a prime minister who refuses to engage with the large and important group of voters who live here. Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar may consider themselves to be worlds away from Boris Johnson but, on this point, are they so different?
Hindsight and foresight needed on A9
While hindsight is 20/20, foresight is an admirable and useful trait for any politician. Sadly, those in power in 1973 did not have the foresight to heed the warnings of doctors who, as we reported this week, said there would be more deaths on the A9 if “significant” safety improvements were not made to the route.
Fifty years and much campaigning later, though many more lives have been lost and injuries sustained on the road, government is yet to present a plan to dual the A9.
For 16 of those 50 years, the SNP has been in power at Holyrood, promising to dual the A9 and make it a safer carriageway.
Now shouldering the burden of his predecessors’ failure to act, Humza Yousaf can and should be the first minister to break the cycle and announce a timescale for fully dualling the A9. Anything less than this would be an unacceptable insult to the many families devastated by trauma that unfolded on a road known to be one of the most dangerous in Scotland for far too long.
The Voice of the North is The Press & Journal’s editorial stance on what we think are the most important issues of the week
