SNP leadership candidate Ash Regan warned her party has “neglected” the north of Scotland over road dualling failures and plans to shift away from oil and gas.
In an interview with The Press And Journal, Ms Regan claimed residents in the region had been “forgotten about” and insisted Nicola Sturgeon’s government were “letting people down”.
The Edinburgh Eastern MSP quit her government post as community safety minister in October due to a row over gender reforms and has since grown critical of her own party’s policies.
It’s worse than I thought. People in the north-east just feel that they’ve really been neglected over the last while by the direction the SNP has been taking.
– Ash Regan.
She has emerged as the outsider candidate in the race to replace Ms Sturgeon since her shock resignation.
Ms Regan has gone on to claim oil and gas companies should be able to keep drilling in the North Sea, and has slated the government for failing to dual the A9 and A96.
Just after launching her campaign, she went on a tour of the region, speaking to locals in Stonehaven, Fraserburgh and Aviemore.
Ms Regan told us: “I had a feeling that the way the party was approaching things was not going down well in the north-east particularly.
“I really wanted to make my first campaign stop by coming up to the north-east just to talk to people and listen to what they have to say.
“It’s worse than I thought. People in the north-east just feel that they’ve really been neglected over the last while by the direction the SNP has been taking.
“I think people feel that they’ve been forgotten about, and the decision on the A9 and A96 as well, they really feel like they’ve been put on the backburner just now.”
‘Latest insult’
She added: “It’s just the latest insult in a long line of things. I would like to apologise to the north on behalf of the SNP for just letting people down over that.”
The Scottish Government had originally pledged to dual the A9 route between Perth and Inverness by the end of 2025, but recently admitted they would no longer reach that target.
Ms Regan said she would put forward an immediate plan to speed up the widening of the road if she wins the SNP leadership contest.
She told us: “If I become leader of the SNP, I’ll commit in my first 100 days to bringing forth a plan on these roads to make good on that promise we’ve made.
“I don’t know if we can get it back onto the original timetable, I’ll look into that if I become first minister, but if not, then I’m going to set out exactly what I can do.”
What’s the future for oil and gas?
Ms Regan’s pledge to ramp up oil and gas production in the North Sea comes as a poll of SNP voters showed 70% backed a quick move away from fossil fuels.
According to YouGov, 45% of the party’s supporters support a ban on opening new oil and gas fields, while 39% are opposed.
Ms Regan said: “We’ve got to be clear, oil and gas employs about 70,000 people, mainly working in the north-east. It’s a lot of working-class jobs. We don’t want to see communities being hollowed out.
“We do need to obviously keep net-zero. But I think the key point in that phrase is ‘net’. There are other ways to get to that point.”
Nominations for the race to be first minister closed last Friday and a new SNP leader will be picked by the party on March 27 once voting closes.
Humza Yousaf is now seen as the frontrunner to succeed Ms Sturgeon. He received a major endorsement from ex-party leader Ian Blackford on Sunday night.
The SNP’s health secretary has pitched himself to voters as the continuity candidate best-placed to carry forward the outgoing first minister’s legacy.
Highland MP Mr Blackford said: “We need a figure who will unite both the SNP and the Yes movement.
“As a nation, we require a First Minister who will ensure that we deliver in government and lead us forward to guarantee Scotland’s voice is heard in an independence referendum. Humza is that leader.”
Finance chief Kate Forbes is also in the running, but her campaign was sent into meltdown last week when she admitted she would have voted against gay marriage.
She is visiting Aviemore today as she attempts to get her campaign back on track.
Ms Regan also signalled to the Press and Journal she would be willing to jettison her party’s agreement with the Scottish Greens if necessary.
She told us: “We can’t be in a position where we’re allowing a smaller party to dominate all decision making.
“I understand they are going to have red lines, we’ll obviously speak to the Greens, but I’m not afraid of a minority government.”
Conversation