OIC seeks to strengthen Islands Bill

May 29, 2018 at 12:22 pm

James Stockan, OIC leader hopes to strengthen the Islands Bill with help from MSPs.

Orkney Islands Council is asking MSPs to help bolster the Islands Bill during a key stage of its progress through the Scottish Parliament.

As part of the Parliamentary process, a Stage Three debate will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, when MSPs have the opportunity to take forward amendments to the bill proposed by the council and others.

“We believe the Bill could be much more ambitious than it was at Stage Two of this process,” said OIC leader James Stockan.

“We want it to be genuinely empowering, so that it has a lasting and positive impact on the lives of people in Scotland’s island communities.

Councillor Stockan believes that the Scottish Government has the opportunity to take forward ground breaking legislation that would be transformational for island communities like Orkney.

“This is why we’ve been engaging with the Government and with MSPs from all opposition parties and asking them to support our ambition to considerably strengthen the Bill,” he explained.

According to OIC, the amendments the council is putting forward would:

Provide opportunities for the further devolution of powers to island communities.
Allow ‘island proofing’ of existing as well as future policies and legislation, to ensure these take into account the special circumstances of island communities – and do not disadvantage people living and working in the islands.

Councillor Stockan added: “We want our communities to flourish and hope the Government will agree to bolster the bill so that it lives up to the historic Lerwick Declaration made by the then First Minister, Alex Salmond.”

The council leader is referring to a speech made by the former First Minister in Lerwick back in 2013. In response to the Our Islands Our Future Campaign led by the councils in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, Mr Salmond said: “We believe that the people who live and work in Scotland are best placed to make decisions about our future – the essence of self-determination, therefore we support subsidiarity and local decision making.”