Dave Thompson MSP

FOR the second time this year I have had the pleasure of welcoming the Scottish Government to the Highlands.

In July the Scottish Cabinet met in Fort William then this month the SNP held its largest ever Conference in Inverness, attended by 76 parliamentarians, 363 councillors and over 1,200 party members.

Interest following May’s Holyrood landslide was such that over 150 journalists from all over the world also came to learn about this shift in Scottish politics. They wanted to hear more about the strategy the SNP is pursuing to help the economy by boosting capital spending despite swingeing cuts imposed by Westminster, where the coalition Government’s crippling diet of cuts is increasingly being blamed for leading Britain into a sustained period of zero growth.

Conference was also an opportunity for the party to thank the Scottish electorate for putting their trust in the SNP to govern for the benefit of Scotland.

One Conference announcement stood out as far as the Highland economy is concerned; the renaissance of the former oil construction yard at Nigg as the Nigg Energy Park, where the current workforce of two should grow to 2,000 by 2015 by becoming a base for both the oil and renewable industries.

I was also recently delighted to be able to announce details of a lifeline deal between West Coast fishermen and a large supermarket group which came to fruition following a meeting I organised between the Mallaig and North West Fishermen’s Association and Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead.

The fishermen asked for assistance in marketing their catch to the UK market. Richard pledged to do what he could to help and a year later the result is a deal to supply fresh West Coast langoustines to Sainsburys supermarkets across the UK, giving the industry the confidence to plan for modern on-shore facilities and a new qualification in Maritime Skills to be delivered at six North-west Highland secondary schools where the next generation who will fish the Minch will be trained.

While his promises to reduce the cost of fuel in the Highlands helped to persuade many to elect Danny Alexander as their MP, a year after he became Chief Secretary to the Treasury and gained the power to deliver his pledge, he has failed to provide more than a pilot reduction for island motorists, the introduction of which is still some time away.

Every step is welcome but this one risks the survival of West Highland petrol stations which will see a drop in trade if motorists bypass their premises to fill up in Skye, where the reduction is to be introduced.

This is about more than the loss of a petrol pump from remote communities but also the additional services each provides to their surrounding areas and the jobs they support. So I wrote to Danny Alexander to suggest that he limit this potential by including rural mainland businesses which could experience an adverse effect from his ill-though-out policy but sadly his response was to say no change was possible.

I have recently also submitted a motion to the Scottish Parliament congratulating the Ardnamurchan Transitions Project for its archaeological study of this peninsula and for the creation of a permanent local exhibition to display the results of this research, notably the spectacular Viking boat burial unearthed by the team.

Such is the importance of this find that I am told that the British Museum has already been in touch to express an interest but it is vital that we do not allow the Ardnamurchan Viking and his treasures to go the way of the Lewis Chessmen and be seized for display or storage in London or Edinburgh.