Dave Thompson MSP

NEWS that the former oil yard at Nigg is to be given a second lease of life as a major centre of the renewables industry is an extremely positive development for the Black Isle.

The announcement by Finance Secretary John Swinney last month that Nigg is to be one of seven new Enterprise Sites in the north of Scotland will  accelerate the site’s development as a major centre of the industry, providing welcome new high value employment opportunities and an economic boost to the wider area.

Last year I was delighted to welcome the return of the Cromarty ferry service with a larger vessel but this latest welcome news about Nigg’s industrial development will ensure that it will be very busy.

Further good news in Mr Swinney’s statement was the announcement of additional Enterprise Sites, this time in the Life Sciences field, in Inverness and just across the Inner Moray Firth at Forres.

Many of the jobs created in these new enterprise parks will also be high-value research and development positions in areas where Scottish expertise ranks among the best in the world.

Another issue of import to the Black Isle is access to the Kessock Bridge. Last year Transport Scotland advised that a seven-month contract for resurfacing work needed to prolong the life of the bridge would begin in March 2013. But further investigation has raised the concern that this work would still be underway in the busy late summer, the bridge’s busiest period. So they have decided to split this substantial contract and bring forward the start date to February. The contract will be split over two seasons to avoid this summer disruption.

Quite properly, this operational decision was taken by the country’s transport planners independently of ministerial involvement so I was puzzled to see recent comments from Lib Dem councillors Angela MacLean and David Alston accusing the Scottish Government of “dithering” over this issue.

I can assure these Lib Dem councillors that Transport Scotland experts have sought the least disruptive window possible for this important repair work to be carried out.

I believe that the experts’ considered approach to this problem is commendable. Far better this than rushing, and disrupting the bridge during its busiest time of year.

Another matter which will be of concern to every resident of the Black Isle, in fact every resident of Scotland, is the referendum on whether Scotland should be an independent nation once again.

Independence would mean that Scotland can once again stand on her own two feet as an equal among more than 200 other independent nations around the world, living off her abundant natural resources and the talents of her population.

It is a vision I have held all my life and I am delighted to see that an increasing number share this inspirational view of Scotland’s future.

A pernicious myth prevalent over the last few years is that Scotland is subsidised by the rest of the UK. Yet, increasingly Scots are realising that this is not true. Equally,  the annual Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) is increasingly googled on the web and demonstrates that whilst the UK budget consistently runs a deficit, Scotland has in four of the last five years, for example, generated a contrasting surplus.

While it is true that the oil removed from Scotland’s waters has supported UK Government tax receipts for over forty years, it is far from exhausted. The latest estimates are that what remains will last for at least another 50 years at current rates of usage. What is also rarely mentioned is the fact that the EU’s largest reserves of oil lie within Scotland’s territorial waters, with more than a trillion pounds worth still to be tapped.

Scotland is also rich in resources for energy generation in the cleaner, greener era – tidal, wind, wave and hydro power – so we are confident of not only supplying our own needs but also being able to create a surplus for other parts of Europe less well endowed than Scotland.

Beyond this, we must also consider who is best trusted to govern Scotland in this country’s interests. I believe the answer to this question is the people of Scotland; those people who live here, whether they were born in Scotland or have taken the step to build a new life here.

The interests of Scotland will be best met by a government elected by all the people of Scotland and only the people of Scotland. Nobody cares more about Scotland’s success than the people who live here.

Through this the rest of the UK stands to gain a friendly neighbour and in the words of the Queen when in Ireland recently be “Firm friends and equal partners.

Scotland can move towards a future where we are able to make our own decisions and have the economic control needed to create wealth, jobs and a socially just society.