Scottish Lib Dem Leader Scott Launches Highlands & Islands Economic Recovery Plan

12.00.00am GMT Fri 7th Nov 2008

Scottish Lib Dem Leader Tavish Scott visited the Highland Capital on Friday 7th November to launch an action plan to help the Highlands & Islands economy in the months ahead. Mr Scott will be joined by Highland Lib Dem MPs Danny Alexander and John Thurso, who was recently appointed as Lib Dem spokesman on Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Mr Scott said: "People in the Highlands & Islands have watched as financial institutions hit the rocks and have seen the great lengths Government has been prepared to go to in order to bail out the banks.

"As they read of the billions of pounds of their money that Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have been prepared to pump into the banking system, it is understandable that they should ask what is being done to help them.

"The Scottish Liberal Democrats are the only party to set out clearly what should be done to put money back into the pockets of struggling families and to kick-start renewed economic growth. To do that here in the Highlands & Islands, we cannot afford to ignore the particular needs of our region's distinctive economy.

"Labour's approach has failed - the disastrous tax raid on the poorest in last year's budget caused massive hardship as the cost of living soared. They have turned a deaf ear to the burden of sky-high energy costs across the North. And now they are promoting a bank merger which will harm consumer choice and cost jobs right across Scotland."

Mr Scott continued: "Meanwhile, the SNP's self-congratulatory spin is increasingly at odds with the reality on the ground. Tough choices are being heaped upon deliverers of frontline services who are forced to cope with sky-high energy prices while Ministers devote themselves to their latest press release.

"The all-controlling 'one Scotland' approach is nowhere more corrosive than in the complacent response it has produced to the economic conditions - from disastrous cuts at Highlands & Islands Enterprise to the failure to help housing associations take the opportunities which tough times afford.

"There is an alternative. The Highlands & Islands need Government at every level to set politics aside and work together for action now," concluded Tavish Scott.

Related Link:

download the Liberal Democrats Highlands and Islands Economic Recovery Plan.