Orcadian Column, 17 October 2024
The sudden and unexpected death of Alex Salmond from a heart attack while on a speaking engagement in North Macedonia is, first and foremost, a tragedy for his family and my thoughts go out to them, particularly his wife, Moira. Never one to seek or relish the limelight, she and the rest of the family deserve to be given the space to mourn their loss.
Meanwhile, the reaction across the political spectrum to the death of the former First Minister has been illuminating. A figure that often seemed to revel in conflict, Alex Salmond was nevertheless someone whose influence in shaping our politics and wider public life in Scotland cannot be denied, even by his fiercest critics. As the current First Minister, John Swinney fairly observed at the weekend, Mr Salmond took the SNP from “the fringes of politics” to government in Scotland and the brink of effecting a break-up of the United Kingdom. That is quite the journey and distance travelled.
At the same time, such is the controversy that came to dominate Mr Salmond’s career over recent years that he has been effectively ‘air brushed’ from official SNP history. It’s hard to believe that a decade ago, the SNP were urging voters across Scotland to follow Alex Salmond to the sunlit uplands of independence. These days, it would take a very powerful search engine to find any mention of Alex Salmond on the SNP’s website.
His successor as leader and First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon gave an insight into the reasons for this omission and indeed the mix of emotions many in his former party must be feeling at present. Commenting on her former mentor with whom she formed such a potent partnership for so long, Ms Sturgeon admitted this week, “I cannot pretend that the events of the past few years which led to the breakdown of our relationship did not happen, and it would not be right for me to try”.
Ultimately, Alex Salmond was the most formidable of politicians, a skilled debater and a highly accomplished media performer. Like Nicola Sturgeon, however, I find it hard to pretend that the events of the last few years didn’t happen.
In terms of policy achievements, one that Mr Salmond never tired of delighting in was the introduction of Road Equivalent Tariff on ferry routes to the Western Isles in 2008. A shameless attempt to use cheaper ferry fare to ensure the constituency remained in SNP hands at the next election in 2011, the initial ‘pilot’ was subsequently rolled out to all west coast routes. Initially, the Northern Isles were to be excluded entirely. It soon became clear, however, that such a policy was unsustainable for any administration with aspirations to govern for all of Scotland and promises were then made about a wider roll out.
Even so, sixteen years on and RET is still not available on Pentland Firth routes, which along with the longer Aberdeen route will see fares hiked by 10% from January next year following an announcement by the Scottish Government this week. Calmac services will be subject to a similar rise, albeit from a much lower base and not until March, for reasons that are no doubt entirely above board.
Back in January this year, SNP Ministers were asking islanders to pat them on the back for introducing a ‘freeze’ to fares. At the time, then Transport Minister, Jenny Gilruth stated that the Scottish Government was “acutely aware” that ongoing “cost-of-living impacts were more challenging [in our islands] than in any other part of the country”. There was certainly no warning that this ‘generosity’ would be ‘clawed back’ twelve months later by the current Transport Secretary, Fiona Hyslop. Households and businesses in Orkney, who are struggling to see any real improvement in their circumstances, will be wondering what to make of it all.
The giving with one hand, while taking away with the other is an approach to government that goes some way to explaining, in part at least, why the nation’s finances are in the state they are at present.