12th September 2020
Senior News Reporter
The Orkney and Shetland flags
ORKNEY has confirmed it also has independence from Scotland on its mind - leading to fears of a break-up of Scotland.
It has been confirmed that Orkney would trigger a three-year-old decision to seek self-determination in the event of any future constitutional change - like Scotland's independence from the rest of the UK.
And it has been confirmed the Western Isles is looking at "maximising" its position in dealings with both the UK and Scottish governments having sought more powers for the islands along with Shetland and Orkney.
The development came as councillors in the Shetland Islands voted overwhelmingly to pursue ways of gaining independence from Scotland, giving the independence referendum-backing First Minister a dilemma of how to keep her country together while fighting to split the UK apart.
Islanders want to investigate the possibility of being governed as a Crown dependency, such as Jersey, rather than setting themselves up as an independent nation.
It comes just a month after the Scottish Government announced the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland will benefit from investment of up to £50m by the Scottish Government as part of an Islands Growth Deal.
Last year ministers released its National Islands Plan which aimed to tackle depopulation, a lack of housing and the need for improvements to transport and health services, Three years ago Orkney looked into whether it can loosen ties with Scotland and the UK or become independent in the wake of Brexit it has emerged.
And Orkney Islands Council leader James Stockan confirmed it was later agreed by the council that they would "seek self-determination" for the group of 70 islands "in the event of any future constitutional change".
"We want to seek our opportunity as a unique part of the UK that we could do something different if we wished," he said.
"All constitutional matters ultimately rest with Westminster, so the question is, we would need to make sure that is written into any future [Scottish independence] referendum.
"Shetland is a slightly different position in that they want to do this now.
"We will work with them and support them and work alongside them because we both have the same historic background and the same challenges from government and there are some unique opportunities in a post-Brexit world."
Some hope to adopt a similar path taken by the Faroe Islands, which have autonomous status within the Kingdom of Denmark.
Shetland in its motion to go down the route of self-determination, raised concern that more decision was being centralised and public funding being consistently reduced and that it was "seriously threatening the prosperity, and even basic sustainability, of Shetland as a community".
In the EU referendum, Orkney was the first Scottish area to declare and with a turnout of 68.4 percent Remain won with 63 percent to Leave’s 37 percent.
Mr Stockan added: "There are so many different opportunities in self-determination. We have a whole lot of opportunities that probably should have been afforded us in the past.
"There are some unique opportunities for Orkneys with Scandanavian countries, the Nordics.
"We may be peripheral to Europe, but we are certainly strategically central in the North Atlantic."
Shetland has a population of just over 20,000 and contains the Sullom Voe oil and gas terminal, with a number of oil fields off its coastline.
The Shetlands were the only part of Britain, along with the Western Isles of Scotland, that voted against EEC membership in a 1975 referendum.
Coutts Shetland council leader Steven Coutts suggested the Scottish parliament feels 'remote' to islanders and claims the levels of funding for ferries "negatively impacts on Shetland and everyone of Shetland" although the Government said it has provided more than £15million for ferry services over the past three years.
"We feel that the current governance structure does not work for Shetland. Increasingly decisions are being made in remote parliaments that impact significantly on the ability of our island community to thrive. Whether that be national rates of benefit, for example, universal credit which take no account of cost of living, planning decisions overturned, lack of mobile and broadband investment, or decisions on lifeline ferry routes.
"We are positive of the economic opportunities in Shetland, around energy transition, decommissioning, fisheries and aquaculture, the space industry. These are industries of national significances. But we need to have local policy and financial levers to ensure that this activity translates into thriving island communities."
In the final tense days of the 2014 independence referendum, the Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael, who was minister for Scotland at the time, said the islands could try to remain part of Britain if the rest of Scotland left.
In the end, 55% of Scots voted to stay in Britain. The unionist vote in the Shetlands was 63.7% - one of the highest levels in Scotland.
Islands Minister, Paul Wheelhouse, said: “In 2018 we passed the Islands Act – a historic piece of legislation which hands more power to our island communities and acknowledges their uniqueness, by enabling relevant local authorities to request the transfer of responsibilities from Scottish Ministers to them, following consultation with their own local communities. No additional powers requests have been submitted thus far.
“It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on ferry services, on the basis of local needs and priorities. In order to protect and provide support to our island communities during the pandemic, we have had to prioritise our efforts to support key areas such as access to lifeline services and maintaining crucial supply chains.
“In partnership with the Islands Partnership Working Group and Scottish Islands Federation, we have identified key themes and aims within the National Islands Plan that responds to the impact of the pandemic. We are working on an Implementation Route Map, informed by our learning of how island communities have responded and adapted to changing circumstances.”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18715728.break-scotland-now-orkney-talks-independence
