Dave Thompson MSP

SKYE, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP Dave Thompson has welcomed an opinion poll which shows extremely high voter satisfaction with the performance of the SNP Scottish Government and said this is because of the party’s record of delivering for Scotland.

The poll, conducted by Angus Reid for the Sunday Express, showed approval ratings of 56 per cent for the Scottish Government four and a half months after the SNP was returned to form the Scottish Parliament’s first-ever majority administration. Mr Thompson highlighted a range of achievements which have improved life in his constituency and said these measures and a general improvement in Scotland’s economy in comparison to the rest of the UK were the reason why more than half of those polled stated that the SNP Government was performing either well or very well.

“In Portree we have invested in a new dental centre, Broadford is getting an improved medical centre, town centres in Dingwall and Fort William have been refurbished with the injection of £6 million from the Town Centre Regeneration Fund and more than 3,500 new affordable homes have been built across the region with the investment of £323 million, providing accommodation for the area’s growing population and employment for hundreds of construction workers at a time when an international economic slowdown has had a negative impact on private-sector projects,” Mr Thompson said.

“On top of this the Scottish Government has assisted with the installation of new heating systems for more than 4,000 homes in the region and offered more than 80,000 householders energy efficiency advice and assisted with improved insulation for more than 9,000 homes.

“And this week I was delighted to hear the announcement of more than £2 million to help fund more new council houses, additional homes from housing associations and assistance for numerous self-build projects, all within the Highlands.

He continued: “In addition, crime in the Northern Constabulary area has dropped by more than 20 per cent since the election of the minority SNP Government in 2007 and our steps to increase the number of police officers on our streets by 10 per cent.

“These are measures where the Scottish Government can have a direct impact on the quality of people’s lives within the limited powers available to us but we are not content to simply sit back and leave Westminster to fulfil its responsibilities to improve the lot of the Highlands and Islands.

One key area where this region is disadvantaged is in access to communications technology – an area reserved to Westminster control. Despite this, and the Scottish Government’s tight financial settlement, the SNP has worked with the private sector to upgrade almost 80 local telephone exchanges around the Highlands and Islands to give more local communities access to broadband.

Mr Thompson added: “It would be easy for the Scottish Government to do nothing and simply state that this is Westminster’s problem but instead we are investing £50 million in improving internet links for dozens of communities throughout the Highlands. This is in addition to a mere £68.8 million from the UK Government for the whole of Scotland.

“Now Scotland’s Government needs access to the normal powers of every other nation so that we can continue to improve conditions for the people of Scotland.

“In May 45 per cent of the country’s voters backed the SNP and it is encouraging to see that, as we have used the limited powers at our disposal, support has risen and is continuing to rise.

The positive news for the Scottish economy continued today (Wed) with the announcement that new figures from the Office of National Statistics show that the country’s unemployment rate had fallen by 3,000 between May and July and 33,000 over the preceding 12 months, while in the UK as a whole the number out of work rose by 80,000 over the same period.

Notes:

The approval ratings were revealed in an Angus Reid poll published in the Sunday Express of 12th September.

Asked how they thought the Scottish Government was performing, those polled replied:

• Very well 23%
• Well 33%
• Neither well nor poorly 29%
• Poorly 10%
• Very poorly 5%

TOTAL WELL 56%
TOTAL POORLY 15%