Politics

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar will consider proposals this week to reduce its funding of the Islands’ health and social care body in the coming year due to the organisation’s high-level of financial reserves.

Western Isles MSP Alasdair Allan has raised the implications for fishermen of the recently published draft declaration on the future UK-EU relationship durIng First Minister’s Questions.

The Comhairle nan Eilean Siar councillor whose motion to purchase new mobile library vans was defeated at recent council meetings, has expressed ‘shock’ over the way the future of the service has been handled in the Comhairle’s Community Conversation process.

A call for action to address the reliability and capacity of ferry services to the Western Isles have been made by the Islands’ tourism industry organisation, with its chief warning that if action is not taken problems experienced in 2018 could be repeated next year.

The first round of ‘community conversations’ organised by the Comhairle in a bid to ‘find new ways to protect public services’, and as part of its ‘service redesign’ process, got underway this week with events in Barra and Back.

The Tories are no fisherman’s friend, says Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil, as he warns islanders not to fall for ‘Tory pretences’.

More than 10 per cent of Western Isles voters who supported Brexit have now changed their minds, according to a new poll.

A decade of austerity has create a massive gap in the public services that we expect for our taxes and the services that are available to us.

The Comhairle’s SNP’s group of councillors has urged the Leader of the Comhairle to press for a ‘much improved settlement for the Outer Hebrides’ in budget meetings taking place this week.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is hosting Community Engagement Events throughout November focussing on a radical programme of Service Redesign.

A dispute over party political organisation by councillors serving on the Comhairle has erupted into a public stand-off between elected members.

Theresa May has been put on notice by her allies in the Democratic Unionist Party to change course on Brexit or risk the collapse of her government.

Comhairle nan Eilean Councillor Uisdean Robertson has met with Michael Matheson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity to discuss transport issues in the Western Isles including ferry services.

John Swinney has branded the recent Holyrood vote to scrap Primary One tests in schools a “disgrace” and insisted that political opponents don’t have the best interests of children at heart.

A Stornoway councillor has called on the local MSP to do more with the Scottish Government to secure extra finance for the Comhairle.

A final bid to secure the immediate purchase of new vans for the mobile library service failed to secure sufficient support at this week’s meeting of the full Comhairle.
Harris and South Lochs councillor, John Mitchell tabled a motion calling for the vans to be purchased without further delay and ahead of moves to have the future of the mobiles libraries included in wider public consultations planned by the Comhairle on the future of local services.  

Finance Secretary, Derek Mackay, has been accused of using ‘weasel words’ in a reply about how many jobs would come to the Highlands and Islands as a result of the new Scottish social security agency.

Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil had welcomed the announcement that the Castlebay Branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland has been saved.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has proposed a ‘radical’ new plan to limit the impact of budget cuts on council services, and has hailed its new approach not just an attempt to save money, but as a drive to empower and enable local communities. But the move has been criticised by the Comhairle’s staff union, who are calling on the Comhairle and the Scottish Government to explain why ‘one of the most fragile local economies in the country is being forced to endure the highest level of budget cuts’.