Kate Forbes should be chair of Highlands and Islands Enterprise

The Herald Scotland

5 days ago

First though, I should say there is absolutely no reason to doubt the primary reason for her departure. Standing again means another five years as an absentee parent. I have filled that role and know that there is really no way round it. Politics, particularly with serious responsibilities, is not a family-friendly occupation.
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Dingwall, for practical purposes, is as distant from Edinburgh as from London. Ms Forbes is surely right to criticise the modesty of creche facilities at Holyrood but the reality is that attentive parenthood and seven, or even six, days a week of heavy political duties do not really mix. A choice has to be made and I respect her for making the one she has.
No matter who is taking such a decision, there are always other factors in play. If independence was round any foreseeable corner, would she stay? If the party dynamics were more congenial would it make a difference? These are all hypotheses which can be speculated upon but should not detract from straightforward acceptance of the reason given.
Why am I sorry to see her go? There are two principal reasons. First, she is patently head and shoulders above those around her in terms of ability and, heaven knows, Scotland needs people of ability – regardless of party affiliation – to be involved in its devolved affairs, whether in government or opposition.
The second runs a little deeper and more personal. There are very few at Holyrood who has any ingrained knowledge of, or care very much about, causes to which I have devoted a disproportionate part of my own political life – the land, the language and the people of our fragile periphery. Ms Forbes was a clear exception.
To most of Scotland, never mind the wider world, these are arcane matters. There is no particular reason why Ecclefechan or Easterhouse should concern themselves with crofting or ferries or Gaelic or land reform or fishing or depopulation of places which could, with wiser interventions, be lively, flourishing communities.
This is, quite reasonably, reflected in those they elect which in turn means that government as it relates to these complex, minority matters is in the hands of politicians with no particular interest or empathy. This void is eagerly filled by civil servants who share the same lack of qualifications. The result is insipid legislation and decision-making which displays no awareness of a bigger picture.
Kate Forbes was very different in these respects and I would have been very pleased to see her elected two years ago as First Minister for the duration of this Parliament. Her competence and the ability to make a difference on matters she personally cares about would have been two welcome breaths of fresh air.
The people who now sit around the Bute House table with her thought differently, from Swinney downwards, and rallied to the standard of Humza Yousaf. In other words, they did what they were told. This is the Sturgeon clone-ocracy continuing; cheer-leaders for all the wokery and Greenery that Ms Forbes stood against, from Highly Protected Marine Areas through Deposit Return Scheme to a convicted rapist in a women's prison and the madness that ensued.
Much was made of Ms Forbes' religious affiliations as if the Free Church of Scotland was some outlandish cult which ate its young, rather than having its roots in radical resistance to the power and patronage of landlordism. The irony was that those who reviled her were themselves much more cultish and gender politics was their false god until that tide turned.
McAllan, Gilruth, Constance and indeed Swinney…. When has any of them demonstrated capacity for an original thought or strain of resistance to whatever orthodoxy was prevailing at the time? In these respects, Ms Forbes was significantly different and she paid a political price. I doubt if she will look back with regret at being out of it.
Anyway, I have a suggestion which, as ever, is intended to be helpful. I cannot help noticing that there is currently a vacancy for a chair of Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It is a three day week job based in Inverness. Personally, I would have absolutely no complaint if Ministers cut through the bogus quango appointment system and offered it to Ms Forbes.
This would serve three purposes. First, it would give her a role to which her talents are well suited. Second, it would give that agency a strong voice in corridors of power, whoever happens to occupy them. Third, it would signal a return to days when people appointed to these jobs were expected to be free spirits, rather than servants of the Scottish Government.
It is 60 years this month since the incoming Labour government fulfilled a manifesto commitment to establish the Highlands and Islands Development Board, HIE's predecessor, with wide-ranging social and economic powers. For decades, one of its qualities was that the people who led it, quite irrespective of party politics, were serious public figures, expected to be thorns in the side of governments.
Under the dull, centralising mentality of SNP rule, all that has gone and HIE is, like all the other quangos, required to maintain a low profile on a shrunken budget. I doubt if Ms Forbes would settle for that which is exactly why I would recommend her appointment. I'm sure the incumbent could be persuaded to hang on for another few months.
I have no insight into Ms Forbes intentions but suspect she would be happier in a role where she can make a real difference without the encumbrance of party politics. Better still indeed if, this time next year, it is a Labour-led government she can be a thorn in the side of while the remnants of the Sturgeon-Yousaf regimes contemplate five long years of opposition.
Brian Wilson is a former Labour Party politician. He was MP for Cunninghame North from 1987 until 2005 and served as a Minister of State from 1997 to 2003.