Job creation

One of my bugbears has always been the lack of opportunities for job creation on the islands, and the impact of the 'dead hand' of the Comhairle (and the rest of the public sector) on local businesses.

There are so many potential opportunities for local entrepreneurs to build good businesses and employ lots of people, if they believe that they have the support of the community, as well as being able to exploit the niche that they can see.

I am privileged to be able to deal with many business-people throughout the islands, which gives me a steady flow of information about how the local economy is performing, almost island by island, and I am aware that owners expectations are lowering, which is an adverse lead indicator of trading performance.

Sadly, little of any significance has happened over the past few years, other than Arnish, and I hope that there are some businessmen and politicians out there trying to create jobs on the islands, because that is what we desperately need to ensure a sustainable community.

Any such success will have my full and vocal support, and no doubt it will be compared to the anti-economic development approach pursued by other parties.