A conversation with Jamie Dobson — Scottish Liberal Democrat Candidate
In the build up to the UK General Election on the 4th of July, fios has spoken individually to a number of candidates for the Western Isles, and discussed five key topics with them — Renewable Energy; Peats and Peatland; Transport; Affordable Housing and International Politics.
Jamie Dobson is the Liberal Democrat candidate for the forthcoming General Election. Formerly a Chartered Engineer in nuclear submarines and then director of a safety consultancy, Jamie is an elder in the Church of Scotland, has degrees in Theology and Mechanical Engineering, has served as Treasurer of the Uig Development Trust and is a crofter and grazings clerk.
fios caught up with Jamie last week to discuss the key topics of — Renewable Energy; Peats and Peatland; Transport; Affordable Housing and International Politics. We started by discussing renewable energy, particularly in the context of the conflict of opinion within the community in relation to the proposed offshore wind farm N4 or Spiorad na Mara.
One of the key policies advocated by Jamie and the Scottish Liberal Democrats, is that of ‘Localism’ —an ideology that supports the empowerment of local communities and institutions through increased finacial and decision making control. Localism, Jamie argues, is key to the Western Isles engagement with renewable energy development:
“Decisions about the islands should be taken on the islands, which is an island specific version of Localism — decisions should be made where decisions are going to be implemented…..The world requires renewable energy, it comes in many forms, one of them is onshore and one of them is offshore wind farms, another is large solar panels, none of these are universally adored by the population who happen to be dealing with the problems that these things bring.” Jamie continued: “The thing about N4 is that it is not going to be that far off-shore…it’s going to be incredibly visible. There are all manner of issues that have been raised by people I have spoken to in the community..things like what is the consequence on mental health of the sound frequency generated by the blades turning? What are the effects going to be on birds and migratory fish?…Before development starts there needs to be a proper Environmental impact Assessment (EIA) done… and the local population have to be involved in this sooner rather than later. The community “needs to be fully informed, fully involved, and it needs to be informed in the decision making process. It’s one thing having consultations and taking note of views. It’s a different thing getting a community to formally be involved in the decision making process.” Localism, Jamie underlined, would support this method of decision making.
Jamie is not, by any means, against renewable energy development. As he pointed out, it is: “the future of the world, and it offers up absolutely fantastic opportunities for huge economic improvement — particularly in the Western Isles,” but, he continued: “We can get involved in installing cables and digging trenches…. for a year or eighteen months, and then watch the whole thing move away, or, we can really grip the opportunity. If there’s electricity in a quantity the like we have never known before, there’s all sorts of things that can be done. We can take advantage of that electricity being available to us. The first thing we can do of course, is negotiate with the developer, so the community will get an … .improved rate for electricity…At the moment we are in a ludicrous situation where we pay the highest standing surcharge about anywhere in the UK for electricity…. and that needs to be changed.”
Of course, we have focused in on electricity during these series of articles, but Jamie raised another perspective; Hydrogen: “Everyone is getting worked up about battery powered cars, but the reality is you won’t see many battery powered lorries around, or very many battery powered buses – the fuel of the future is hydrogen. Electric vehicles are only a stop gap to get us there. Hydrogen is already being used as a fuel, it runs buses in Belfast and in London, it’s a terrific fuel and to make green hydrogen you need electricity in great quantities, and you need water in great quantities — one of which we already have, and the other which we will shortly have.”
PEATS AND PEATLAND
Peats. Another form of energy that is discussed frequently in the Western Isles. When asked how the cutting of peats can be balanced alongside renewable energy and peatland restoration in the future, Jamie responded: “Everything I have read to date illustrates that the way peat is used in the hebrides for domestic fuel, is not a significant issue for climate change. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t even count as being a problem, therefore there should be no issues about it.” There has, Jamie elaborated, obviously been an increasing number of policies made by the Scottish Government, from a central belt perspective, and which are unrelated to how people live and work in the Hebrides, (specifically in relation to the policy proposing the ban of solid fuel stoves in new builds). The pattern of such decisions, he argues, can be altered with Localism. So too, could the process of Peatland Restoration: “Under the Localism plan, the responsibility for peatland restoration would lie with the Council….and I don’t really see a difficulty for the future of peat cutting on a domestic scale alongside peatland restoration, especially if it is done properly.”
TRANSPORTATION
As any resident of the Western Isles will know, this is a huge topic, and one that has filled numerous articles in the local and national press . But what, I asked Jamie, was his perspective on how to resolve the issues surrounding the transportation infrastructure for both the ferries, and the airlines? “Well” he answered; “The ferries are an issue entirely for the Scottish Government to resolve, but I do have a view. At least half the members of the CalMac Board of Directors, or any other board involved in the management of the ferries, should be islanders.” The same concept should also be applied to the Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd Board of Directors (HIAL). “My own personal view,” Jamie continued “is that CalMac has objectives that are not necessarily the same as the communities that live here….You see that manifested in the shape of the ship. The ships are very high structures, and one of the reasons they are high structures is they are required to take their crew with them. If you take the Seaforth for example, she has accommodation in the ship for two complete crews. So that is why she is so high, and I believe it’s the case that the height of the ship which makes her so susceptible to having difficulties in berthing and un-berthing when the wind is high. Much more could be learnt from the Norwegian model — they have ferries all over the place, and my understanding of it is that the crews don’t travel with the ship. They stay at one end of the journey. Whether or not that’s practical in the context of the Western Isles, I don’t know, ..but I certainly think it has to be looked at….I think we have to also look into what are the drivers here for the ferry traffic. And… I have never seen any documentation about this — but I suspect the tourist industry is very firmly behind the sort of ferry journeys we currently have because they are very nice things for tourists to do, a mini-cruise…… But what we really want is something that is optimised to take islanders to the mainland three hundred and sixty five days of the year and bring them back again.”
A fixed – link transport infrastructure would of course resolve inter-island travel, whether that is in the form of bridges, causeways or tunnels — they should, Jamie agreed, all be explored and the potential analysed.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
How, I asked Jamie, would he navigate the issue of affordable housing and the ageing demographic of the population? How would he increase the availability of affordable houses for younger people? “This goes back to re-population. Depopulation is a big problem and the other candidates I have met and debated with, all agree on this. How we propose to deal with it is where things begin to fall in different directions….Housing is part of the problem of dealing with depopulation. You need a house that is warm, low cost and conveniently placed in order to fulfill your role as part of the population.” The Liberal Democrat policy, Jamie explained, revolves around a ten-year emergency insulation programme, to insulate old houses to make them habitable and then new houses would be built to meet the requirement in specific areas. However, Jamie elaborated: “Until we know what it is that is going to make the island(s) a place that young people want to come back to, and also other young people who are currently nothing to do with the island come to, and where the population wants to be, as determined the industry ” those specific areas are yet to be identified.
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
Many of the local topics being discussed in relation to this General Election are Western Isles or rural Scotland specific. But there are many national and global issues that continue to have an effect on our daily lives that also need to be addressed. What I wanted to know was Jamie’s perspective on Gaza, Ukraine and the U.S Election? The responses from Jamie were as follows:
Gaza
“The Liberal Democrats have been calling for a ceasefire in Gaza since the start….and we believe that a two state solution is the ultimate way forward.”
Ukraine
“We need to defend Ukraine….There is a dictator (Putin) who cannot be trusted, and that has been seen by the way he dealt with the Crimea takeover in Ukraine, and, because we didn’t do anything about that, he felt encouraged and has gone on with the Ukraine invasion. I don’t think we should get actively engaged, but we should do what we can to sustain Ukraine through this very difficult period. And in time..maybe Ukraine will join the European Union and NATO. The Liberal Democrats are about people talking to each other… joining organisations and talking out issues. Rather than shouting and fighting, and I think we’ve seen that the more talking organisations Ukraine can be involved in, the better it will be for everybody.
The U.S Elections
“Well, I have to say this will be my perspective rather than the Liberal Democrats perspective. I don’t actually know what the Liberal Democratic perspective would be.I think it would depend on how things happened…. I find it unbelievable he (Donald Trump) got elected the first time round….It’s demonstrative of what can happen when you inflame a population into two alternative camps. The issue from a United Kingdom point of view is that ….the first responsibility of any government is defending its country and its population. The whole of my life, we have done that through NATO….the U.S have been the main-stay in that…..The noises coming out from Trump about withdrawing from NATO should make one feel a bit nervous.” It has, Jamie elaborated had the effect of other European countries recognising that they need to provide more resources to NATO, and he continued, spending on defence is a necessity: “ The Liberal Democrats are signed up to the British Strategic Deterrent and to maintain continuous at sea deterrent, which we have done since 1968…A policy of keeping one submarine, with a minimum amount of deterrent missiles on board, that would give Putin (or anyone else) …reason to pause…This means that there is one submarine on patrol at any one time, and the French only have one on patrol at any one time…these are finite deterrents…not to be confused with Mutual Assured Destruction, which are American concepts, put about in the Regan era.”
There are of course many other topics of discussion we could have gone on to cover, but there was one that Jamie raised — Uncontrolled Tourism. This explained Jamie, had been raised repeatedly during canvassing, and that: “The Localism policy would give the council authority to say no to ever larger numbers of tourists that ultimately overwhelm the local infrastructure, as well as the natural environment and landscape, and that also overwhelm our way of life. And the danger is that we end up emulating Skye and I have not met anybody who would like the Western Isles to emulate Skye in tourism.”
This series of interviews have been coordinated as part of The Scottish beacon’s Citizen’s Agenda Project: The Scottish Beacon — Community Empowerment