Concern over fuel prices

Sir,

Clearly irony is wasted on Dr Wilson. He has as much sense of it as he has of being modest about his claims for the political effectiveness of Mr MacNeil.

The high cost of fuel at filling stations in remote and island areas has been of concern to Members of Parliament representing such constituencies for decades. A number - regardless of which party or part of the country they came from - raised the issue informally with the Treasury.

Others asked questions about its high cost from the floor of the House. One, Alastair Carmichael, the MP for Orkney and Shetland, even made it the subject of a Parliamentary debate on 10 February 2010. Members from the majority of parties in these islands - from Labour to Conservative, Liberal Democrat to the Unionist parties of Northern Ireland - spoke in favour of Carmichael's motion. Some (rightly!) mentioned the lack of social responsibility of the oil companies on this matters; others (equally rightly) called into question the Treasury's failure to take action.

There was, however, one exception. No member for the SNP troubled themselves to turn up for the occasion.

Such is the tenacity of a certain brand of superhero.

Donald S Murray

Seasgair

Casho

Quarff

Shetland

PS I love the wonderfully pompous claim that Mr MacNeil is 'officially' the hardest working MP in Scotland! Who - in the name of Kryptonite - has designed the objective terms by which such claims can 'officially' be measured? Twitter? Marvel comics? Batman university? I think the electorate deserve to be 'officially' told.

Letter: Cross-party concern over fuel prices

12 April 2015