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Mark Brown, the Scottish Conservative candidate for the Western Isles has voiced his concerns in what he sees as the continuing policy of the Scottish Government’s centralisation plans and its detriment effect on the islands.

 

Mr Brown said welcomed recent calls by Holyrood Conservative colleague Murdo Fraser MSP for consideration of a new tier of policing which could see the single force concentrate on serious crime whilst 32 local forces take care of the rest.

 

Mr Brown said: “This would ensure a return to further local accountability, ultimately to locally elected councillors within each of the country’s local authorities.”

 

Conservative candidate concerned over SNP centralisation

17 March 2015

He added: “Since the SNP came into power in 2007 we have witnessed the gradual erosion of responsibility and decision making from Scottish communities to the central belt. This is ultimately devolution in reverse.”

 

The Conservative hopeful said he sees this as going against one of the intrinsic principles of conservatism; localism.

 

He said: “People identify with their villages, communities and towns - there is very little loyalty to the government office regions.”

 

Merging Scotland's eight constabularies into a single police force was a prime example, he stressed.

 

He said: “Since it’s roll-out, the single police force has struggled to win public confidence.

 

“I have always been a great believer in the 'if it ain’t broke, don't fix it' philosophy. The act of disbanding the Northern Constabulary and merging it with the seven other forces to form a single force was neither required nor demanded by public opinion.

 

“Whenever an act of centralisation is carried out by this power crazy SNP Government, rural island communities like the Western Isles lose another strand of their autonomy to the ever burgeoning bureaucracy in Edinburgh.

 

“My message to the electorate is this, if elected, I will fight to prevent any more transfer of powers from the regions to central government and will work to give the Western Isles greater self-determination in running its affairs.”