Pledges to boost rural areas

Pledges to boost rural areas 16/7/14

The constitutional paper Connecting Rural Scotland, published this week sets out five areas where it says independence would improve rural connectivity.

These are:

Improved digital connectivity, including mobile telecoms and broadband. The Scottish Government says an independent Scotland would have the power to issue future spectrum licences and could include coverage obligations that ensure maximum availability of mobile telecoms throughout Scotland as a whole. It would also be able to consider more flexible approaches for broadband that could extend digital services.

Fairer parcel and delivery charges and ownership of the Royal Mail. Independence will put the regulation of mail in Scotland into the hands of the Scottish Parliament, enabling fairer prices to be delivered across all Scotland, including rural and remote areas. The Universal Service Obligation will be maintained, with a mail service to match, as a minimum, a six days a week mail service.

Fairer fuel prices and energy bills. With independence, the Scottish Government will examine the benefits of introducing a Fuel Duty Regulator mechanism to stabilise prices for business and consumers and how this could be made to work alongside our Scottish Energy Fund. It also plan an on-going permanent cut in energy bills. With the powers of independence, the Scottish Government promises to permanently remove the costs of the Warm Homes Discount and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) from household energy bills.

Better transport links. Successive Scottish Governments have improved transport within current devolved powers, and this Government has prioritised investment in transport infrastructure, including upgrading of the A9, and a £5 billion package of funding and investment for rail, including the Borders Railway development. With independence, it says it will be able to take forward its commitment to reduce Air Passenger Duty (APD) by 50 per cent, with a view to eventual abolition.

Achieving the true potential of rural renewables. The Scottish Government maintains the right policy support in an independent Scotland – based around the continuation of the GB-wide electricity market and a fairer transmission charging regime – has the potential to have a transformational impact on rural communities. The Scottish Government makes the commitment that, with independence, island and mainland coastal communities would receive 100% of all leasing revenues from activities in their adjacent waters, including those from renewables deployment. This would reverse the current situation where this income is taken by the Crown Estate Commissioners.