Islanders' anger turns to anguish amid Sturgeon silence

Another update came and went this week without any hint at when the islands’ businesses will be able to trade again, as the mainland is preparing to kickstart parts of its economy in a fortnight on Monday.

It is reckoned more than £2 million of cancellations followed the first announcement and staycation guests are still calling up and calling off daily.

READ MORE: Scottish islands tourism crisis: £2m of cancellations

The Scottish Government says “we must also do this in a way that carries most support from island residents and communities and will give them confidence and reassurance that it is safe for people to visit our islands and also for islanders to visit the mainland”.

However, at least for the purposes of planning the islands certainly deserve a timetabled route-map out of lockdown the same as the rest of the country, especially if it is to be later.

Islands tourism businesses are receiving more cancellations. Picture: Getty Images.

“If this continues much longer, the Scottish Government’s decision will be irrelevant,” said Rob McKinnon. “The problem is that people (who are booked) much later in the season may cancel, due to the uncertainty, when it is not necessary, so in many ways this situation is worse than a delayed opening,” said Mr McKinnon, chief executive of Outer Hebrides Tourism, who earlier spoke for Argyll and The Isles Tourism Co-operative, VisitArran and Destination Orkney in a joint statement first raising the issue.

The extent of the damage visited upon Scottish exporters by Brexit has not been confined to the seafood industry, Business Editor Ian McConnell outlines in his Called to Account column this week. “Scottish goods exporters across a raft of sectors have been hit hard. The food and drink industry as a whole is facing huge Brexit-related troubles,” he writes. “Alistair Brown, chief executive of Edinburgh-based Bellfield Brewery, this week praised the ‘dogged determination’ of staff in overcoming Brexit challenges after landing an export deal with Dutch supermarket operator Albert Heijn.”

In Business Correspondent Mark Williamson’s column he turns the spotlight on Scotland’s new £2 billion bank, asking just what is it achieving? “A year after the Scottish Government announced it had appointed a heavy hitter to run the new Scottish National Investment Bank questions about what the organisation is for are getting ever louder,” he writes.

Also this week, the Hunter Foundation-commissioned report focused on how to raise the economic growth rate north of the Border is a “breath of fresh air”, the Business Editor concluded in his analysis.

“In the thorough and thoughtful report, produced by consultancy Oxford Economics for Ayrshire entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter’s foundation, febrile politics are put to one side.” The report was later backed by 27 business leaders calling for an inclusive debate on rebuilding the economy in Scotland.

In a guest columnist slot, former Bank of England policymaker Danny Blanchflower puts the cat amongst the pigeons with an incisive account of how the road to recovery might look, under the heading: “Those confident of swift recovery are engaged in wishful thinking.”

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