SCOTLAND has nearly 900 islands although just 94 are inhabited, with 89 of those offshore.

Over the centuries, some have been depopulated out of necessity, such as St Kilda, some by choice as the islanders moved elsewhere while many, of course, were brutally cleared by landowners and replaced with sheep.

Despite this, many of our islands today are thriving although some are struggling due to depopulation as youngsters who grew up there realise there’s not much to sustain them through adulthood.

There is little doubt, though, that our islands are rightly viewed as the jewels in our tourism crown.

Anyone who has ever had a picnic on a Hebridean beach, wandered around Orkney’s neolithic sites, or viewed the wildlife on Mull can easily understand why as they are fantastic places to visit.

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But while they are universally loved by most of the many visitors who make the trip, it’s fair to say politicians have a less favourable view of islands.

Utter indifference or even disdain would a fair assessment of their views.

Islands are generally viewed as godforsaken, remote outposts by our metropolitan elite and many would no doubt be perfectly happy if none of them were populated.

This would enable money that goes on things like ferries, schools and medical facilities to be used in other areas more at need – namely places on the mainland.

It is a recurring theme across various administrations and has been highlighted again by new ly de-classified papers that show Tony’s Blair’s Labour government considered setting up a holding camp on the Isle of Mull in an attempt to drive down the numbers of asylum seekers entering in the UK.

The plan, put forward by one of the prime minister’s closest aides, was part of a “nuclear option” for tackling the asylum issue which would have seen illegal migrants put straight back on the plane they arrived on with little or no right of appeal.

Drawn up just months before the US-UK invasion of Iraq, the scheme also called for the creation of a series of regional “safe havens” in countries such as Turkey and South Africa – where refugees who could not be returned to their own country could be sent.

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Although in the event it was not taken up, it echoes the debate still taking place more than 20 years later around Rishi Sunak’s plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.

In a paper, Mr Blair’s chief of staff Jonathan Powell said that officials in the office of the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, had suggested setting up a camp on the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides where people could be detained until they could be removed.

He added: “I doubt that is going to work because of the nimby factor, but we have commissioned work to look at tagging, detention etc to help deter people and ensure we are able to return them as soon as their appeals have been heard.

Earlier this year, Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson was also at it when he suggested that people who had fled their own countries for a better life in the UK could be housed on the Orkney islands.

He said: “I know it’s a bit parky up there this time of year. But if people are genuinely escaping war or persecution then a nice Scottish island with a few outbuildings would be suitable.”

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If there were any ever examples needed that politicians treat the islands with contempt then these are them.

The only thing normal people could take from these hair-brained schemes is that metropolitan elite politicians believe the islands are just remote hovels where nobody lives so we can house anyone we like there – nobody will mind because there’s nobody there.

Islanders, of course, would welcome asylum seekers with open arms and make them feel very welcome as they do most people who visit.

But our islands have very real issues, the biggest of which is a chronic lack of affordable housing which is helping to de-populate them all over again.

The ferry service to them is also on its knees due to chronic lack of investment from the same political classes that want to send asylum seekers there for processing.

The inference being that if the islanders can’t get off then neither can asylum seekers – so job done.

Politicians need to treat rural areas with seriousness or else there will be nothing left to govern in vast swathes of the country.

Other countries treat their rural areas with the utmost respect as these are the places that are home to those who produce the food to feed the rest of us.

It’s high time our politicians treated rural dwellers with respect – rather than contempt and patronise them as they do now.