Jamie Stone General Election 2024 Interview 3

Transcript

00:00Depopulation, as you've known for many years, is a significant, almost existential problem

00:07for the Highlands, the declining working age population. What are your views, what do you

00:14plan to do in that, what can you do in that?

00:16Well I'm absolutely driven on trying to get top quality, well paid employment to the Highlands

00:21because I was lucky enough to work at NIG when I started my career and I got married

00:28and I had children here and I might have had to move south. And my father, when I was

00:31growing up, before NIG came, a bit like Doonray, before the Atomic came to Doonray, my father

00:37used to say you just have to go southland, that's what everyone does, and then you leave

00:40and you might never come back again. So I'm totally driven on the young, the next generation

00:45now having the opportunities that I had. So the crowning of the first green port is desperately

00:50important and that's why I've had so much to say in Westminster about space launch in

00:54Sutherland. There could be exciting opportunities for young people and again, as I've said before,

00:59it's about underpinning the crofting communities. If we get this right, we get it right. But

01:04sometimes you really have to bang the drum on it and I've got the second highest speaking

01:10rate of any north or north east MP in Britain and I'm proud of that but that's because I

01:15go on about local things.

01:16That's in the parliament, right?

01:18I'm sorry, yes, in Westminster because it's my job to do that. I get teased a wee bit.

01:23Is that you on about the far north again? Yes, actually, I'm proud of it.

01:27And what do you see as being the greatest benefits of the free port outside of the obvious

01:32employment and economic boom? There seems to be a political cachet there as well.