Community is our strongest asset: SNP candidate up in the running for constituency as MP
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Wester Ross-based SNP prospective candidate believes that we need politicians with 'real-world experience'.
Prospective candidate with hopes of becoming an MP for Caithness, Sutherland, and Easter Ross, Lucy Beattie, is a well-known local from Leckmelm, near Ullapool. She took over her family farm at just 21 after tragically losing both her parents, and has now been managing it for over 28 years, as well as raising her family. After her many years of running the Wester Ross farm, Beattie has first-hand experience of tourism, affordable housing, and livestock.
She is now also a part-time university lecturer, and is on her way to completing a PhD in education and social science.
The prospective candidate said: "We need politicians with real-world experience, and I can draw on a diverse career to speak for ordinary people.
"The Highlands are a vibrant and beautiful place to live and work. We are replete in natural resources from agriculture to forestry and renewables, but our local area also faces a unique range of problems and concerns. Sadly, there is a long history of asset-stripping in our area, and very little recourse for the people living here.
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"We are in a very strong trading position with a vast potential for renewables, carbon credits and biodiversity credits. However, we are scuppered by Westminster as Scotland has no power over energy policy or international trade. If these resources are to be protected and traded, there needs to be proper community support, and a shared vision for assets that will support a better way of life for people who live here."
Beattie, who has a long track record of activism in the wider Highland community was also one of the first Highland women selected for the Scottish Enterprise Rural Leadership programme in 2009, where she learnt about policy and process at Holyrood, Westminster, and Brussels.
She continued: "Historically, actions to protect our area have happened too late, or not at all. After the Highland clearances the Napier Commission report was brought too late to make a real difference to crofting. In modern times we have seen the rise and fall of the North Sea, and widespread job losses that have affected Highlanders after the financial crash in 2008. We have seen depopulation affect services and communities. We have seen the rapacious nature of commercial interests that 'invest' in our natural assets.
"I am a passionate advocate for Scottish independence – we must have the right to decide what kind of country Scotland should be. We have the capacity, a distinct legal system from the union, we have a our own parliament at Holyrood and outstanding academic institutions. Devolution does not go far enough, it never will, and a full transfer of powers means autonomy over Scotland’s fiscal policy, monetary policy, trade, energy and international affairs.
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"Community is one of our strongest assets, it is not something that can be bought – it must be protected with careful investment. The time has come to be brave and to stand up for our rights as citizens living in the Highlands, and this is what I will fight for."
