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Stone to work with Gove to take up Wick Airport cause


By Hector MacKenzie

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Michael Gove is due in Easter Ross today to host a hospitality summit and find out how businesses are emerging from lockdown.
Michael Gove is due in Easter Ross today to host a hospitality summit and find out how businesses are emerging from lockdown.

North MP Jamie Stone is willing to put politics aside and work with Michael Gove who he praised for agreeing to take up the cause of Wick airport after telling him it would be “ludicrous” to close an airport and then open a spaceport.

The well-known Brexiteer who is the minister to the Cabinet Office also agreed to raise the issue of possible regional furlough schemes with Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Mr Gove was on a brief trip to Alness in Mr Stone’s constituency where he held a remote meeting with tourist bosses about the challenges the sector faces.

His response in meetings and talks, Mr Stone said, showed he was able to appreciate the difficulties faced by Highland people relating to transport and connectivity.

According to the Liberal Democrat MP, that contrasted favourably with the Scottish Government who have been deaf to calls to save the endangered Wick airport.

Mr Stone raised the issue of Wick Airport and Mr Gove agreed to take up the issue with UK transport secretary Grant Shapps and Scottish secretary Alister Jack.

The North MP said: “I said to Michael, it would be ludicrous to forge ahead with the Sutherland spaceport only to have Wick airport shut down through sheer neglect.

“The whole point about the spaceport is that when it comes into being it can steal a march for the UK on space launch – that is a great market to corner.

“But if we are going to sell this properly you are going to need to get interested parties to the area quickly, and that is where Wick airport is crucial.

“It would also be deeply and bitterly ironic if we could launch space vehicles into orbit and we couldn’t land ordinary passenger planes.”

Mr Stone says he has been battling for the Scottish Government to recognise the importance of the airport to no avail.

“The point is that there has been no significant investment north of Inverness since the improvement of the road at Helmsdale since the change of 2007-2008 and that was commissioned by the old Labour-Liberal government.

“It is totally shocking, that the Scottish Government gets away with neglecting transport issues in the north of Scotland where people have an equal right to proper transport links.

"I have been pleading with the SNP Government to implement a Public Service Order at Wick Airport for some time now but they continue to reject the argument that the airport is critical to our economy.

"I am glad that Mr Gove has agreed to take the issue up. I was also pleased that by seeing the NC500 for himself and meeting with local businesses, he was able to show an appreciation for the particular difficulties faced by Highlanders right now and the fragility of our economy, which coronavirus has chipped away at.

"I have been no supporter of Gove's Government in recent months but I am willing to put party politics aside if it means we save Wick airport.”

Mr Gove also pledged that he would raise the issue of a more localised level of support for the tourism and hospitality sector according to Mr Stone.

“Recognising the Highland as a vulnerable tourism product due to the shortness of the season so if there were local variations in furloughing rules in taxation and VAT Michael was going to say to Rishi Sunak that a certain delicacy of touch of flexibility is necessary.”

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