Dave Thompson MSP

AFTER four years as one of your regional MSP’s I am thrilled to have been returned as your local constituency MSP.

Perhaps only someone with previous experience of representing the whole Highlands and Islands could be pleased to just have 4,500 square miles to cover, from Cromarty in the East to Uig and Ardnamurchan in the West then round by Glencoe and up to Aviemore before skirting Inverness back to the Black Isle.

My previous experience of assisting the many constituents who came to me with a myriad of issues, like concern over the future of crofting, the viability of holiday lets or the need for improved transport links will, I am sure, stand me in good stead over the next five years as I serve you here and in Holyrood.

Matters of interest to Westword readers would certainly include the successful campaign run by John and Jan Bryden for urgent improvements to the A830 Road to the Isles which I was happy to help with and there are on-going discussions with Transport Scotland on other issues to do with the road surface and width between Lochailort and Glenfinnan which I hope to make progress on over the coming months.

I am pleased to report that I have accepted the honour of being one of the Patrons of the Lochaber Sports Association and will do what I can to help with promotion of the ambitious new £800,000 indoor sports facility for Fort William which would be a real boon for the area.

Another honour coming my way will be carrying out the Chieftain’s duties at the Mallaig and Morar Highland Games on 7th August. I really enjoyed the games last year and am also very impressed by the proposals for the new pavilion/hall etc which I hope will see progress over the coming months.

To get back to the election, I am still a bit overwhelmed by the fact that almost 15,000 of you trusted me with your vote to represent you at Holyrood. I am now one of nine SNP members of the Scottish Parliament from the Highlands and Islands region out of a total of 15 and we will make sure your voice is heard.

Since returning to Holyrood I have also been nominated as Convenor of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee which to some might seem a bit dry but the committee carries out the important work of ensuring that your MSPs stick to the rules. At a time when the stock of your public representatives is certainly not at its highest I hope we can make a difference and help rebuild your confidence in us.

Nationally, I believe that the SNP was returned to power as the first ever majority government in the Scottish Parliament, in what many have described as a landslide, because the public was able to see that, even as a minority administration, 84 out of our headline 94 manifesto commitments were delivered and that we listened to others and always tried to do what was best for Scotland.

We will only succeed over the next five years if we continue on that same path and I will do my level best locally as well as nationally to ensure that this is the route we follow.

Should you have any issues you wish to raise with me then please get in touch by calling my constituency office in Dingwall (01349 864701) where my staff are always on hand to assist or email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it