Jamie Stone General Election 2024 Interview 4

Transcript

00:00There's a concern in the population, particularly in the Caithness population, that too often

00:07parliamentarians, and of all parties, are representatives of the party in the constituents

00:14here in the Highlands, rather than their representatives in either of the parliaments. Is that something

00:20you go along with? Is that something you see yourself?

00:22Absolutely. I've seen too many examples of MPs and MSPs who simply take party orders

00:27and be the voice of Edinburgh or London in the far north. That's no good. I mean, look

00:32at the maternity service in Caithness. Mums having to travel over 200 miles to give birth.

00:37That is plain wrong, and yet we've heard a deafening silence from one or two politicians

00:41about this. It's dangerous. A baby or a mum is going to die sooner or later if we're not

00:45damn careful. Now, I mean, I went against my own side the previous time they wanted

00:50to shut down the maternity service, and I won it. But also, you take the Thurso Vet

00:55proposal by my own government to close it down. No, not having that, because that was

00:59about disease surveillance that affects farmers and crofters in the far north. So, yes, I'm

01:05a Lib Dem, but I'm an independent-minded Lib Dem, and to be honest with you, I'm damned

01:09if I'm going to take orders when they're against the best interests of my constituents.

01:13Jamie Stilton, thank you very much.