Highlands and Islands Alliance
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Fearn, Ross-shire
IV20 1RP[1]
Highlands and Islands Alliance Càirdeas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Lorraine Mann |
| Founded | Autumn 1998 |
| Dissolved | 24 August 2004 |
| Headquarters | Midoxgate House Fearn, Ross-shire IV20 1RP[1] |
| Ideology | Localism Regionalism Soft Euroscepticism |
The Highlands and Islands Alliance or Càirdeas was a minor Scottish electoral alliance that was active in the late 1990s. Founded in the autumn of 1998 by non-partisan politicians local to the Highlands and Islands, it only contested the inaugural Scottish Parliament election of 1999, where it collected a negligible 1.3% of the regional vote and despite a reasonably publicised campaign, failed to elect any of its candidates. Led by anti-nuclear activist Lorraine Mann, the Alliance was established to better represent marginalised communities in rural Scotland, who they felt had been ignored by government in favour of those in the more densely populated Central Belt. Its policies were near exclusively centred on localism and rural issues, only contesting Scotland's regional additional member system so that electors could vote on nationwide matters through their constituency ballot. After the election, the group remained politically inactive until it was quietly disestablished in August 2004.
Although electorally unimportant, the Alliance's legal campaign to allow political job sharing in the Scottish Parliament attracted considerable media and academic coverage. The dispute has since become the subject of legislative research by both the Northern Ireland Assembly and the British House of Commons, where it informed debate surrounding the Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002.
Formation and development
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Overseen by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair's administration, a Scottish Parliament was to be established in accordance with the 1997 Scottish devolution referendum result.[2] In response, the Highlands and Islands Alliance was founded in the autumn of 1998 by local activists who sought to "create a strong, independent voice for the Highlands and Islands"[3] in preparation for the following year's inaugural election.[4][5] They believed that the Central Belt in the Scottish Lowlands, the most densely populated area in the country, had received a disproportionate amount of attention from the British Government in Westminster and that rural communities were being neglected as a consequence.[3] The group also wanted to redress the fact, that in their opinion, residents in the Highlands and Islands experienced "the lowest incomes and highest taxes in the UK".[6] Alliance members believed that the establishment of a devolved parliament at Holyrood was an opportunity to enhance their region's representation, commenting "[we] have great hopes that Holyrood will not emerge Russian-doll like from Westminster".[6]
Members instrumental in the Alliance's development included playwright Edwin 'Eddie' Stiven, Black Isle Councillor Bryan Beattie and the group's sole leader, anti-nuclear activist Lorraine Mann.[7] Prior to leading the party, Mann campaigned successfully and single-handedly against nuclear reprocessing at the Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment in Caithness, further serving as Convenor of Scotland Against Nuclear Dumping.[1][6] The Alliance was formerly registered with the Electoral Commission on 25 February 1999, with Beattie acting as nominating officer, as well as treasurer, and Mann as leader.[8] Consisting of about 280 members,[5] the group were headquartered at Midoxgate House, a converted pigsty in the small hamlet of Fearn.[6][8] Before its official registration, the party steadily built up a respectable profile; this included interviews with The Guardian on 22 and 26 January, in which they declared their intention to stand in the Scottish Parliament election, as well as criticised the disconnection between Highland parliamentarians and the constituencies they represented.[9][10]
Parliamentary campaign
The Alliance ran an active parliamentary campaign, sometimes labelling themselves as Càirdeas,[1][8] a Scottish Gaelic word that "has a meaning incorporating friendship, fellowship, relationship, goodwill and alliance."[1] Their efforts were an object of media attention, becoming the subject of several articles by BBC News,[3] The Economist,[5] The Glasgow Herald,[7] The Guardian,[6] The Independent[11] and other publications. Leader Lorraine Mann also attended a land reform debate at Aberdeen University on 16 April, where she was joined by Iain Haughie of the Scottish Conservatives, Dot Jessiman of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Charles Kennedy of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and Lord Sewel of the Scottish Labour Party.[12] Despite reasonable coverage in public life, the party produced a "disappointing"[1] result at the election, held on 6 May 1999.[13] They captured 2,607 votes, 1.3% of those cast in the Parliament's additional member Highlands and Islands electoral region;[14] the group did not contest the region's individual first-past-the-post constituencies, leaving potential supporters to vote on nationwide issues as they saw fit.[3][5]
At one time, commentators observed that the Alliance was "on the verge of taking one seat",[6] with the "outside chance of winning one or two seats",[11] though all of the group's candidates were ultimately defeated.[14] Among them was Arthur Cormack, an Alliance candidate otherwise known as a traditional Scottish singer.[7] Following the election, the group remained electorally inactive until it was, without statement, voluntarily deregistered from the Electoral Commission on 24 August 2004.[8]
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