Commenting after SNP Highlands and Islands MSPs backed their party in voting down Scottish Conservative attempts to pause the introduction of Short-term Lets Licensing, Highlands and Islands MSP and Shadow Rural Spokesman Jamie Halcro Johnston said:
“It is disappointing, but sadly predictable, that local SNP MSPs have, once again, put their party interests before those of the people and businesses of the Highlands and Islands they’re supposed to represent.
“By voting down a Scottish Conservative motion calling for a pause on introducing the ill-considered and damaging Short-term Lets Licensing Scheme, they have given the green light to a scheme which is already costing jobs across the region.
“Local people across the Highlands and Islands have invested time and money into their businesses, only to see their efforts put at risk because SNP MSPs refuse to heed repeated warnings of the damage these new regulations could do.
“Short-term Lets Licensing is yet another example of Scottish ministers in Edinburgh pushing through a scheme designed to deal with an issue in the Central Belt and ignoring the impact on rural Scotland.
"Tourism plays such a crucial role in the economy of the Highlands and Islands, supporting jobs and livelihoods in communities right across the region.
“But yet again, we see this anti-business, anti-rural SNP-Green government legislating against the interest of our communities, with their local MSPs happy to fall in behind this damaging scheme”.
