Aberdeenshire SNP councillor quits the party over Green deal
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AN Aberdeenshire SNP councillor has resigned from the party because of the co-operation deal with the Scottish Greens.
Geva Blackett, representative for Aboyne, Upper Deeside and Donside on Aberdeenshire Council has said she will now serve as an independent.
The SNP and Scottish Greens deal which was revealed on Friday, was in her words a move the would put rural jobs “under threat” and would push through an “agenda damaging” to local residents.
In a lengthy post on social media she also raised the issue of the “uncertain future” of Aboyne Hospital and “disarray” of the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) as examples of the Scottish Government’s failure to understand rural communities.
She said: "This is not a decision I have taken lightly.
"I have given it considerable thought and discussed at length with my family and friends.
"I was elected to serve this Ward to the best of my ability and have always tried to do my very best. I hope by the time you have read through this post you will understand why I do not feel able to continue doing so as a member of the SNP
"With Friday’s announcement that the SNP government have entered a power-sharing deal with the Greens, coupled with the Braemar ambulance situation and the current uncertainty surrounding the future of Aboyne hospital, I have regretfully concluded that my constituents will be best served by me resigning from the SNP, allowing me to speak up with an independent voice."
She continued: " "In my view, Government policy is being made with little or no understanding of the challenges remote rural communities face.
"I can no longer support this and at the same time say to you, my constituents, that I am doing my best to get - for example - the health services we really need and indeed if we lived in an urban conurbation would get.
"Aboyne Hospital’s uncertain future and the apparent disarray of the Scottish Ambulance Service being just two examples.
"We must have solutions that meet local needs – one cap does not fit all.
"Yes funding is stretched but people should come first in our decision making be they the amazing staff on the front line of those services – the GPs, the paramedics, the ambulance technicians, the nurses, the support staff and more, all of who go beyond the call of duty over and over again – or the patients and their families who depend on speedy responses and the local community hospitals.
"Many rural jobs are under threat and involvement from the Green Party (who have less than 5 per cent of the Scottish vote yet now have the power to dictate the future of Scotland) will no doubt see an agenda damaging to many of you pushed through to the Statute book with no thought about the wider impact.
"On occasions I need to speak out against what is happening and that is impossible to do as an elected member of a party in government.
"If the SNP were in opposition and another political administration holding the reins of power in Holyrood, it would be different; I could be as critical as needed.
"But they are not and therefore I cannot.
"Thus, my decision to serve you as an independent voice without political constraint.
"I will not be resigning as a councillor for the simple reason that by-elections are expensive, costing the already stretched public purse many thousands that with the council elections mere months, away cannot be justified."
She added: "I hold my fellow Aberdeenshire Council SNP colleagues in the highest regards and that no slight is intended against them by my resignation from the party, my concerns lie at government policy level and most definitely not with them."
Councillor Blackett joins a list of former SNP councillors who have left the party in Aberdeenshire where the Conservatives were the latest to gain a seat from the SNP on the council following a by-election last week.
