Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Bad weather halts Swinney’s trip to Shetland for £5m islands funding deal

The First Minister’s scheduled flight could not land on Friday.

Paul Cargill
Friday 24 May 2024 08:03 EDT
John Swinney was unable to travel to Shetland on Friday due to bad weather (PA)
John Swinney was unable to travel to Shetland on Friday due to bad weather (PA) (PA Wire)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The First Minister has been forced to abandon the formal announcement of a £5 million funding package for the Scottish islands due to bad weather.

John Swinney was due to make the announcement during a visit to Shetland on Friday but had to cancel because his scheduled flight could not land in cloudy conditions.

In a statement earlier this week, it was confirmed £1 million will go towards a new scheme to support the islands’ net zero 2040 goal, while a further £1 million will be invested in an Island Cost Emergency Fund to tackle poverty across Scotland’s six island local authorities.

The remaining £3 million will support locally designed island infrastructure projects, which was going to be announced during the visit to Cope Shetland – the island’s leading centre for community reuse and recycling.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said on Friday: “Due to the weather in Shetland, the plane carrying the First Minister was unable to land. He looks forward to visiting Shetland in the near future.”

Ahead of the planned announcement, Mr Swinney had said: “I have made it clear that I will be First Minister for everyone in Scotland – including our island communities who face a number of unique challenges but have enormous potential.

“Islanders have been clear that more needs to be done to help them fulfil their ambitions and that is why we are developing a new national islands plan, to be published next year.

“We will listen to island communities and speak with local authorities to ensure the new plan meets their needs.

“In the meantime we will continue to invest in our islands programme, which over the last three financial years has distributed over £12 million to support 61 projects on 50 islands.”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in