On June 9th the people of Orkney and Shetland will wake up after the election to find that the land of the islands is theirs, the seas are theirs and the seabed is theirs. Electing me means they have voted to take back their already-existing sovereignty and independence.
I'm Stuart Hill. I've been challenging the Scottish and UK governments to show what their authority in Shetland is based upon. I have spent six years in the courts at every level from the Supreme Court down, challenging their jurisdiction on the basis that Shetland is not part of Scotland. The only 'proof' they have been shown is a magazine article – the whole authority of Scotland and the UK here rests on a magazine article!
They also say we are part of the UK because we send an elected representative to the UK and Scottish parliaments. For the first time in history we have the opportunity for people not to send a representative. There is no prospect of my going to Westminster to pledge allegiance to a foreign occupying power and sit in their parliament when I win the vote. My winning will mean the people of Orkney and Shetland have voted to take back their already existing sovereignty and independence.
Instead of paying a representative a fat salary to be one of 650 others trying to get their voice heard, we will simply get on with our own business without having to ask permission from anyone.
How will we manage without EU grants and subsidies? We currently subsidise the UK by £82 million per year. Instead of that money going to the UK, then to the EU – each taking their slice and leaving us with the dregs, we should keep it in our economy. Instead of it being spent on illegal wars, bailing out banks, EU vanity projects and so on, we will use it to keep rural schoools open, provide better transport links, provide proper care for our elderly and infirm and whatever else we need.
Most importantly, agriculture and fisheries, the islands' most vital industries, will be taken off the Brexit negotiating table, where they are intended to be used as bargaining chips. I'm the only candidate able to guarantee that.
Orkney and Shetland will buld a new society with fair governance, fair justice and fair money. What happens here will ripple out to the rest of the world.