Scotland faces ‘immense’ population challenge in coming decades, MSPs told

The scale of challenge that Scotland will face on population in the coming decades is “immense”, MSPs have been told.

Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson issued the stark warning as a new visa pilot scheme was debated in Holyrood on Tuesday.

The Scottish Government has proposed a rural visa pilot scheme in the hopes of stemming projected population drops in more remote parts of the country.

Mr Robertson claimed the UK Government’s immigration policy “does not reflect the needs” of rural communities in Scotland.

The SNP MSP told the chamber: “There is no easy fix to local population challenges, such as depopulation.

“That’s why we’re working collaboratively with both the convention of Scottish local authorities, and local authorities in general, and through structures such as the Convention of the Highlands and Islands, and the Convention of the South of Scotland, to make sure we have a partnership approach which best addresses our population challenges.

“However, migration is a crucial part of that approach. Yet, current UK Government immigration policy does not reflect the needs of Scotland’s rural communities.”

He went on: “Our ask of the UK Government is clear. If you mean what you say when you say your aim is to deliver an immigration system that works for all of the UK, then that immigration system has to work for Scotland. It has to work for our rural communities.”

The Scottish Tories suggested the problem “runs much deeper than just one single issue of migration”.

Highlands and Islands MSP Donald Cameron said his party would “communicate in short order with colleagues in the UK Government, including the Home Secretary”, adding that it agrees with the “broad thrust” of the pilot scheme’s ambition.

But he said: “Many of the barriers to growing our rural and island populations have largely come about as a result of domestic policy failures. And here I do turn to be more critical.

“That includes a failure to build more houses, a failure to deliver superfast broadband on time, a failure to provide robust and reliable transport infrastructure. That cannot be ignored.

“Housing is particularly important, with many rural areas suffering from a lack of affordable housing. Rectifying that has to be a focus when we are simultaneously trying to encourage migrants to live in rural areas.”

Labour MSP Daniel Johnson said Scotland must focus on upskilling and maximising wages for the aging population.

With the world population expected to decline further, he said: “We cannot import our way out of this problem. I think we must rethink our understanding of human capital and how we seek to build our workforce.

“I think it is a mistake to continue with a model that seeks to import cheap labour and sustain the economy that way. We need to realise that human capital is precious and it is finite.”

He added: “With the working age population, we must be maximising skills and wages. We can’t just allow people to have default skills. I think that means we need to really accept the challenge of upskilling in a much more urgent and fundamental way.”

A UK Government spokesman said: “Immigration is a UK Government reserved matter and the points-based immigration system works in the interest of the whole of the UK.

“De-population in Scotland is neither caused nor can be remedied by immigration. As the independent Migration Advisory Committee has noted, rural areas may struggle to retain migrants for the same reasons as with the local population.

“Investment in jobs and infrastructure, which devolved administrations have powers to address, must be considered.”