Dr Steven Welsh Warns of Depopulation Crisis Threatening the Future of Sutherland

Steve Welsh has placed the issue of rural depopulation at the heart of his campaign for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, warning that demographic projections showing significant population decline in Caithness and Sutherland by 2040 represent an existential threat to many communities in the constituency. Projections from the National Records of Scotland indicate potential population declines of up to 18% in Caithness and 15% in Sutherland over the next fifteen years, driven primarily by young people leaving for university and urban employment and not returning. 'When the young leave and don't come back, communities gradually lose their schools, their doctors, their businesses, their vitality,' said Mr Welsh. 'Depopulation is not inevitable — it is a policy failure that can be addressed with the right investment and the right incentives.' He outlined a package of measures he would advocate for in Holyrood: affordable rural housing programmes, incentives for businesses to locate in the Far North, investment in the digital infrastructure that makes remote working viable, and a Rural Scotland Premium to offset the higher costs of living and working in remote areas. 'The communities of Sutherland are among the most beautiful and resilient in the world. They deserve a government that fights for their future, not one that writes them off.'