It’s taking more than a moment for Hannah Mary Goodlad’s extraordinary rollercoaster ride through the polls straight into a top ministerial position with her hand on Scotland’s purse strings to sink in, writes Pete Bevingtoin as he introduced the latest podcast with Shetland’s newly elected MSP.
And that’s just me. I can’t even begin to imagine how she must be feeling after being given such a mammoth, all-encompassing portfolio, without – apparently – any warning from her friend and mentor John Swinney.
It was clear during her year long election campaign that the First Minister had spotted her potential. Such a smart, creative and focused effort at winning “a seat at the table” is a rare spectacle in this modern world where trust in politicians and the political process has sunk to an all time low.
As Hannah said in our last podcast, people in Edinburgh were coming up to her and saying how much of an inspiration her social media campaign had been. And how many brand new MSPs have almost 100 people applying to work for them, some from as far afield as Singapore and Luxembourg.
She’s a natural and we are extremely fortunate to have a woman of her calibre representing these islands.
One might wonder why a first time MSP straight out of 15 years in the energy business, with a degree in geology behind her, along with a lifetime’s experience in island and Nordic life, was handed the public finance portfolio…and not something more familiar to her, like energy or even islands.
The answer is clear. It is a vote of confidence from Swinney who recognises her talent and her value to the nation, and wants her to get a good education in how government works to equip her for when she is ready for higher office. And you can’t get a better education than being given responsibility for how the government spends its money.
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So wir Hannah Mary has been granted her wish. She is being given full access to look “under the bonnet” and learn the real nuts and bolts of how government works in the unique political environment Scotland (and Shetland for that matter), finds itself in.
As she so eloquently said in the Holyrood chamber at minister’s questions last week where she had the tough task of reporting on a budget for a period before she even took office: “Scotland has all the energy and none of the power.”
She also repeated what she told us on our first podcast with her: “ Faroe, with a population of 50,000, has more autonomy than this nation of 6 million.”
What I find so encouraging about wir new Shetland MSP is that all this does not seem to be going to her head…and let’s hope it stays that way. My confidence in her only grew when she told Jane and I in our latest podcast that “it’s just a job and someone has to do it”, that pragmatic island attitude shining through.
And it was truly heartening to hear her excitement about community wealth building and community empowerment – making sure those most affected by decisions have a genuine input into how those decisions are made – take heed Shetland Islands Council, Shetland Charitable Trust, Shetland Recreational Trust. Take heed!
Our SNP MSP HMG is clearly a rising star in the Scottish Government, but she seems to have her feet firmly on the ground and her hand firmly on the tiller (if you will pardon the mixed metaphor) as well as a clear sense of direction…that old harbour light she brought up in her election victory speech.
With great power comes great responsibility and it looks to me as if she’s going to be able to handle whatever gets thrown at her… and with considerable flair to boot.
All episodes of The Shetland Podcast can be found here.
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