Kate Forbes warned Humza Yousaf about 'protest expert' constituents ahead of Skye visit

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Campaigners calling for emergency care on Skye have accused Kate Forbes of being powerless to help them after she warned Humza Yousaf they would protest if he visted the area.

The deputy First Minister was speaking to the then-health secretary on Whatsapp when she made comments about campaigners and suggested residents were being “scaremongered by people who should know better”.

She also described the campaigners as “quite the protest experts” but has now said the comments were “never intended for publication”.The exchange, obtained under Freedom of Information laws, took place in April 2022 - a month before Yousaf visited the island to open Broadford Hospital.Yousaf was asking Forbes if there were any other sites he should visit when she warned him about the campaign for 24/7 emergency healthcare provision at Portree hospital.Forbes said: “Hard to ignore Portree Hospital…whether you go or not, as soon as the north Skye community get wind you’re in town they’ll stage a protest (they’re quite the protest experts) so it might be worth hitting that head on and visiting Portree hospital/ speaking to them.”She went on to say there were “nice island ladies who have been scaremongered by people who should know better.”Campaigners said the situation is now at a critical point after a woman died and another woman fell seriously ill during a weekend music festival on the island this summer.School teacher Eilidh Beaton nearly died in May when she had to wait almost an hour for an ambulance after going into anaphylactic shock.Neil Campbell, vice chairman of the Skye SOS campaign group, said: “When Kate Forbes says we ‘are quite the protest experts’, I take that as a compliment.“We have spent so long campaigning that of course