Scottish Labour Leader Kezia Dugdale today accused the Scottish Government of leaving the north behind with its plans to scrap the Highlands and Islands Enterprise board.
The Lothian MSP, who was born in Aberdeen, branded the move “yet another example of SNP centralisation”.
She is in Inverness today to address Labour’s Highlands and Islands conference and meet businesses concerned about the proposed changes.
Speaking before her visit, she told the Press and Journal: “What a business needs to prosper in the north of Scotland is very different to what it needs to do so in the centre of Edinburgh.
“It’s different circumstances, different costs, different environment, all sorts of different factors.”
Scottish ministers provoked fury late last year by confirming plans to axe HIE’s dedicated board and replace it with a panel overseeing several bodies.
Opponents have claimed the move will undermine 50 years of progress in the region.
And last week, opposition MSPs united to defeat the controversial proposals in a Holyrood vote.
The result is not binding, however, and the government insists its proposal, which would see the HIE board subsumed into a national body, will help the agency improve its current work.
Ms Dugdale added: “It’s yet another example of the SNP’s centralising agenda and the more that they centralise, the more that the north of Scotland is left behind by the SNP.
“Its astonishing when you have got a political party that exists to share, on an almost if not everyday basis, how far away Westminster is, how far removed it is from the lives of the people in Scotland.
“I actually think if you are in Inverness just now, Edinburgh and the SNP Government feel very far away and very out of touch.”
She pointed to Police Scotland and the closure of maternity services in parts of the Highlands as other examples.
Ms Dugdale also urged Nicola Sturgeon to “respect the will of parliament”.
She added: “You have got the first minister just now trying to say the will of Scotland needs to be respected when it comes to Europe, but time and time again she ignores the will of the Scottish Parliament.”
Economy Secretary Keith Brown branded the suggestions as “wrong”.
He added: “HIE will continue to be locally-based, managed and directed, providing dedicated support to the local economy. HIE will not be abolished.
“Everyone shares a commitment to HIE and to retaining its key role in the future.
“The review we are undertaking is aimed at giving businesses and individuals in the Highlands and Islands additional access and support from national services as part of a more coherent system.”