Brexit heaped more misery on the Highlands by "turning the tap off" on European funding that paid for critical infrastructure improvements, a councillor has said.

Duncan Macpherson, an independent who represents Inverness South said the UK's severance from the European Union had exacerbated the challenges the area is facing in multiple ways.

As well as leading to staff shortages in areas including the care service and tourism he said it had led to the loss of critical European funding and said as a Highlander he "feels ignored" by both the SNP and UK governments.

He said Highland Council was looking at setting a budget at the end of the month with £15million of deficit.

"It's all because we are being underfunded," said Cllr Macpherson.

"There is no way that anyone would look at any area one-and-a-half times the size of Wales and double the landmass of Northern Ireland and think £900m - that will be enough to keep you guys going.

"Well it wouldn't be  - you would talking billions.

"We are disproportionately affected because we don't have the population that gives these governments the votes."

It follows the decision by Highland councillor Karl Rosie to quit the SNP.

Cllr Rosie, who respresents the Thurso and Northwest Caithness ward, said he was "deeply troubled" by his party's policies, which he said were disproportionately focused on the Central Belt "neglecting the needs and priorities of regions like ours in the Highlands."

He spoke out following the Herald's agenda-setting six-day series investigating depopulation in the Highland and Islands, described by SNP MSP Kate Forbes as a "population emergency".

The Herald: SNP MSP Kate Forbes has suggested Highland Council is too big to serve communities efficiently SNP MSP Kate Forbes has suggested Highland Council is too big to serve communities efficiently (Image: Colin Mearns/Newsquest)

Lack of investment in housing, health, jobs and opportunities have been repeatedly cited as barriers to attracting families and young people to rural areas like the Highlands. 

Cllr Macpherson said: "We have a coastline that is longer than the coastline of France.

"And that doesn't seem to get through to our politicians.

"They allocate us money to spend on covering almost 7000km of rural roads and it's akin to being handed four tines of paint and four paint brushes and saying go and paint the Kessock bridge with that or can you paint your schools with that.

"I think as a council, the moment we accept that, then it's giving an admission to the Government that, 'thank you for these crumbs, we'll try to make them go round.

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"If the governments don't address the situation, we will have Highland clearances and many populations will diminish and that's not good for a country that wants to be a modern European country," said the councillor.

He said Caithness councillor Matthew Reese had identified 405 roads that were in need of repair "and they are only able to repair 17 because that's all the money they have allocated."

He said this was a "dereliction of the duties of Government."

"All our taxes get paid to London and it's a tug of war to bring it back in to Edinburgh and then it's a huge tug of war to bring it up to the north" said the councillor, who was born in Lochaber but has lived in Inverness for more than 30 years.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland earlier today he said people in the area he represents "feel left out."

"They have not got the benefits of 100% roll-out of broadband. Many of the things we've been promised - updates to our hospitals - have been ignored.

"We can't help feeling that our politicians, who we have elected into office - they are actually more concentrated on where the votes are, the Central Belt."

Host Stephen Jardine said it could be argued that resources should be focussed on the areas where most people live.

"The Highlands always benefitted from the European Economic Development Fund (EEDF)", replied Councillor McPherson.

"My wife is from South Uist and when you drive there you see causeways and jetties and there is a sign up with the European flag.

"This was funded by the EEDF because the Highlands of Scotland were classed as an area of deprivation and remote and rural location and therefore we achieved this extra funding.

"Now, we are getting a handful of levelling-up funding from national goverment and it's not enough.

He said anyone wearing a political rosette "speaking off the record" would say that Brexit had exacerbated the challenges the Highlands and Islands are facing.

"Businesses can't attract the staff. In Inverness we've got 143 patients in Raigmore and the surrounding hospitals, ready to go home and they can't be dispatched because there aren't care home places.

"Why are there not care home places, because there is not staff to staff them." 

Others taking part in the BBC phone-in said other rural areas including Dumfries and Galloway were experiencing similar challenges to the Highlands.