Along with the rest of the country, the Scottish islands are due to open to tourists on the 3rd of July. Many of the islands have been lucky enough to avoid the virus thus far, and desperately want to keep it that way, to protect not only our vulnerable people.

Many tourist-based businesses are taking the potentially financially crippling decision to remain closed for the summer, for this reason. This is not right. They should not have to subsidise the government's mistake.

Along with everyone in the world, the residents of the islands haven't seen our families in months. We have been trapped on our islands, and our lockdown has been a mental struggle, despite our attractive surroundings. What we would really like is to be allowed the same 'rewards' as the rest of the country.

Many islanders are scared and anxious of opening up. Our visitors travel from.all over the UK, where cases of the virus could still be high, and localised outbreaks are still frequent. Asymptomatic carriers are another enormous risk. 

A "one-size-fits-all" approach to restarting tourism isn't acceptable to the Scottish islands.

We request

1) the power to decide, as an individual island, what the best route of lockdown is.

2) additional financial assistance from the Scottsh government to keep our communities safe, should some of our businesses choose, or be forced, to remain closed.