Cole-Hamilton takes on judo champ and pledges to restore Highland services

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today tried his hand at judo alongside former Commonwealth medallist, British champion and Highland councillor Connie Ramsay, as he set out his party’s pledge to restore services to Highland communities.

In September 2025, Connie Ramsay won a Highland Council by-election for the Scottish Liberal Democrats with 38.8% of the vote, taking a seat previously held by the SNP.

In their forthcoming manifesto, the party will commit to “end the era of SNP centralisation” by:

• Increasing the range of NHS services available locally;
• Ensuring decisions about health services are taken as close as possible to the communities they affect and that any reform does not result in top-down centralisation;
• Treating councils as equal partners with multi-year funding deals and new freedoms to innovate.
• The party has continually campaigned for the restoration of consultant-led maternity services in the Far North. The party also forced the SNP’s bureaucratic ministerial takeover of social care out of the Scottish Budget after ministers threw away £30 million - equivalent to the annual salary of 1200 care workers, and money that could have been spent helping people like Margaret MacGill who Alex visited yesterday.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“Our country works best when decisions are taken as close as possible to those they affect. Right now, people don’t feel like they are being listened to or that they have the means to roll up their sleeves, do things differently and change their area for the better.

“Almost two decades of SNP centralisation has drained local communities of the ability to shape their own future. Care homes and maternity services are just some of the facilities that have gone as a consequence. The viability of some rural and remote areas is being threatened by the lack of public transport, the ferries fiasco, the housing emergency and skills shortages.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats know that every place has its own character, its own needs and priorities. We will shift power out of Holyrood and into local hands, so you can get on with improving where you live without waiting for the say-so of ministers in Edinburgh. From city centres to remote islands, and everything in between, we’ll make sure your area has the services and opportunity to live, work and raise a family.

"Wherever you are, every Scottish Liberal Democrat elected in target constituencies like Caithness, Sutherland & Ross, and through the peach regional ballot paper, will deliver change with fairness at its heart.”