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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/04/orkney-councillors-back-plan-to-explore-alternative-forms-of-governance
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| Orkney councillors back plan to explore alternative forms of governance | Orkney councillors back plan to explore alternative forms of governance |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Councillors vote for motion asking officers to compile report on future of how islands are run | Councillors vote for motion asking officers to compile report on future of how islands are run |
| Councillors in Orkney have voted to explore alternative forms of governance. | Councillors in Orkney have voted to explore alternative forms of governance. |
| At a meeting on Tuesday, they opted to back a motion from the council leader, James Stockan, which would request council officers to compile a report on the future of how the islands are run. | At a meeting on Tuesday, they opted to back a motion from the council leader, James Stockan, which would request council officers to compile a report on the future of how the islands are run. |
| Stockan proposed a motion that instructs the local authority’s officers to publish a report on different options available to the islands, which have a population of about 22,000, including exploring previous “Nordic connections”. | |
| Stockan insisted during the Tuesday debate that his motion was “not about joining Norway”. The islands were under Norwegian and Danish control until 1472, when they were given to Scotland as part of Margaret of Denmark’s wedding dowry to King James III of Scotland. | |
| “I say ‘enough’,” the leader told his fellow councillors. “I say it is time for government to take us seriously, and I say it’s time for us to look at all the options we’ve got. | |
| “There is a far bigger suite of options here – this could even be that we could get our money direct from the Treasury in London and look after our own future.” | |
| An amendment attempting to block the motion was defeated by 15 votes to six, while a further change, which would revive a consultative group on constitutional reform for the islands, was accepted by Stockan and the motion’s seconder, Heather Woodbridge, without the need for a vote. |