During his recent visit to Shetland as prospective Labour candidate, Mark Cooper said,
"We need to try to help young people find jobs in the islands so that the islands still benefit from their schools, for example.
"If they go to Aberdeen to study, they should be able to find a job at home instead of having to move away through no choice of their own," he said.
"The big concern I have is that everything will become more focused on the mainland, Lerwick and Scalloway, because since the RAF left Unst the population has gone down considerably.
"Because it’s expensive to get up there, people are not choosing to go up there so the people who are there are in danger of losing access to vital services.
"For example, as the school population goes down it becomes more expensive to run the school.
"The thing I do not want is for the children’s education to suffer because they are the future of this community.
"They should be given the same chance as any other children in the islands to reach their full potential."
