A BBC Debate Night audience in the Highlands was told to "get angry" about the energy crisis and inequalities facing rural Scottish communities on Wednesday night.
Broadcaster and journalist Lesley Riddoch made the comments as she appeared on a panel alongside SNP MSP Fergus Ewing, Tory MSP Edward Mountain, Labour MP Torcuil Crichton, and former chair of Inverness Caledonian Thistle Alan Savage.
Speaking in Inverness, the panel was asked what could be done to avoid "modern Highland Clearances", and keep Scots in the Highlands rather than see people move away.
According Highland Council, the population of the region will fall by 5% by 2040.
Crichton said he was "reluctant" to compare the crisis to the Clearances, adding: "Depopulation is the biggest issue facing us, facing the periphery, facing the Western Isles. We have to start looking at population retention, and attracting young people back to the Highlands, with jobs and with housing."
He further added that what is happening in the peripheries of Europe should be of note to the rest of the continent, as "white western Europe is in decline, we're all aging, and the demographics are all going the wrong way".
Jardine then asked Riddoch about what can be learned from the Nordic experience, to which she responded: “I'm sitting here fuming, because what the Highlands have got is energy.
“Massive, massive amounts of renewable energy – the profits of which are going everywhere else but the Highlands.
“The Highlands should have no energy bills, they've got so much potential.
“The remote areas could be laughing and choosing between, ‘will it be tidal, would it be solar even, would it be wind, would it be hydro?’
“There's so much potential here, but because of the pricing of energy in the United Kingdom, which is a Westminster responsibility, we end up having renewables priced at the expensive rate of gas."
Riddoch went on to highlight "rubbish grid connections" across Scotland, adding: "I was in Applecross last weekend. Those guys had a community hydro, I knew the lass that actually spent two months raising £780,000 – unbelievable that she could do that in two months flat – they were really pleased with their community hydro.
“Wee snag – the grid is so rubbish, they can only export half of the energy, and it's a tiny, tiny hydro system. Same is true for any commercial venture, they can't export the energy.
“How do you think Applecross is going to expand its population? And how angry would you be there? I wish people would be more angry.
"My lot come from Caithness, a bit of me’s Highland, I understand people are quiet. But, it's time to get really angry about this because you are being had."
