Russell Findlay
Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party · Scotland
“Will Kate Campbell give way? Kate Campbell: I will make progress. Although money for, investment in and a focus on those priorities are very welcome, we need to be realistic about what is driving crime and offending—and the evidence exists.”
“Stephen Kerr: Kate Campbell made a point a moment ago about poverty. Does she agree that the last thing that we should be doing in this Parliament is agreeing to budgets that involve cuts to the college sector, putting higher education into financial difficulty or threatening the number of apprenticeships?”
“Scottish Prison Service statistics show that individuals from “the 10% most deprived areas … accounted for 31% of all arrivals to prison in 2022-23”. That is a massive, disproportionate overrepresentation. We know that people who end up in prison are much more likely to have faced disadvantage, trauma and poverty.”
“I begin by congratulating Douglas Lumsden on his election as MP for Aberdeen South, and I welcome our new MSP colleague, James Adams, to Holyrood. Former members of the Scottish National Party’s audit and finance committee are also here today.”
“On average, families of people in custody spend £180 a month on supporting that person. Only yesterday, we found out that one in five families are left with just £12 a week after outgoings— those are the families living with the highest levels of poverty.”
“That includes using peer mentoring projects, such as the turn your life around project, to help young people who may not have the role models that they need in their lives; restorative justice, which empowers victims and survivors while helping offenders to understand the impact of their crimes on other people; or trauma-informed communit…”
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“We are honoured to be joined today, in the public gallery, by the consul of Ukraine in Edinburgh. [Applause.] For more than a century, the United Kingdom and the United States have been the strongest of friends and allies, our bonds forged by shared values of freedom and democracy. During the first and second world wars, we fought alongside other allies to defeat fascism. In the cold war, our unity and resolve prevented the very real threat of a third world war and defeated the tyranny of the Soviet Union. Today, however, the old alliances that have endured throughout our lifetimes do not seem as certain. Last week’s disturbing public disagreement between the Presidents of the United States and Ukraine feels seismic.”
“The Scottish Information Commissioner, David Hamilton, has said that he is “astonished” at “the sheer number of public bodies” in our country. He continued: “There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of public bodies. I keep finding new ones”. He went on to describe “a hidden and complicated landscape across the public sector”. That is not some random person venting on social media; he is the gatekeeper of all state-held information—the ultimate authority in deciding which information is made public. The Information Commissioner cannot work out how many public bodies there are. If even he cannot work out how big the Scottish National Party state has become, what chance do the paying public have?”
“On Monday, it was my great privilege to attend the service at Edinburgh castle to mark the third anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. I was moved by the sight of Ukrainian flags flying proudly over our capital city in solidarity with those who are suffering unimaginable bloodshed and horror. We remembered the countless innocent lives that have been lost in defence of their country and our shared values of freedom and democracy. We should take pride in the United Kingdom’s significant and unwavering support for Ukraine. We all want the war to end, but the people of Ukraine deserve that to happen on their terms, not on those of Vladimir Putin. [Applause.] 12:03”
“Despite sustained efforts by my party, Scotland’s Parliament does not want to talk about a case that everyone across Scotland is talking about. We are going to talk about it right now. A female nurse with 30 years of dedicated service to the NHS faces the sack for her concerns about a man using a women’s changing room. The employment tribunal will rule in due course, but there is absolutely no reason why MSPs cannot discuss the wider issues. Women’s spaces must be for women and girls. Does John Swinney agree that every woman in Scotland should be entitled to that, and to say that, without losing their job?”
“I sense that Russell Findlay is now departing from the territory of the importance of the transition to net zero, where his party has championed the need to achieve our climate targets. He now seems to be deserting those commitments, but the Government will stay true to the course of taking responsible decisions for the future of the planet.”
“I take the responsibilities seriously. They are responsibilities to future generations that we have to get right, and we also have to get the transition correct for those who are currently involved in oil and gas activity in Scotland. That is why the Government is taking the steps that we are taking with the investments that will be made in the budget. I have announced additional investments that we are making specifically for Grangemouth, and other resources have been made available over the course of the budget process, which will hopefully be concluded by next Tuesday. That will see investment in the transition to net zero and active work and support by the Scottish Government to assist and deliver the transition to net zero. That is the correct policy direction to take.”
“Grangemouth workers know that the anti-oil- and-gas sentiment from the Scottish National Party in Edinburgh and Labour in London has been fatal. I visited the north-east last week, where businesses told me that that sentiment is harming investment and costing jobs in Grangemouth and beyond. Does the First Minister accept some responsibility for creating the hostile environment that has resulted in hundreds of Grangemouth workers losing their jobs, and will he now change his Government’s short-sighted and damaging approach to Scottish oil and gas? The First Minister: There are incredibly serious and significant issues involved in the handling of the situation at Grangemouth. However, there are also incredibly serious and significant issues facing the safety and future of the planet because of the necessity to transition to net zero.”
“I thank the First Minister for advance sight of his statement. My party welcomes the additional funding that has been announced today. Grangemouth and its hundreds of dedicated workers make a crucial contribution to the Scottish economy, so it is essential that Scottish and UK ministers commit to working jointly and with urgency to explore every possible option. In his statement, John Swinney rightly recognised the importance of our journey to net zero. However, Grangemouth is not just important for net zero in the future—it is vital for oil and gas in the present. I find it remarkable that, in a statement of around 1,600 words, the words “oil” and “gas” were not mentioned even once. The truth is that the party that used to champion Scotland’s oil now seems to regard it as a dirty word.”
“The Scottish National Party Government previously told the public that it would cost £100 million to build the new HMP Glasgow. Yesterday, however, the SNP Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs dropped a bombshell on Scotland’s taxpayers—she admitted that it would now cost £998,400,000. That is just shy of £1 billion, and I will place a bet with John Swinney right now that it will only go even higher. Does a £1 billion Barlinnie really represent good value for Scotland’s taxpayers?”
“From day 1, we told the Scottish National Party that Humza Yousaf’s national health service recovery plan would not help patients. That was back in 2021, but only now are Humza Yousaf’s big promises finally in the bin. All those years were wasted while patients suffered and John Swinney insisted that everything was going great. He has now grandly announced all the same ideas that the SNP has already failed to deliver, but still with absolutely no credible explanation as to how any of it will actually be achieved. How can John Swinney expect anyone to believe that he will ever deliver his recycled promises?”
“Last week, Scotland’s nurses issued a desperate and urgent warning about our broken national health service. Patients in extreme pain are stripped of their dignity and left for hours in accident and emergency departments. Waiting times for life-changing and life-saving operations keep going up. People are not able to get appointments for general practitioners or for dentists. Targets are being missed so often that they have become largely meaningless. Does John Swinney really still have confidence in his health secretary, Neil Gray?”
“Today, Scotland’s nurses have spoken. A damning report from the Royal College of Nursing lays bare our broken national health service. First- hand accounts from more than 500 Scottish nurses reveal a lack of dignity and privacy for patients who are stuck in corridors and side rooms. They describe scenes of chaos, patient safety being compromised due to a shortage of beds and a dangerous lack of medication and oxygen. It is page after page of shocking and desperate testimony. One nurse said: “It is degrading, undignified, and at times unsafe for patients who are already angry due to the long waits, sometimes waiting in” emergency departments “for over 35 hours to go to a ward, just to be put in the corridor. The system is broken.” Does John Swinney agree with Scotland’s nurses that Scotland’s NHS is broken?”
“John Swinney said this week that, if his budget does not pass, we are playing “right into the hands of Elon Musk.” Yes, you heard that right. The Scottish National Party budget will cause misery to hard-working Scots and struggling businesses, but, in the mind of Scotland’s populist First Minister, that is a price we must all pay to defeat the shadowy forces of populism. Was it John Swinney’s new year’s resolution to distract people from his failings by making ludicrous claims such as that one?”
“The old approach of the SNP and Labour too often managed only to keep people stuck in poverty.”
“Everyone here wants to reduce and, we hope, eradicate child poverty. What we are debating is how best to achieve that, which is where we differ. John Swinney and Anas Sarwar, who is not in the chamber today, believe in the big state approach: high taxes, central control, rules and regulations, layers of bureaucracy and spending ever more taxpayers’ money. The trouble is that that approach has been tried and it has failed. It has been the Scottish National Party’s approach for 18 years and, before that, it was Labour’s. The old left-wing approach has not worked. Poverty has not been reduced, our economy has not grown stronger, people do not feel better off, prosperity has not been spread across the country and opportunities to get ahead remain far too limited.”