Michael Marra
Scottish Labour · Scotland
“I thank Jack Middleton for bringing the debate to the chamber. Its subject is of widespread concern, and will impact significantly on communities across the north of Scotland and in my North East Scotland region.”
“Indeed, the decline of quality local journalism that is embedded close to people is a tragedy. As many local newspapers face increasing issues with sustainability, it has become more, rather than less, important for the biggest companies and corporations to ensure that their journalism is rooted in communities.”
“More broadly, I believe—Jack Middleton has touched on some of this—that the decision is an act of surrender to what is a wildfire of commoditised fear that is weaponised by tech oligarchs to purposely undermine real freedom in pursuit of power and profit.”
“Although it is a commercial decision from STV, backed by the regulator to this point, it is also the latest example of what is becoming an ever- growing list of services being centralised away from communities in Scotland. Those in the north- east and further afield have, over the years, seen the same situation before.”
“The absence of regional journalism will only hasten that process, and whatever we might think, collectively, about the barrier and where the balance should sit, local people should have that accountability and the opportunity to make their case about where power is situated.”
“I welcome the hard work that Our Union Street is doing to re-energise Union Street and the centre of Aberdeen. The project is working along with partners to bring together a shared vision of the future of the city centre.”
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“For colleges, we are providing a 10 per cent uplift—a £70 million increase—in resource and capital funding, alongside investment to help adult learners to gain new skills and qualifications. Transformation will be central to ensuring that the sector remains sustainable.”
“Will the cabinet secretary give way? Shona Robison: Of course—I am sure that Mr Marra will welcome that investment. Michael Marra: The cabinet secretary says that people from across Dundee can access the centre, but is it not the case that only patients who are already registered with the Lochee practice will be able to do so? Shona Robison: Walk-in centres will provide additional capacity for a range of people across all the locations in which they operate. It is strange that Michael Marra cannot bring himself to welcome that investment in an area that he is supposed to care about. For local government, we are delivering £15.7 billion, including the additional £20 million of funding that was announced at stage 1, which can be used towards funding the real living wage for the adult and child care sectors.”
“Our NHS is in crisis, with more people in Dundee waiting more than two years for treatment than in the whole of England. We have ferries that do not sail, roads that do not get dualled and schools that do not get built. It is a record of SNP failure and incompetence. We have a justice system past breaking point, with rising crime and overcrowded jails. We have a rotten culture of secrecy, in which the SNP circles the wagons to protect its own instead of serving the people whom it is supposed to represent. This SNP budget changes none of that.”
“Independent experts from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Fraser of Allander Institute are unanimous in their view that yet another emergency budget from whoever forms a Government in May is now a racing certainty. The SNP continues to budget on a wing and a prayer, hoping that something comes along to bail it out once again. These are the hallmarks of 19 years of John Swinney budgets: creative accounting, financial sleight of hand and swingeing cuts to local government. The SNP has received an additional £10.3 billion for Scotland’s budget from the UK Labour Government, and Scots will rightly be asking the SNP where the money has gone. The truth is that the SNP has decimated Scotland’s public finances and taken treasured public services such as our NHS to the brink.”
“Rule 9.16.7 of the standing orders dictates that the Parliament must agree to a Scottish rate resolution before stage 3 proceedings for the budget bill can begin. As such, Scottish Labour will support the rate resolution. The late UK budget has made the timetable for this year’s Scottish budget challenging and put pressure on our parliamentary procedures. We will not stand in the way of the necessary mechanisms that will ensure that our police officers, nurses and local services continue to be funded at the start of the new financial year in only a few short weeks. However, over the next few months, we all know what will happen. We know that the SNP’s deeply underwhelming budget will not last the year.”
“To ask the Scottish Government whether the Lord Advocate will provide details of the reasons for her reportedly sharing confidential details of the charges against Peter Murrell with the First Minister, and whether any further information regarding the case has been made available to ministers or special advisers.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on any potential impact of prolonged, non- permanent senior leadership within the Police Scotland Tayside division on operational effectiveness, workforce morale and public confidence in local policing. (S6O-05529)”
“Jenni Minto: I have been clear, whenever I have answered questions about palliative care and assisted dying, that there are no either/or questions and that we need to ensure that investment is in place. As Mr Marra knows, funding is transferred from the Scottish Government to support health boards, which also provide a level of palliative care. As I have just indicated to Mr Briggs, we have increased the budget that will be available to hospices in the next financial year. I strongly feel that it is not an either/or question and that we must support people to live their best lives and to have the most dignified deaths that they can.”
“During the stage 1 debate on the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, Liam McArthur said: “Investing in improved quality of and access to palliative and hospice care… is imperative”—[Official Report, 13 May 2025; c 15.] Given the stark reality that the Association for Palliative Medicine has set out, MSPs might question that rhetoric when voting at stage 3. Palliative care is not an available alternative for far too many people and, under the proposed law, an early death might be a choice that people feel compelled to make. Will the minister confirm whether any additional allocation was made in the Scottish spending review to strategically enhance the quality of and access to palliative care?”
“Independent experts from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Fraser of Allander Institute are unanimous in their view that, as a result of the SNP’s decisions, for whoever forms the Government in May, an emergency budget is now a racing certainty. We know what chaos was wrought by three consecutive years of emergency budgets from the SNP, which was forced to rip up its plans mid-year due to its own incompetence. Only today, we have heard from David Phillips at the Institute for Fiscal Studies that the budget looks “increasingly detached from reality … This does not feel like credible fiscal and public spending control to me.” Well, he is right. It is not credible, and, because of that, the budget bill does not deserve to be passed by the”
“On 13 January, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government announced a deeply underwhelming budget that tried to fix just a few of the SNP’s mistakes. I said then that it would find favour, whether over a peace pipe or not, with the Liberal Democrats and the Greens, and so it has proved. The Budget (Scotland) (No 5) Bill will be agreed to at stage 1 today. Labour will not stand in the way of police officers and nurses continuing to be paid, and local services continuing to be paid for, at the start of the new financial year in just a few short weeks. However, we all know that the budget will not last the year.”
“I move amendment S6M-20654.1, to leave out from first “notes” to end and insert: “is concerned for the future of local services, in light of nearly two decades of underfunding of local government by the Scottish National Party administration; regrets the failure of the Scottish Government to build a consensus for much-needed reform of local government taxation, and calls on the next Scottish administration to take leadership and create a sustainable, long-term funding solution for local government.” 16:19”
“Staggeringly, the recently published spending review showed that, if the SNP wins in May, it intends to cut nearly £0.5 billion from local government budgets over the next three years. That is truly hard to fathom, given the criticism from SNP councillors about what is happening. What services will have to be cut? Which vulnerable people will fall through the cracks? That is what is at stake on 7 May.”
“On the principle, there are absolutely no problems at all. Let us wait and see how the policy is implemented. Of course, given the timeframe for its delivery, it is no solution to the challenges that we are speaking about today. It is years away from being introduced and will deliver a very small amount of money, so it will not address the crisis in our local authorities relating to the delivery of services. We have had a promise, a commission, a consultation and a working group, and now we have another consultation. Those have all been attempts to kick the can down the road or pass the blame to somebody else. Contributions on the issue from the SNP back benches to date have been like blame bingo. This is a cowardly Government that has wasted years of majorities with no intention of ever doing the hard work of reforming council tax.”
“That is not dissimilar to the mansion tax that the Labour UK Government has introduced—although in our proposal, councils get to keep that money, unlike in the UK Government proposal, which involves taking the money to the centre. Does Michael Marra and his party support that? Michael Marra: We certainly support the principle. However, given what I have just laid out, believing in the Government’s ability to deliver anything at all in this area is, frankly, a stretch. My party has concerns about the bits and pieces that we hear about the way in which the policy might be designed. A number of the properties concerned are centralised here in Edinburgh, whereas the money might be disbursed across the rest of the country. However, we have no detail on how that will work properly, and people rightly have questions to ask about it.”
“SNP councillor and COSLA resources spokesperson Ricky Bell has said that the SNP Government’s “very poor settlement for local government” is making council funding “increasingly unsustainable” and will force councils into “reductions in services and jobs”, as they all struggle with cuts from their SNP colleagues here in Holyrood. The cabinet secretary has referenced the consultation on council tax reform, which closed in January. To suggest that change is just around the corner is, frankly, for the birds. The Government has had two decades to do that. Shona Robison: Talking of change, I refer to our proposal to introduce new council tax bands for the very highest-value homes—those that are worth more than £1 million.”
“Social care services are in crisis, teachers are moving abroad and libraries are closing. There are potholes that people can swim in and swimming pools that they cannot. Those cuts scar our communities: lives are diminished, life chances are limited and vulnerable people are put at risk. Councils are at the stage when even delivering statutory services—the most basic of services, which they have a legal duty to perform—is a stretch. Local communities are paying the price through services that have been cut or reduced or have disappeared altogether, and through eye-watering council tax rises as a result of a decade of underfunded freezes. Things have got so bad that even SNP councillors are at last speaking out.”
“In 2007, a fresh-faced finance secretary by the name of John Swinney was entrusted with delivering the SNP’s election promise of scrapping the council tax. Instead, Mr Swinney imposed a succession of council tax freezes and decimated local government funding across two decades. The result for local government and for the vital services that it provides in communities across Scotland has been ruinous. The cuts that councils of every political stripe have had to mete out are the direct result of John Swinney’s centralising instincts in slashing council budgets and ring fencing funds to tie councils’ hands. Make no mistake: the parlous state of local government finances lies squarely at the feet of John Swinney and the SNP Government. The reality of the SNP’s chronic underfunding of local government is clear for all to see.”
“From the calamity of the deposit return scheme, the repeated failure to pass on reliefs and the refusal to reform rates, it is clear that only a change of Government will deliver the change that businesses in Scotland need. 15:26”
“Indeed, since July 2024, the increase in the Scottish Government’s budget has been £10.3 billion across the spending review. Failing to support our hospitality businesses is a choice that the Scottish Government has made. The debate gives us an important opportunity to listen to the voices of those in the hospitality sector, and the SNP must heed the strength of feeling before it does even more damage to one of the key sectors of our economy. As Daniel Johnson set out, Labour is committed to a fundamental overhaul of non-domestic rates. Tinkering around the edges will not cut it, and we are way past the point at which that approach will work.”
“The other thing that comes from the UK Government is the system of reliefs that is being put in place across the UK. We are yet to hear from the Scottish Government how it will pass that on, particularly to pubs, which we have heard about in the past week. I welcome the announcement that there will be a 15 per cent cut to new rates bills from April, followed by a two-year real-terms freeze in other parts of the UK. The SNP finance secretary has said that she will pass on additional support, but we are yet to hear what that will actually mean. Ivan McKee: Will the member give way? Michael Marra: Sorry, but I would like to make some progress. In 2024-25 and 2025-26, the SNP failed to pass on rates relief from the UK Government in full, which left many businesses on the brink, even though it had the funds to support them.”
“Scottish Labour supports an immediate pause in the new rates revaluation and an extension of reliefs to retail, hospitality and leisure businesses. Craig Hoy: I agree with much of what Mr Marra has said. However, is he also aware that acute pressure is being put on the hospitality industry because of the changes to employer national insurance contributions? What representations has he made to the UK Government on that issue? Michael Marra: Mr Hoy is correct in saying that businesses are absorbing the employer national insurance contribution increase. The quid pro quo for that has been an additional £5.2 billion of funding for the Scottish Government, which can choose how it wants to spend that money and whether to put in place the reliefs.”
“The importance of hospitality to our economy and our communities cannot be overstated. Craig Hoy: Will the member give way? Michael Marra: I want to make some progress. That is why the debate is about more than the technical details of business rates. Governments have a responsibility to get those details right to allow businesses to flourish and remain at the heart of their communities. Frankly, this SNP Government seems determined to get it all wrong. From speaking to hospitality businesses across the north-east, I know that the looming revaluation is a real cause for concern. Some businesses’ rateable values will double or triple overnight. The increases are staggering and, for many businesses, they will be far too large to absorb.”
“Scotland’s hospitality businesses are a vital part of our economy. Serving visitors and locals alike, they are the lifeblood of our high streets and the cornerstones of our communities. In Dundee, it might be the V&A, Verdant Works, the Discovery or our beautiful scenery that brings people to the city, but our excellent hospitality businesses are an essential part of any visit. There is more to them than just the economic value that they provide. In a society that seems ever more fragmented, those third spaces—the high street cafe, the local pub and the favourite restaurant— are essential to our sense of place and community. I am thinking of Mennie’s on Perth Road on a Friday night, packed with Dundonians sharing a drink in good company after a week of hard graft.”
“Grand Theft Auto, Minecraft and Lemmings are all household names not just across Scotland, but across the entire world, as part of the world’s largest entertainment industry.”
“They include running a two-year pilot to deliver strategic alignment across portfolios, setting up a pilot fund to support new intellectual property and leverage private investment, establishing a national games and skills education forum to identify skills gaps and connect each stage of education with professional development, and launching a dedicated service that provides business support and mentorship to new and growing studios. The plan seeks to build on the fruits of the two-year pilot by establishing a national games innovation centre to drive long- term growth and cross-sectoral innovation. I look forward to hearing the minister’s considered response to the contents of the plan. Turning to Dundee, I note that my home city’s contribution to the global games industry is something for Dundonians to be very proud of.”
“Grasping the opportunity that is contained in the action plan is just one step towards embracing that reality and all that it entails. The action plan aims to make Scotland the United Kingdom’s first games supercluster by 2030 and a global leader in creative technology. It recognises Scotland’s unique opportunity, with key players in the industry situated within reach of each other in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, as well as in other parts of Scotland. The action plan’s recommendations are ambitious yet practical.”
“I give credit to the authors of the plan for the breadth and depth of their consultation when preparing it. In common with almost every family in Scotland, gaming plays a daily role in the life of my household: Minecraft, Rocket League, Fall Guys, Among Us, Roblox and a deep emotional—almost spiritual—investment in the world of FIFA. However, it is the economic impact of Scotland’s games sector, particularly in my home city of Dundee, that led to my work on behalf of the sector. The games sector in Scotland already generates £151,382 in gross value added per head of population, which is more than double the Scottish average. For too long, the Scottish Government has been an analogue operation in a digital age. The pace of technological change is the fastest that it has ever been and the slowest that it will ever be from now on.”
“It is a pleasure to welcome the publication of “Level Up Scotland: A National Action Plan for the Scottish Games Sector” and to recognise the value of Scotland’s games sector to our national economy. I thank all members across the chamber who supported the motion on an industry that can be an ever-greater engine room of growth for our economy. I welcome to the public gallery Brian Baglow, the founder and director of the Scottish Games Network, and the many others in the Scottish games sector who are tuning in online. As co-convener, along with Clare Adamson, of the cross-party group on Scottish games ecosystems, I have had the privilege of contributing to the action plan as it has taken shape since the first meeting of our cross-party group, in 2023.”
“A new parliamentary session will provide the opportunity to rejig this kind of debate and, to be frank, a fresh start in the number of core strategies, which will improve understanding, transparency and alignment across the Government. I thank all members who have contributed to the debate. The Presiding Officer: That concludes the debate on the Scottish budget 2026-27 on behalf of the Finance and Public Administration Committee. Point of Order 17:11”
“As of summer 2025, there were 100 of them. Anyone in the chamber would agree that, for a devolved Government that serves a nation smaller in size than London, that is far too many strategies. There are lots of strategies, but there is not much strategic intent. Ivan McKee: Will the member take an intervention? Michael Marra: No, thank you, sir. I am just coming to a close, and I am in my last minute. The Government confirmed that it will, as the committee requested, provide an update on the steps that are being taken to monitor and reduce the number of live strategies, in line with the Government’s priorities. It also plans to provide an updated list annually, which the committee welcomes.”
“I hope that ministers can provide that information to the committee ahead of next week, so that there can be proper scrutiny of that very important process, given some of the headwinds that colleagues, including Liz Smith, have identified. We note that the Government has not committed to providing the information on the sustainability of social security spending that we have asked for several times. That includes information on how the Government is assessing the effectiveness of outcomes, its approach to the delivery of benefits, and the impact on other parts of the budget. We believe that that must be provided without delay. It is absolutely critical that we have that information in front of us to enable us to scrutinise the process. Last year, we asked the Government to set out the number of live strategies that it has in place.”
“Both those independent financial institutions predict that the budget may very well not reach the autumn without an emergency budget from the Government, given the heroic statements. That is the account that has been given, and it has become a habit of the Government over recent years—that is absolutely clear. The committee also asked for the methodology of the Scottish spending review to be set out to committees, so that we could understand how the review was carried out. However, our committee is not the only body that has asked for that. Yesterday, we asked the chair of the Scottish Fiscal Commission, Professor Graeme Roy, what he knew about the methodology, and he knew nothing. He does not know how the review was carried out, or the means by which the assessments were made, or how the plans were produced. That is not acceptable.”
“The minister is looking at me quizzically, but that is the view of Professor David Bell of Stirling University. To use Professor Bell’s words, he is “completely confused” about how those two issues address each other. Perhaps we can hear evidence from the minister on that point at committee next week, because it is not apparent how those things interrelate. The Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Fraser of Allander Institute have been absolutely clear that they retain significant concerns about the long- term trajectory and the sustainability of public finances. Michelle Thomson highlighted in her contribution the “heroic”—in their words— assumptions on productivity that are being made by the Government in that regard.”
“We are still, as a committee, seeking a full response to the Scottish Fiscal Commission’s fiscal sustainability report as part of the Government’s long-term planning. It is very difficult to claim that the budget documents have risen to the challenge of addressing sustainability. The committee and, more broadly, the independent institutions have significant concerns about the challenges that our public finances face. Some of that was highlighted by conveners who shared evidence from their committees. I will illustrate how the issues relate to both transparency and sustainability. The financial sustainability delivery plan and the Scottish spending review promise £1.5 billion of portfolio savings, but it is impossible to determine how any of that relates to closing the gap that the Scottish Fiscal Commission has identified.”
“In the cabinet secretary’s budget statement last week, she stated that it “provides the resources that are needed to ensure that, where we commission services, those working in adult social care receive, at a minimum, the real living wage” — [Official Report, 13 January 2026; c 14.] However, in today’s debate we have heard that the Government is refusing to meet the cost of the statutory increase but is prepared to meet the cost of the discretionary increase on top of that. There is no way that, having listened to the budget statement, people would come to that conclusion. That is absolutely not the case—and it is certainly not the conclusion that the sector came to. There is a real challenge around transparency in the way in which the budget is presented. There was much less in the debate on the theme of fiscal sustainability.”
“Michael Marra: You have to recognise, cabinet secretary, that if somebody as eminent as Professor Mairi Spowage—and the Fraser of Allander Institute and all its analysts—cannot interrogate the budget documents and come to the conclusion that you have, then something has gone badly wrong in that instance. There is also a real challenge in relation to social care pay, which Jackie Baillie raised in the debate.”
“Shona Robison: I say again that the college sector has had a £70 million increase in core college funding available to the Scottish Funding Council: £61.4 million in resource and an extra £8.2 million in capital. Over the past five years, there has also been a significant investment of more than £150 million in the Dunfermline learning campus, which has been over and above the funding made available to the sector at large. There is an issue about how those tables are set out, because they do not separate out the capital funding that the SFC can distribute across the sector from funding that is specific to a strategic project. That will be addressed—but the funding is £70 million extra. The Deputy Presiding Officer: Michael Marra, I can give you the time back.”
“In his role as the convener of the Education, Children and Young People Committee, Douglas Ross mentioned college funding, which is an issue that has received some scrutiny in recent days. The idea that there is a £70 million increase in such funding is true only if last year’s capital is removed from the baseline. The figure is, in fact, £40 million. Shona Robison: No, it is not. Michael Marra: Mairi Spowage, the director of the Fraser of Allander Institute, said that she had seen the commentary and that, to be honest, she did not know whether the figure was accurate, but that we should know. She also said that the Government needs to work with the Parliament to reduce the confusion about this sort of issue, so that, when it presents its draft budget, we are much clearer about what we are spending money on.”
“That leads to some very misleading claims in relation to portfolio comparisons between 2025-26 and 2026-27. I will give a couple of the most egregious examples. The Scottish Government claims that there will be a 6.6 per cent real-terms increase in the education and skills portfolio, but the Scottish Fiscal Commission, which has done the work that I mentioned, says that there will be a 0.8 per cent real-terms increase. The Scottish Government claims that there will be an 8.9 per cent real-terms increase in the housing budget, but the Scottish Fiscal Commission says that there will be a 3.9 per cent real-terms cut. Those figures really matter when people are trying to understand the budget, and the Scottish Fiscal Commission has set out its figures.”
“However, it continues to resist baselining all routine in-year transfers, for reasons that, to be frank, are bewildering to members of our committee. Therefore, we ask that the Government explain why it is not making more progress in that area. That was a significant area of concern at the committee’s meeting yesterday, when we took evidence from witnesses including representatives of the Scottish Fiscal Commission. It has taken action by providing its own figures in its documentation to try to illustrate the real picture, as it sees it, because the Government has not taken that action. For 2025-26, £606 million of resource internal transfers, against the autumn budget revision, have not been baselined, but there is no explanation for that.”
“I am pleased to sum up the debate on behalf of the Finance and Public Administration Committee. I thank all members who have contributed to the debate—however reluctantly on some people’s parts. I thank our committee’s outstanding clerking team for the real teamwork that takes place there. One of the clear themes of today’s debate has been transparency, which many members have mentioned. Transparency is not an esoteric idea or principle; it is necessary. I will set out why that is. The committee has had a long-standing concern about transparency. In the past few years, we have asked that routine in-year transfers be baselined in the Scottish budget. Some of the issues in that regard have just been played out in the exchange between Mr Hoy and the minister. In this year’s budget, the Government actioned £786 million of baseline transfers.”
“I hope that the minister will reflect on the three issues that I have raised, both in her closing speech and in her next few weeks of work. 18:09”
“Watching streamed football at home was a thoroughly miserable experience for so many of us. That is not what the game is about. Growing attendance at clubs such as St Johnstone, Morton, Motherwell and St Mirren— which are traditionally outwith that top rank—talks to the fan culture that has been imported into Scotland by YouTube. However, that comes with its challenges, as does my speech time—I am coming to a close, Presiding Officer. We have already heard about the issues with pyrotechnics. The Government must also consider how exuberance and passion for local teams can be balanced with safety, inclusivity and the prevention of the return to the widespread violence that we saw in the 1980s. Cocaine use is a significant issue in that regard.”
“Walking football is being played right across Scotland, in all the communities that we represent. There has been a quiet revolution in how we see physical activity in later life, particularly for men who are so enthralled with the game. Walking football can also combine a cross-generational and cross-sex aspect, which should be considered. The minister might explain, in her closing speech, the opportunities to include walking football in that summer of sport. Pretty much the only thing that has recovered in this country since Covid has been attendance numbers at football—most likely because the Scottish National Party Government and its Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery had nothing at all to do with it. I wonder whether it has to do with people’s pent-up frustration at having not been able to be with people when watching football.”
“They are increasingly challenging to maintain, and compliance issues with access and safety are a growing concern, as that burden on clubs increases. The next Scottish Government should turn its attention to what that will mean for the professional game over the coming decade in relation to standards, safety and access for fans. I also want to advocate on behalf of walking football and for the inclusion of that game in what will be, as we heard yesterday, a summer of sport for Scotland. I have played that game alongside my father in recent weeks. He is in his mid-70s, and he has a weekly game with Tayport Junior FC. Walking football can help men with loneliness, and it also provides healthy exercise and improves mental health. I pay tribute to Paul Berg, Tom Malone and the rest of the group that organises the weekly sessions in Dundee.”
“It is what makes the game representative of the communities that we live in and serve, as other members have pointed to. Law makers in the Government should act to protect that independence and the health of local institutions and not attempt to run them, which is, at times, a fine line to tread. The Government’s approach should be partnership, and the Parliament’s approach should be to hold up a mirror to the game. On that basis, I will comment on three issues on which I seek responses from the minister in her closing speech. First, from my engagement with clubs—not just in my region but more widely—I am concerned that Scotland’s stadium infrastructure is reaching a critical moment. The seated stadia of the post- Taylor report era of the early 1990s are approaching the end of their lifespans.”
“We are the most football-obsessed people in Europe. We have the highest per head attendance rate of any national professional league. Those are the reasons why our Parliament should discuss the state of our national game. That is important, because it matters to people and it matters to Scotland. It is also incumbent on us to recognise the challenges that the football monoculture of our sporting landscape presents for diversifying sporting activity and ensuring maximum participation in the game. That includes the women’s game, which has made great organisational strides in the past decade. That being said, I strongly believe that the game should manage itself and that it should be supported to do just that. That is part of that essential culture.”
“I will do my best, Presiding Officer. I thank George Adam for lodging the motion for debate, and I add my congratulations to St Mirren on their league cup win. I saw the Buddies win silverware—the Scottish cup—back in 1987. It was a thoroughly miserable experience for a seven- year-old Dundee United supporter. Perhaps Mr Ross might be able to enlighten me as to how Kevin Gallacher was offside when Iain Ferguson put the ball in the net. It was a ridiculous decision, frankly. As Celtic found out to their cost a few weeks ago, for every winner, there has to be a loser—that is the way life goes. Scottish football is a very significant part of our national culture and our daily conversations. It is not just a business and a significant part of our economy; it is part of who we are as a country.”
“However, there is fundamental truth to Anas Sarwar saying that Labour is “not in a strong negotiating position” on the budget. I have some advice for Michael Marra: asking for something is a good start if you want to have a negotiating position on a budget. Maybe it will be third time lucky next year. The Presiding Officer: on the budget. I have some advice for Michael Marra: asking for something is a good start if you want to have a negotiating position on a budget. [Laughter.] Maybe third time lucky next year, eh? [Laughter.] Always speak through the chair.”