Christine Grahame
Scottish National Party · Scotland
“To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the United Kingdom Government regarding whether any of the support announced in response to the increased cost of heating oil will help the agriculture sector and other rural industries in Scotland that are dependent on that fuel. (S6O- 05695)”
“At a recent First Minister’s question time, I raised the matter of the successful prosecution against the Hamiltons, who are part of the cruel puppy- farm trade. That case was concluded after a five- year investigation by the SSPCA that started when 33 puppies were found in dreadful conditions.”
“Of course, some can go online or use an app, but there will be many who cannot, and for them, it is essential that they speak to a real person at the bank, not a chatbot. Therefore, I would impress upon the Bank of Scotland the need for it to take up my suggestion of reintroducing mobile services, which I understand it abandoned in 2024.”
“My first prize at school was for an essay on animal welfare, but being a vet was out of reach for a girl from a council house scheme. However, I got to the right place at last, chairing the cross- party group on animal welfare for more than a decade, with two acts of Parliament—the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 and the Welfare of Do…”
“I made my first speech in June 1999, and one Mary Scanlon, a Conservative, broke my peroration—I thought that I was doing rather well—with a point of order that challenged the relevance of my contribution to the motion. I was devastated, but I ploughed on.”
“The Scottish Sentencing Council is developing guidelines for environmental and wildlife crime, but companion and farm animal welfare cases, which make up the vast majority of investigations, are not included.”
The complete record
Every one of 727 lines we hold for Christine Grahame, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 13 of 15.
“Secondary school was a different kettle of fish. As I was a girl—in those days, Boroughmuir had boys and girls entrances—I discovered cooking and sewing on my timetable. I loathed both and was hopeless at them. Hockey and netball were next on my hit list. To avoid them, I added non- existent science classes to my timetable, which was not discovered until it was too late for me to be disciplined. That was one advantage of keeping a low profile, which was then my modus operandi. At 16, I was asked by the school if I wanted to stay on. Many of my female friends opted to leave. My father, a very forward-thinking man, left the choice to me. “Boy or girl, you are all equal”, he said. For a working-class girl like me, that was the exception. The school, of course, had me destined to be a secretary.”
“I congratulate Audrey Nicoll on securing the debate. She rightly raised the issues of misogyny, exploitation and violence again women worldwide, and they are cruel and disgusting. However, I will confine my remarks to our home turf as I view the progress towards equality that women in Scotland have made during my 80 years and reflect on the barriers then and now. I did not really notice much in the way of discrimination at primary school. I was keen and quite bright, and the children who had difficulty with the three Rs bore the brunt of the teacher’s impatience. I was also a tomboy, so, until adolescence, when those pesky hormones kicked in, as well as peeveries and skipping, I played marbles and fought over our street territories. One pigtail was always destroyed early in the day, and I regularly had bloodied knees and elbows.”
“I hope that that provides Christine Grahame with some reassurance that cross-border co-operation exists, in that respect. On vaccine provision, we do not allow vaccination for bluetongue serotype 3 in Scotland, which is a position that is supported by key Scottish industry organisations. As I put on the record in response to Mr Whittle, we encourage farmers to advise their vets of any issues. The chief veterinary officer engages on those questions, and the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands updated the Cabinet on those questions on Tuesday and will continue to do so. Racing Greyhounds 6.”
“As members will be aware, I have many hill farmers in my Midlothian, South Tweeddale and Lauderdale constituency. Like everyone else, they are concerned about the spread of the viruses. I hear what the First Minister says about the measures that are in place to reduce their spread, because the chief veterinary officer for Scotland has said that it is inevitable that the viruses will come. I also hear what the First Minister said about Schmallenberg not being notifiable. What measures are in place in relation to imports from Europe, not just from within the UK, to reduce the spread of viruses such as Bluetooth? [Laughter.] The First Minister: On bluetongue, we already undertake routine testing for it before and after movements of susceptible imported animals in order to ensure that they do not introduce disease into this country.”
“The programmes that have been taken forward by my Minister for Public Finance, Ivan McKee, are securing savings that are expected to reach up to £280 million over a two-year period by the end of 2024-25, with further projected savings of nearly £300 million over the following two financial years to the end of 2026-27. I take deadly seriously the management of public expenditure, because I want to make sure that as much money as possible is available to support front-line services. The difference between me and Russell Findlay is that I am prepared to vote for a budget to support the front line but he is not. Education (Attainment) 2.”
“This year’s SNP budget will again hammer working Scots by raising taxes, which this lot will then squander on yet more nonsense. Is it not basic common sense for John Swinney to start saving taxpayers’ money by cutting quangos and funding the front line instead? The First Minister: We have just passed a budget that funds the front line. Russell Findlay did not vote for it, so I do not know what on earth he is complaining about. I gave one example of a public service reform that we have delivered, which has leveraged out £200 million in savings, but Russell Findlay and the Conservatives opposed that reform. It is all talk and no action from the Conservatives.”
“They did. The First Minister: My good and dear friend Christine Grahame is, not for the first time in my life, coming to my rescue. The Conservatives opposed the formation of Police Scotland, which was one of the biggest reforms of the public sector landscape and delivered £200 million in savings. What we have been treated to today is the usual hypocrisy from Russell Findlay. Russell Findlay: I am setting out ways to save taxpayers’ money while John Swinney is only ever intent on taking more of it. He has no respect for public finances—just look at his dismal record. The truth is that the Government has created far too many talking shops that achieve nothing. It has published 800 plans and strategies that no one reads, and nobody knows how many SNP state agencies there are—not even the Auditor General and the Information Commissioner.”
“That is a great list, and those things are what our taxes pay for. Finally, as we all know, not everything can be achieved, so setting a budget is about choices, and this Government has made good choices. What a contrast that is with UK Labour, which is undermining our farming community with an inheritance tax, leaving pensioners out in the cold, removing the universal winter fuel payment, defending the two-child benefit cap and hiking employer national insurance contributions. What a difference there is in our budget priorities, and what a difference there would be if we had full control over our economy with independence. 16:41”
“That is the economic climate that has been set by UK plc, against which the Scottish Government’s budget endeavours to deliver, with increasing demand on our public services. High on the list is poverty, particularly child poverty, which will increase for the reasons that I have outlined. Although they have already been mentioned, I mention again the highly popular baby box, which has more than 90 per cent uptake; universal free school meals from primary 1 to P5; the Scottish child payment, which is currently £26.70 for every child under 16 in a qualifying household; removal of the two-child benefit cap; the return of the universal winter fuel payment; the introduction of breakfast clubs; free travel for pensioners, for many disabled people and for under-22s; and no tuition fees.”
“It is considering whether it can afford a cost of living salary increase for staff in April 2025, or needs to cut posts. The strain on the voluntary sector will impact on public services, because there is bound to be displacement from voluntary services to the public sector and increasing demand. To that national insurance pressure we can add the current 3 per cent rise in the cost of living, which is on an upward trajectory. That is now compounded by a 6.4 per cent increase in the energy cap, which will cost Scottish consumers £281 on average per year, with the average energy debt in Scotland—this figure is from Citizens Advice Scotland—being £2,500. In rural areas, it is worse, at £3,100.”
“There are serious consequences for the care sector, which is supportive of the real living wage but is finding that paying it, on top of increased national insurance contributions, is a measure too far. There is also the impact on charities to consider. In Scotland, 136,000 people are employed in the charitable sector. It is reckoned that the NI rise will cost charities £17 million a year; for example, it will cost the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals £400,000 a year. Four Square (Scotland) is an Edinburgh charity that supports people who face homelessness. It employs about 120 people and has a turnover of less than £4 million. It delivers public services on behalf of the local authority and has very limited options for finding money for the unexpected NI costs.”
“Despite that, the UK Government has suggested that it will not reimburse the cost in full, which could leave Scotland some £300 million short. The increase in provision to councils will help to cover the additional and recurring costs of pay rises for teachers, social workers, refuse collectors and so on. Those pay rises are deserved, and are mainly a consequence of years of Tory austerity, which climaxed in Trussonomics. Now, however, Labour’s national insurance increase will make sure that some of that money will simply go straight back to the Treasury. That is not all. The impact across the economy of the national insurance increase will be damaging to all sectors. I know of businesses that are already not expanding and of some that are looking to cut staff because they cannot meet the increased bill.”
“The budget has had to cover increased salaries across the public sector, with their ancillary employer costs, none of which we would begrudge nurses, the police and so on. However, the body blow of the increase in employer national insurance contributions has made a huge dent in the money that is available for those front-line services. The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities has estimated that the additional cost to councils alone will be £240 million. It is welcome that the SNP Government has committed to providing councils with an additional £144 million to support the cost of that hike. However, that does not cover the entire cost, and across Scotland, public services will face a bill of more than £700 million.”
“As we all know, across the public sector, a substantial proportion of the funding that has been allocated to the NHS and to education—indeed, to all public services—is for fixed costs. That includes the costs of staff, including wage increases, employer pension contributions and national insurance contributions, to which I will come shortly. In addition, the funding includes, in the NHS, the costs of the Scottish Ambulance Service, of running hospitals, of medications and of payments to general practitioner practices—for example, for their contracts with NHS boards. There is not, therefore, much room for flexibility. There is room for reform and efficiency, and that is a task for the minister, Ivan McKee. I am thankful that he is not Elon Musk.”
“We must never forget the damaging on- going costs of those contracts, which reduce by millions the funding that Borders Council and Midlothian Council could be using and putting to better use elsewhere. Finally, the contracts often come with tough provisions such as paying for private maintenance. In England, private companies are now shirking their contractual repair and maintain obligations, particularly as the contracts come to an end. The financial burdens bequeathed by Labour remind us not only that it is making an economic mess now; it made one before, and the Borders and Midlothian will continue to pay through the nose for that PFI mess for decades. 13:25”
“Because of PFI, which just means “Build now and pay as you go”, three schools in the Borders—in Eyemouth, Duns and Earlston—that had a build cost of £72.5 million will, as a result of annual payment obligations, actually cost the council £350 million by 2037. By that time, the schools will be pretty old. It is rather like buying a car on hire purchase. We must always read the figures at the bottom of the contract; they can be eye watering, and by the time we own the car, it will be towards the end of its journey. It is the same for schools under PFI. In comparison, the new Galashiels academy and Peebles high will not be built in that expensive manner. I understand that, in Midlothian, PFI contracts for five schools are costing the council around £1 million per month. I repeat—£1 million a month.”
“I congratulate my colleague on securing this debate. When PFI is mentioned to the public, it does not mean much to them—but it does matter. The abbreviation stands for private finance initiative. In practice, it means private companies building the likes of schools for local authorities, which enter into a contract to pay for the building over a period, often decades. That is key: ownership only passes to the council only at the end of the contract—generally speaking. After all, contracts do vary. That seemed a whizz of an idea to Labour at UK level, and the party eagerly adopted it when it was in power in Scotland. Shiny new schools—what is not to like? When the SNP came into government, though, the approach was ditched—and for good reason.”
“I anticipated your request to be brief, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what research it has recently completed into the efficacy and standardisation of the presumption of inclusion in mainstream education. (S6O-04337)”
“As a result, therefore, neither Police Scotland nor the Scottish Government have data on “rural” crimes such as the theft of agricultural machinery, plant or fuel or timber; it is simply recorded under the wider category of theft. We therefore rely on the NFUS for the most recent figures, which are highlighted in the motion and to which other speakers have referred. They show the cost of rural crime in Scotland rising from £1.4 million in 2022 to £1.8 million in 2023. The number of claims has risen by 22 per cent. Claims for machinery theft cost £1.1 million in 2023, and claims for the theft of quad bikes and GPS kits cost £335,000 and £363,000 respectively. Farms are seen as easy targets, and for obvious reasons it is difficult to self-police.”
“I, too, congratulate my colleague in the neighbouring constituency on securing the debate. Over the many years during which I have represented Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, I have been well aware of the impact and incidence of what is termed “rural crime”, which is defined by NFU Scotland as “any crime that occurs in a rural location or affects any person living, working or visiting a rural location”. I thank the NFUS in particular for its briefing. Relative to the population, the volume of rural crime is lower than in urban locations. However, the knock-on effect in a rural community or environment often has a much deeper and more far-reaching impact, both on the victims and on the community as a whole. I note that Police Scotland, in recording crime, does not—I believe— categorise crimes as rural or urban.”
“It betrayed the WASPI women—women against state pension inequality; it betrayed the pensioners over the universal fuel allowance; and it betrayed employers through the increased national insurance contributions, which are a jobs tax. Not repealing the internal market act is a further betrayal—this time, of devolution. Surely that is a CV fit for the television programme “The Traitors”. The Deputy Presiding Officer: We move to closing speeches. 16:32”
“For the avoidance of doubt, the bill is a full-on attack on the existing devolution settlement.” He went on to say: “However, it is not just that the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill breaks international law, or that it drives a coach and horses through devolution, but that it paves the way, in my view, for private and multinational companies to force their way into key public services in Scotland.”—[Official Report, 7 October 2020; c 75, 76.] Claudia Beamish, in closing for Labour, said: “We will not support legislative consent for such a disrespectful and dangerous bill.”—[Official Report, 7 October 2020; c 94.] My question for Labour is this: if the act is “disrespectful and dangerous”, should it not be repealed rather than reviewed? After all, that was Labour’s position less than five years ago.”
“It almost makes me feel sorry for him. He said: “I want to make it clear that we will not give consent to the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill. Let me be clear: we will not give support to any measures that will reduce and constrain the competence of the Scottish Parliament. As a political party, Labour is committed to devolution.”
“The scope of those powers can be unilaterally changed by UK ministers, and only by them.” He also said: “There are sweeping new spending powers in part 6 that threaten the devolved Scottish budget and transfer decision making over areas of devolved spending from the Scottish Government to the UK Government.”—[Official Report, 7 October 2020; c 67, 68.] Thank goodness minimum unit pricing predated the act—we could not introduce that now without UK Government say-so. We cannot ban the sale of electric shock collars without UK Government permission, and we know that funding for devolved projects that was formally awarded by the EU is now dished out by the UK, taking a detour around devolution. I turn to what Alex Rowley said—dancing on the head of a pin, and no wonder—when he opened for Labour in the same debate in 2020.”
“I shall quote from our debate of 7 October 2020 on legislative consent to the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill. In opening for the Scottish Government, Mike Russell said: “Members will be familiar with the main provisions, but let me go through them. In parts 1 and 2, the bill contains sweeping new blanket mutual recognition and non- discrimination provisions. Regardless of the views of the Parliament or the wishes of the people of Scotland, they would require Scotland to accept lower standards relating to food, as pointed out by Food Standards Scotland; the environment, as pointed out by Scottish Environment LINK; and building materials, as pointed out by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.”
“On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I had a technical issue. I would have voted no. The Presiding Officer: Thank you, Ms Grahame. We will ensure that that is recorded.”
“There are folk for whom the library is a destination where they can pick up a book or two and have a wee chat with the librarian, and keep warm now that their winter fuel payment, at least for this year, is gone—that is politics. I do even better—I am provided with a cup of coffee and, depending on the duty librarian, even a biscuit or two, so I am right in there in the thick of it with what libraries are all about. I end on this quote from Laura Ward, an American singer: “Libraries always remind me that there are good things in this world.” Let us keep our libraries, with all the diverse opportunities and spaces that they provide, right at the heart of their communities—and if they try to close one in my constituency, I will be right there, barricading the doors. The Deputy Presiding Officer: That was exemplary time keeping, Ms Grahame.”
“Today, there is the internet, which is useful, of course, but it cannot replace the feel and look of a book, which has no annoying pop-ups. To fast-forward decades, as an MSP, I hold two of my surgeries in local libraries at Newtongrange and Gorebridge; indeed, my next surgery is due this Friday. Like many libraries, they go beyond books—-there are CDs and newspapers, and the library provides not only a spot for a politician, but internet access and training. There are reading groups for under-fives, bookbug sessions and mums-and-toddlers sessions. Indeed, I frequently encounter a crawling toddler as I listen to a constituent’s concerns. I am also well acquainted with “The Wheels on the Bus” and other ditties.”
“That A pass in higher English passported me to university. That in itself led to my career as a secondary teacher, and then as a solicitor and a politician—thanks all to Blackhall library, although I do not know if the library will thank me for being a politician. Indeed, as a novice teacher, my own education improved in leaps and bounds thanks to the wonderful, eccentric Dorothy Devlin, who was then the librarian at Woodmill high school in Dunfermline, which was my very first posting. I think that, as a team, we made English as a subject worthwhile, and even fun. She also stood her ground against an attempt to censor her stock of books. There was something wild and radical about her, so even though she had a bun, and spectacles on the end of her nose, she put paid to the assumption that librarians are boring—they are radical.”
“Warning duly noted, Deputy Presiding Officer. I congratulate the member on securing the debate. This is not the first time that I have leapt to the defence of our public libraries, and I welcome those in the public gallery and beyond who are listening. Before I go on to speak about the libraries in my constituency, I note that one of the reasons that I am the beneficiary of two degrees can be attributed to my then local library at Blackhall, in Edinburgh. Stuck for somewhere to study at home—we were five children, stretching from ages one to 16; the 16-year-old was me—in a cramped council house, I sought sanctuary in that library and stumbled across critiques of Shakespeare plays that I had been studying for my highers. I never knew that such books had been written and I could not put them down.”
“At the very least, those documents should be released. Finally, although decades have passed, my condolences go to all those who have been affected by this cruel terrorist act. My thanks go to the people of Lockerbie who, at the time, provided what comfort they could to distraught friends and relatives, even washing the clothes of the deceased once they were no longer needed for forensic evidence. They commemorate those losses to this day. I take no pleasure in reminding us all of that horrific day, but until there is full disclosure, these serious, unsettling questions about who committed this heinous crime and why it was committed will continue to be raised, certainly by me. 17:14”
“Indeed, five years after the trial, the former Lord Advocate, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, publicly described Gauci as being “an apple short of a picnic” and “not quite the full shilling”. So much more can be said, but—at the very least—doubts over that identification should be enough for a public inquiry into all the circumstances surrounding the events, from the day on which the Iranian passenger plane was shot out of the sky by an American warship while that plane was flying over Iranian airspace to date. Subsequent United Kingdom Governments have prevented the publication of documents that are said to have indicated that Palestinian militants were involved in bombing Pan Am 103. Indeed, in 2020, the then Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, imposed public interest immunity certificates on the documents, so no one has access to them.”
“Gauci was interviewed 23 times, giving contradictory evidence about who had bought the clothes, that person’s age and appearance and the date of purchase, but he later identified Abdelbaset al- Megrahi. I will restrict my comments to the evidence of the Maltese shopkeeper, Tony Gauci, whose identification of Megrahi as the man who bought the suitcase containing the clothes that hid the bomb timer was key to Megrahi’s conviction. Incidentally, Gauci was reportedly also in receipt of $2 million. He described Megrahi as 50 years old, over 6 feet tall, dark skinned and heavily built. At the time, however, Megrahi was aged 36, 5 feet 8, light skinned and slightly built.”
“A key piece of evidence comprised recovered fragments of a Samsonite suitcase that was believed to have contained the bomb, together with parts of a circuit board that were identified as components of a Toshiba BomBeat RT-SF16 radio-cassette player, which was similar to that used to conceal a Semtex bomb that West German police had seized from the Palestinian militant group PFLP-GC two months earlier. There were also items of clothing, subsequently proven to have been made in Malta, that were thought to have come from the same suitcase. Those clothes were traced to a Maltese merchant, Tony Gauci, who became a key prosecution witness, testifying that he had sold them to a man of Libyan appearance.”
“However, five of Scotland’s most senior judges upheld the conviction, saying that the identification of Megrahi was just one part of the overall picture and the information that was not disclosed to the defence would not have changed the verdict. There are many aspects of the evidence that led to the conviction that give me cause for concern. However, given the time that is allocated to me, I recommend that members read for themselves writings on both sides of the arguments for and against the conviction, and make up their own minds. To give some context, the wreckage of the crash was scattered over 770 square miles, and 4 million pieces of wreckage in total were collected and registered on computer files. That gives an idea of the size of the crime scene.”
“However, it concluded that the court had “no reasonable basis” for finding that Megrahi bought the clothes in Malta, undermining a cornerstone of the prosecution case. It said that the verdict had been “unreasonable” and that Megrahi might have suffered a miscarriage of justice. Terminally ill, Megrahi was freed on compassionate grounds by the Scottish Government in 2009, abandoning his second appeal. He died three years later in Tripoli. In 2020, after a request from Megrahi’s family, the SCCRC referred the case back to the appeal court. The commission said that the trial court should not have accepted that Megrahi bought the clothes that were beside the bomb. It also said that he was denied a fair trial because of non- disclosure, as the prosecution did not give the defence certain information that could have helped him.”
“That was after negotiations and the lifting of United Nations sanctions against Libya. When Gaddafi handed over two men for trial at a special court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, held under Scots law and before three judges, the case against one of the accused, Fhima, was found not proven; Megrahi was found guilty. I turn to the significant role of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. Megrahi lost his first appeal against his conviction in 2002, but won a second right to appeal after a four-year investigation and referral by the independent SCCRC. The commission found that there was no proper basis in allegations that investigators had manipulated, altered or fabricated evidence to make a case against Megrahi.”
“Five months before Lockerbie, an American warship, the USS Vincennes, shot down an Iranian passenger airliner over the Persian Gulf after mistaking it for a fighter jet. A total of 290 men, women and children on board were killed. Iran swore revenge. In October that year, West German police raided flats in Frankfurt where members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine—General Command were preparing bombs in radio-cassette players. They had timetables for airlines, including Pan Am. Less than two months later, Pan Am 103 was brought down. Three years later, in 1999, after a joint investigation by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the Federal Bureau of Investigation—for some of us, this came out of the blue—arrest warrants were issued for two Libyans.”
“I thank those members who signed the motion to allow the debate to take place, as it is quite controversial. I have been campaigning on the Lockerbie bombing, and on whether the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was safe, for decades, but not for as long as Dr Jim Swire has done. His daughter, Flora, on her way to meet her American boyfriend, was murdered on 21 December 1988 when Pan Am flight 103 blew up over Lockerbie, killing all 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 Lockerbie residents—270 folk in all. Of those, 190 were American citizens and 43 were British—all individuals with their lives ahead of them. Nineteen other nationalities were represented, and those killed included a group of US intelligence specialists. Because of time pressure, this is a potted history. The suspicion initially fell on Iran.”
“I hope that, if we can shift the balance to pharmacies, opticians and other allied health professionals, more GPs will revert to the personal touch. I welcome this debate, but let us not ignore context, whether that is the pandemic, Brexit, an ageing population, inflation eating into NHS budgets, the national insurance tax hike on GP practices and allied professionals, and increasing poverty. All of that matters and cannot just be ignored in this debate. 15:49”
“On the downside, the pandemic exposed the inequalities across the care sector, despite the dedication of the care workers who delivered care above and beyond expectations, and often did not even go home. We need to tackle that inequality and I would rather that the national care service had been labelled “national care standards”, because the issue is about standards. I find that the accessibility of some GP practices is not the best. It is not uncommon to be required to phone for an appointment between, say, 8 am and 10 am, and then to have a phone call from the GP rather than a face-to-face appointment. Of course, that is a matter for GP practices, which are, in the main, contracted to the NHS. It is not a matter for the NHS and it is not a matter for the Scottish Government; it is a matter for GP practices.”
“Hospital at home does what it says on the tin and is delivered depending on clinical suitability and—of course—on the consent of the patients, most of whom are elderly. Over 90 per cent of patients who opted for it thought that it was grand to be treated in their own home and, of course, it freed up much-needed beds. Pharmacy first is another innovation, and it will be expanded where there is an appropriately- qualified pharmacist, which can allow community pharmacies to give people expert help for treating conditions like sore throats, earaches and cold sores. That will divert them away from GPs and A and E. Thirty-two per cent of the Scottish population used pharmacy first in the most recent 12 months that were reported on—April 2023 to March 2024. It is early days, but those are good signs.”
“Contrast that with Labour-run Wales, where, in January 2024, junior doctor strikes led to the cancellation of 6,500 outpatient appointments and 4,000 planned operations, which undoubtedly impacted on waiting times. That was dwarfed by the situation in England, where over 1.5 million medical appointments have been cancelled due to strike action since March 2023, at an estimated cost of over £3 billion. I began by stating that, since Covid, the delivery of healthcare has changed—sometimes for the better and sometimes not. Increasing demands have led to innovatory improvements such as hospital at home, which was piloted in the Scottish Borders—where £600,000, the bulk of the national funding pot for the programme, has been allocated.”
“Each and every member of our health and care workforce became a hero during Covid. The Scottish Government values them, and so do I. Scotland remains the only country in the UK to have successfully averted NHS strikes over pay, and the pay deals that were offered by the Scottish Government played a crucial role in retaining Scotland’s NHS workforce, recognising their value and improving their wellbeing. In September, unions voted unanimously to accept the pay uplift of 5.5 per cent for 2024-25. That is investment of more than £448 million and takes the total investment in pay over the past two years to over £1 billion. The Scottish Government puts its money where its mouth is.”
“Getting rid of the two-child benefit cap will also help, because poverty, at whatever age, inevitably leads to both physical and mental ill health. The Labour Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, admitted that, when it comes to NHS funding, Westminster is damaging Scotland’s NHS because of the austerity that we have suffered for 14 years. That page has not been turned; Wes can add the impact of the hike in employer national insurance contributions, which will have an impact across the health and care sector. I know that there are GP practices that are not taking on GPs because of the national insurance hike. Those are the four things that have affected health and social care in Scotland: Covid fallout, Brexit, demographics, and inflation and austerity.”
“The next issue is Scotland’s demographics. With our population getting older, there are now more than a million people aged 65 or over in Scotland—20 per cent of the population. That is more than a quarter of a million higher than the number of people under 15. Pressures on the NHS and the care sector grow with ageing, as I know, as I am having to use NHS services more often. The final issue relates to inflation, austerity and poverty. Inflation has an impact on energy, food and building costs, just for starters, and it has led to an increase in the number of people falling into poverty. Thankfully, the Scottish child payment— £26.70 for each child under 16 in a family that qualifies for certain benefits—is helping. For the coming winter, there is the £100 winter fuel payment for all pensioners who are not on pension credit.”
“In my view, four key determinants are affecting the pressures on, and the delivery of, health and social care in Scotland today. Covid disrupted the delivery of health services for two years. It brought a direct impact through deferred diagnoses, increases in mental health issues and long Covid. Covid meant that cancer was diagnosed at a later and more critical stage; many health services were paused during lockdown, which had an impact on health inequalities; and mental health was impacted. Therefore, the delivery of health and social care today has been profoundly altered. The idea that Covid is done and dusted is for the birds. That page has not been turned. Brexit, too, had and is having a long-term impact on recruitment and retention across the health and care sectors. That has been well documented.”
“In the dismal years of “Trumpland” ahead, we need an EU that is both politically and economically strong, and we need not to be consigned to watch in painful embarrassment as the UK Prime Minister genuflects to Trump out of desperation to avoid tariffs. Indeed, “embarrassment” is not a strong enough word—it is more of a public humiliation. We can change course. Scotland would and will rejoin the EU with those 27 other nations. Believe you me—rejoining the EU cannot come soon enough. 17:55”
“Take your pick. Some who were once forceful and vocal defenders of the EU now say that that ship has sailed. To continue the metaphor, I point out that a ship can change course, especially if the sea is stormy and you can see that rocks lie ahead. Of course, the UK will not change course, but Scotland can do so as an independent nation. Let us have no nonsense about it taking decades to rejoin, or—worse—that we would not be welcome. Our laws are aligned with the EU. We are a rich nation that produces energy, food and drink. Our history with Europe differs from that of England. My goodness—the first language of Mary, Queen of Scots was French. That fact is handy for pub quizzes. However, I digress.”
“As for trade bonuses, there are none. The NFU Scotland overwhelmingly backed a remain vote because it knew what was coming if we left. The Confederation of British Industry was one of the most vocal opponents of Brexit, and stated that it would “dent the economy and knock living standards.” Then again, what do they know? Billions of pounds have been lost to the UK economy to date. The loss of free movement in the workforce had immediate impacts on the NHS, the care sector, horticulture and hospitality—just for starters—all of which have affected my constituency. What got the Brexit vote through by the skin of its teeth were allegations about damaging immigration. As for Boris Johnson’s yellow brick road, we know what Dorothy found at the end of that: a wee man masquerading as a great wizard. Boris Johnson, Donald Trump or Nigel Farage?”