David Kirkwood
Reform UK · Scotland
“Wages in countryside areas are often lower than those in urban areas, and journeys are longer, with higher fares. The commercial bus operators have a problem when passenger numbers drop. They may need to reduce frequencies to maintain profitability.”
“The fare cap is of greater benefit in the countryside than it is in the towns, where interurban fares are generally little higher than the £2 cap. Saving £5 or more per day on bus fares can make the difference when it comes to whether a job is worth while.”
“The fact that that is happening in Scotland—a tiny wee country on the edge of Europe that has dominated global innovation for well over two centuries—just makes it more exciting.”
“The fact that a boy from a single end in New Stevenston can find himself here, among the intellectual elite of Scotland, is a tribute to three main factors: a loving, hard-working family in which my mum was a nurse and my dad was a toolmaker—[Laughter.]—that is absolutely true; a traditional Scottish education gained in small-town schools…”
“Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I hope that you and the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport will accept my congratulations on your appointments. As this is my first speech here, I have some people to thank.”
“However, the legislation surrounding franchising needs to be greatly simplified before it can become widespread. That may well allow the establishment of the community-led bus companies that Patrick Harvie talked about, which would not be a bad thing at all.”
The complete record
Every one of 17 lines we hold for David Kirkwood, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account.
“To ask the Scottish Government, following the First Minister’s commitment on 26 May regarding the opening of new railway stations, when it will publish details of the potential locations and their development timetables. (S7O-00132)”
“The simplest and most economical way of running a transport system is to have people with good jobs and money in their pockets paying their own way with their own money to buy their own services. At the moment, that is not possible, but a stimulus to the economy may make it so in the future, and we need to strive for that. As long as rigorous cost benefit analysis of capped routes is done, trials are carefully monitored, trial budgets are capped and efforts are made to rationalise and simplify the legislation around franchising, I can see no reason why we will not support this effort.”
“However, the legislation surrounding franchising needs to be greatly simplified before it can become widespread. That may well allow the establishment of the community-led bus companies that Patrick Harvie talked about, which would not be a bad thing at all. One way to simplify operations and thereby reduce costs is through the use of intermodal ticketing, but intermodal ticketing is still not universally available across all our transport systems, even though it has been around for a long time. I was involved in the first ITSO ferry ticket trial when I worked for CalMac Ferries, more than 10 years ago, and although the company has made a lot of progress, its current delivery plan still shows 2027 as the year when it will accept all ITSO tickets.”
“The fare cap is of greater benefit in the countryside than it is in the towns, where interurban fares are generally little higher than the £2 cap. Saving £5 or more per day on bus fares can make the difference when it comes to whether a job is worth while. The £2 cap trial in the Highland area seems to be successful, with passenger numbers having increased by 30 per cent or so. That makes the scheme economically sensible for the operators, who are more than compensated for the discounted fares that they receive from the Scottish Government. It will be interesting to see the report on the trial and the analysis of any economic benefit that it has brought to the area. Franchising is another way of providing a public transport service, and it offers greater economic certainty and less administration cost over the period of the contract.”
“Wages in countryside areas are often lower than those in urban areas, and journeys are longer, with higher fares. The commercial bus operators have a problem when passenger numbers drop. They may need to reduce frequencies to maintain profitability. However, that can lead to a further drop in numbers, further reducing profitability and spiralling down into a total service collapse. In such a situation, there may be a good case for a temporary external stimulus to restore passenger numbers to viability. That would lead to local economic growth and a self-sustaining route. When people can reliably and affordably travel to work—or to shop, or for leisure—they will do so. A cheap fare and a reliable bus will permit that. On reliability, I note that, in the next few weeks, the entire X74 fleet will be replaced with rather more reliable buses.”
“I want to help to maximise the creativity of Scotland, which is the best part of the best country in the world, and I look forward to working with members of all parties to do that. In my experience in the Parliament, this has been the most collegiate debate, with the highest degree of unanimity—and I am not gonnae spoil that now. A healthy economy is characterised by activity and movement. People, goods and money move around quickly and efficiently, and creating wealth is the goal. When anything hinders that movement, the economy suffers and, by extension, so do the people. In our rural areas, that activity has been hindered by two main factors: a lack of money in people’s pockets for bus fares and a lack of frequent and reliable buses.”
“My personal aims in this parliamentary session include using my own technical capabilities to bring some engineering rigour to the sometimes fanciful and imprecise outputs of the Parliament. That includes scrapping the nonsensical and destructive net zero targets, encouraging more people into good technical careers at all levels, extending vocational training into the secondary school sphere and fostering the technical and philosophical innovations that will shape our society in the next few decades. I expect to introduce some innovations of my own, including a scheme to alleviate the problems of access to cash in rural areas and a way to allow all Scots to see exactly where their tax money goes.”
“Tony Blair’s insistence that an arbitrary 50 per cent of all young people should go to university has led to more than a generation of students with life-limiting student loans, many of which funded degrees of dubious worth. The 50 per cent target must be abandoned, and technical and vocational education and training need to come out of the shadow of academic tuition. Instead of the much-vaunted STEM education, I want Scotland to go full STEAM ahead—that is, science, technology, engineering, arts and maths. A grounding in visual, musical or performing arts produces a more rounded education and encourages diverse modes of thinking and greater creativity.”
“Among other things, the concepts of human rights, economics, modern philosophy, geology, environmentalism and even humour were first described by Scots. We need to move away from the prescriptive type of teaching that many of our students experience in our schools, colleges and universities and help them to understand how to think, not what to think. Our university sector has a long and distinguished history, and, for many years, Scotland had four universities while England had only two. However, we need to review the purpose of our tertiary education institutions. My old college, where I gained a Scottish higher national diploma in engineering, is now a university. Is it serving Scotland any better?”
“The fact that that is happening in Scotland—a tiny wee country on the edge of Europe that has dominated global innovation for well over two centuries—just makes it more exciting. It may seem as though Scotland is an unlikely nation to hold the title of global innovator, but, considering that a Scottish monk invented the electric motor in 1740, a mining engineer from the second-highest village in Scotland built the world’s first practical steamboat and a native of our wet and chilly country invented refrigeration, you realise that we do unlikely things. Scots seem to have a knack for imagining things that others do not and to have the smeddum to make them happen. That is an enormous asset for our nation and it must be nourished. Innovation is not only about making new things. Sometimes, it is about making new ways of thinking.”
“The fact that a boy from a single end in New Stevenston can find himself here, among the intellectual elite of Scotland, is a tribute to three main factors: a loving, hard-working family in which my mum was a nurse and my dad was a toolmaker—[Laughter.]—that is absolutely true; a traditional Scottish education gained in small-town schools and in Glaswegian colleges and universities; and the social and professional mobility gained as a result of that education. I want other kids to have the same advantages I had. I cannot do anything about their families, but I can help to ensure that the affordable, high-quality further and higher education that helped me is available to them. For an engineer, handling a shadow portfolio that combines innovation, technology and education is rather like a dozen Christmases arriving at once.”
“It has sometimes seemed a lot longer. Now, the customary brief travelogue. South Scotland, like all other constituencies and regions, is the most beautiful part of Scotland. It has been my home for nearly all of my life. It is composed mainly of gently rolling and fertile land. It has long coastlines, but it reaches up to the two highest villages in all of Scotland. Although it has been inhabited for 14,000 years, the people are spread quite thinly over the land. We are relatively few but very friendly. Please do come and see us.”
“Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I hope that you and the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport will accept my congratulations on your appointments. As this is my first speech here, I have some people to thank. First, I thank the people of South Scotland for placing sufficient trust in our party to allow me to take up a place here. I will do my best to ensure that that trust is not misplaced. Secondly, I thank all the staff here, in Holyrood, who have made my introduction to a fairly unique working environment as painless as possible. Thirdly, I thank the other members here, who have, by and large, been welcoming of an interloper in their midst. Lastly and most importantly, I thank my own family, who have had to put up with a lot over the five and a half years since Reform UK Scotland was founded.”
“That is probably the main thing that we as a Parliament and as a society could not tolerate—the idea that some pupils in our schools learn free from the influence of smartphones, while others do not. There is a lot of consensus in that area. Provided that we can get the framework right, I think that we will, as a Parliament, enjoy quite a lot of public support for the policy.”
“Deputy Presiding Officer, congratulations on your election, and congratulations to the cabinet secretary on hers. Does the cabinet secretary agree that given that many teachers are already implementing their own de facto bans on smartphone use in the classroom, many more would appreciate the formalisation of such a ban, thus removing the onus from them? Màiri McAllan: In my response to Katherine Sangster, I reflected that, anecdotally and in a constituency capacity, parents and teachers have said to me that a national position would be helpful. In developing this policy, we have been clear that we do not have the powers to unilaterally implement a ban across the country, which is why a law change is now required, and that is what we are working towards. I return to the variability point.”
“On a point of order, Deputy Presiding Officer. Mr Hoy continues to spout the same rubbish that he did all through the campaign and continues to misrepresent—”
“I, David Kirkwood, do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm, that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law.”