Duncan Dunlop
Scottish Liberal Democrats · Scotland
“I thank everyone for their contributions today. I will start by stating that there is a climate emergency. On that point I will say to my namesake across the chamber, Mr Duncan Massey, that I am glad that Reform is now recognising that climate change exists, but it is an emergency.”
“The Scottish National Party promised to completely eradicate delayed discharges from hospital, but a consultant from Borders general hospital has confirmed to me that, on any one day, up to 30 per cent of the hospital’s beds are blocked by patients who could be cared for at home.”
“Will the member take an intervention? Katie Hagmann: I will not, because I am just finishing up. It ensures that the wealth from renewables delivers change for and in the communities that host them. This is the promise of a just transition: real change, delivered fairly by and for our communities.”
“For the past 10 years, the Liberal Democrats have been clear—we believe that we should never have left the EU. We remain the strongest defenders of the European Union and the union of the United Kingdom, because being a member of both has preserved Scotland’s peace and prosperity.”
“I also ask why the UK would not join the SAFE—security action for Europe—defence procurement project, when even Canada has joined it. I take Mr Dunlop’s point on that.”
“We have a fair funding pilot going on, but the third sector is very used to pilots and they often do not end up with initiatives being scaled up or rolled out to create real, systemic change. We need to ensure that, whatever lessons are learned from the pilot, they are implemented at speed, with structural change.”
The complete record
Every one of 38 lines we hold for Duncan Dunlop, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account.
“To ask the Scottish Government whether children and young people in kinship care are eligible to receive the care leaver payment. (S7O-00122)”
“I thank everyone for their contributions today. I will start by stating that there is a climate emergency. On that point I will say to my namesake across the chamber, Mr Duncan Massey, that I am glad that Reform is now recognising that climate change exists, but it is an emergency. This is the hottest day we have ever seen in June in the United Kingdom, and year upon year and month upon month, climate targets are being changed. Duncan Massey: I challenge the member, and indeed everyone in the entire chamber, to point to the scientific information, especially from IPCC, that corroborates the claim that there is a climate emergency. It does not exist. [Interruption.] I would ask you to corroborate every claim that is made in this chamber with scientific evidence.”
“Will the member take an intervention? Katie Hagmann: I will not, because I am just finishing up. It ensures that the wealth from renewables delivers change for and in the communities that host them. This is the promise of a just transition: real change, delivered fairly by and for our communities. Now is the time to act, lead and deliver for Scotland’s future. 16:54”
“The Scottish National Party promised to completely eradicate delayed discharges from hospital, but a consultant from Borders general hospital has confirmed to me that, on any one day, up to 30 per cent of the hospital’s beds are blocked by patients who could be cared for at home. Delayed discharge is draining £440 million a year from the health service, so investing properly in social care is essential. Given that massive strain on hospitals, what exactly is the Government finally going to do to give social care the priority and investment that it deserves?”
“I also ask why the UK would not join the SAFE—security action for Europe—defence procurement project, when even Canada has joined it. I take Mr Dunlop’s point on that. However, what I do not understand about the Liberal Democrats—who profess to be strong advocates for the EU—is that we know that even joining the customs union and the single market is the second-best option. The Treasury tells us so. Why should we go for the second-best option when we can go for the best one?”
“For the past 10 years, the Liberal Democrats have been clear—we believe that we should never have left the EU. We remain the strongest defenders of the European Union and the union of the United Kingdom, because being a member of both has preserved Scotland’s peace and prosperity. Both are needed now more than ever, as our world is in a much more volatile place. However, to be pragmatic, I ask the minister whether he will join calls for the UK Government to immediately begin talks with the EU on a new growth and defence partnership that would include a new UK-EU customs union; on rejoining the single market; and on a new defence pact with our EU allies. Stephen Gethins: First, I will be generous with Mr Dunlop. When I was at Westminster, I voted for membership of the customs union and the single market.”
“There is the political will across the chamber for that to happen, as we have heard today. Labour will certainly put our weight and our votes behind meaningful change if it is brought forward, and we will support the Scottish Government’s motion to that end today. 17:17”
“We have a fair funding pilot going on, but the third sector is very used to pilots and they often do not end up with initiatives being scaled up or rolled out to create real, systemic change. We need to ensure that, whatever lessons are learned from the pilot, they are implemented at speed, with structural change. We need political decisiveness to raise the third sector’s status, put organisations on a sustainable footing, and recognise and reward the highly skilled, specialist workforce. Without those changes, there are, even now, organisations that will not survive the current parliamentary session. Alex Kerr: Will the member take an intervention? Joe Long: I am wrapping up, so I will not take any more interventions. I hope that the proposed measures will be implemented without delay.”
“The member alluded to the point in the Liberal Democrat amendment that the third sector must have the licence to criticise as well as to shape policy. I worked for most of my life in the Scottish third sector and, as members across the chamber have said, it is difficult for people who are under funding pressures and find themselves saying, “Can I really say this to the Government? Will it have an impact on the funding stream that is coming down the line?” I do not know what the answer to that really difficult challenge is, but it is worth recognising it. Joe Long: I thank the member for his intervention and for the Liberal Democrat amendment, which recognises that. As I said, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.”
“That will be one of the biggest changes in how we address antisocial behaviour through a preventative agenda.”
“If we do not, they will get into a narrative led by social media and spiral into other behaviours. My time is limited, but I will mention the SSC. For six years, when I took care-experienced people to the SSC camp, their masks would lift. They would see that they were not just unlovable kids, but a community of people who had real value, and could contribute and make a difference. The stark reality is that, in the past eight years, this SNP Government has cut the budget for youth work by 50 per cent. That is intolerable if we want to make change. YouthLink has three asks: that we should not judge young people but give them a right to youth work, so that they can find their true selves; give them the youth work spaces in which they can do that; and to achieve that, give the sector the funding that it needs over the long term.”
“He went on to cause 10 years of mayhem and disruption, at huge cost to society, to himself and to the police. In 2012, on one of my first visits to Polmont, the governor, Derek McGill, told me that 80 per cent of the young people in there came from the care system. They had not had that positive role model or intervention, and their situation had spiralled. Last night, YouthLink Scotland ran a very good event, and a worker from its Castlemilk youth project reminded me that, in one of the most deprived communities in Scotland, when young people were asked what they wanted to change, they said, “Nothing.” Why? Because that is all they had seen in the lives that they had lived. How do we open their minds and allow them to live and be in spaces and places where they can see the potential for what can happen?”
“As some members have rightly said, when we see fairly unpleasant, if not criminal, behaviour within the adult population, that is often what has happened. Politically, we can see that this has been an issue through history. We have had the Blackshirts and Brownshirts of Mussolini and Hitler. We have also, more recently, in Russia, had the Nashi movement, which has now become the Movement of the First, where strong men—it might be more appropriate to call them nationalist populist politicians peddling a different rhetoric—see the power and influence of young people, who hold strong opinions. However, from my knowledge of working with young people, they move quite quickly if given an alternative. In my first speech, I talked about Tony McDonald. He did not have the 50p to enter the youth club. Instead, he was offered his first joint.”
“If there is a parent there, more often than not, the dad—and it is normally the dad or the mum if she is the strong parental figure in that household—will say, “We’ll sort this out. Thank you very much.” However, what if there is no parent at home or no stability? What we saw in Glasgow and across Scotland last night was not antisocial behaviour, because it crossed into criminality. However, young people who are caught up in the fever of what is happening do not know where that line is. They are not there because they are, at the heart of it, racist. They are caught up in the adrenaline, and nobody is helping them to think through what they are about to do and the consequences of that. Antisocial behaviour, if it is not addressed, can spiral. Without positive role models, that is what happens.”
“It has been my privilege to have done community and youth work in many different places and countries in the world. I begin my speech—or begin it a second time— with a quote: “Young people when not guided well can be ruled by strong passions and tend to gratify them indiscriminately with anger and impulse rather than reason.” That quote, which comes from over 2,000 years ago, is attributed to Aristotle. Indeed, if we come to more modern times, Colin Beattie might remember the youth culture conflict of the 1960s, when the mods and rockers also ran around on mopeds causing carnage. My point is that young people have always done this—finding themselves, expressing themselves and being judged. Yes, they cross the line. If there is an issue, the police come knocking, as my colleague Andrew Baxter was saying.”
“I thank Colin Beattie for bringing this debate to the chamber. I will begin by declaring an interest as a member of the SSC, which is one of the oldest youth organisations in Scotland, with camps up the A9 just off from the House of Bruar. To those with secondary school-age children, I recommend that they send their children there—they will have the most incredible week. Indeed, without that field in the sun and the midges, I doubt very much that I would be in this chamber today. Of course, some might well believe that that would have been a good thing and that I should not have gone there. I do not know which path I would have taken had I not. I am also—and here I declare another interest— a youth worker; that is my professional background, and it is the second degree that I took.”
“Amendment disagreed to. The Presiding Officer: The sixth question is, that motion S7M-00309, in the name of Ivan McKee, on public service reform and empowering staff, service users and local communities, as amended, be agreed to. Are we agreed? Members: No. The Presiding Officer: There will be a division. The vote is closed.”
“On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I apologise—my vote was not recorded. I would have voted yes. The Presiding Officer: Your vote will be recorded. For Bannerman, Max (Highlands and Islands) (Reform) Baxter, Andrew (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (LD) Beresford, Senga (South Scotland) (Reform) Bland, Amanda (Central Scot and Lothians West) (Reform) Briggs, Miles (Edinburgh and Lothians East) (Con) Carson, Finlay (Galloway and West Dumfries) (Con) Chou Turvey, Yi-pei (North East Scotland) (LD) Cole-Hamilton, Alex (Edinburgh North Western) (LD) Currie, Victor (Highlands and Islands) (Reform) Dijkstra-Downie, Sanne (Edinburgh Northern) (LD) Dunlop, Duncan (South Scotland) (LD) Eagle, Tim (Highlands and Islands) (Con) Findlay, Russell (West Scotland) (Con) Fraser, Murdo (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) Gallacher, Meghan (Central Scot and Lothians West) (Con) Green, David (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (LD) Hamilton, Rachael (Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con) Harley, Adam (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (LD) Hoy, Craig (Dumfriesshire) (Con) Kerr, Liam (North East Scotland) (Con) Kerr, Stephen (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) Kerr, Thomas (Glasgow) (Reform) Kirkwood, David (South Scotland) (Reform) Langan, Jamie (South Scotland) (Reform) Lindsay, Amanda (Central Scot and Lothians West) (Reform) MacCallum, Morven-May (Highlands and Islands) (LD) MacDougall, Julie (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Reform) Massey, Duncan (North East Scotland) (Reform) McArthur, Liam (Orkney Islands) (LD) McDade, Helen (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Reform) Offord, Malcolm (West Scotland) (Reform) Rennie, Willie (Fife North East) (LD) Ross, Angela (Edinburgh and Lothians East) (Reform) Schmulian, Kim (Glasgow) (Reform) Simpson, Mark (North East Scotland) (Reform) Smith, David (West Scotland) (Reform) Against Adam, George (Paisley) (SNP) Adam, Karen (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) Adamson, Clare (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP) Anderson, Heather (Dundee City West) (SNP) Arthur, Tom (Renfrewshire West and Levern Valley) (SNP) Barratt, David (Cowdenbeath) (SNP) Beattie, Colin (Midlothian North) (SNP) Black, Dawn (Angus North and Mearns) (SNP) Bonnar, Steven (Uddingston and Bellshill) (SNP) Bouse, Gary (Falkirk West) (SNP) Brown, Alan (Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley) (SNP) Brown, Keith (Clackmannanshire and Dunblane) (SNP) Brown, Siobhian (Ayr) (SNP) Bruce, Holly (Glasgow Southside) (Green) Burgess, Ariane (Highlands and Islands) (Green) Campbell, Kate (Edinburgh Eastern, Musselburgh and Tranent) (SNP) Campbell, Michelle (Renfrewshire North and Cardonald) (SNP) Chapman, Maggie (North East Scotland) (Green) Constance, Angela (Almond Valley) (SNP) Day, Martyn (Falkirk East and Linlithgow) (SNP) Doris, Bob (Glasgow Kelvin and Maryhill) (SNP) Duane, Iris (Glasgow) (Green) Dunbar, Jackie (Aberdeen Donside) (SNP) Flynn, Stephen (Aberdeen Deeside and North Kincardine) (SNP) Gethins, Stephen (Dundee City East) (SNP) Ghani, Zen (Glasgow Cathcart and Pollok) (SNP) Gibson, Patricia (Cunninghame South) (SNP) Gilruth, Jenny (Mid Fife and Glenrothes) (SNP) Goodlad, Hannah Mary (Shetland Islands) (SNP) Gray, Neil (Airdrie) (SNP) Greer, Ross (West Scotland) (Green) Hagmann, Katie (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (SNP) Harvie, Patrick (Glasgow) (Green) Haughey, Clare (Rutherglen and Cambuslang) (SNP) Hepburn, Jamie (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (SNP) Kerr, Alex (Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse) (SNP) Kerr, Calum (Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale) (SNP) Kinross-O’Neill, Kayleigh (Edinburgh and Lothians East) (Green) Kumar, Simita (Edinburgh South Western) (SNP) Leask, Kristopher (Highlands and Islands) (Green) MacGregor, Fulton (Coatbridge and Chryston) (SNP) Mackay, Gillian (Central Scot and Lothians West) (Green) Macpherson, Ben (Edinburgh North Eastern and Leith) (SNP) Manivannan, Q (Edinburgh and Lothians East) (Green) Martin, Gillian (Aberdeenshire East) (SNP) McKee, Cara (West Scotland) (Green) McKee, Ivan (Glasgow Easterhouse and Springburn) (SNP) McMillan, Stuart (Inverclyde) (SNP) McNair, Marie (Clydebank and Milngavie) (SNP) Melville, Lloyd (Angus South) (SNP) Merrick, Colm (Glasgow Anniesland) (SNP) Middleton, Jack (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) Minto, Jenni (Argyll and Bute) (SNP) Mitchell, Laura (Moray) (SNP) Moodie, Laura (South Scotland) (Green) Nevens, Kate (Edinburgh and Lothians East) (Green) Oswald, Kirsten (Eastwood) (SNP) Roddick, Emma (Inverness and Nairn) (SNP) Ruskell, Mark (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green) Simpson, Graham (Central Scot and Lothians West) (Reform) Slater, Lorna (Edinburgh Central) (Green) Smith, Alyn (Stirling) (SNP) Somerville, Shirley-Anne (Dunfermline) (SNP) Stafford, Pauline (Bathgate) (SNP) Stevenson, Collette (East Kilbride) (SNP) Todd, Maree (Highlands and Islands) (SNP) Torrance, David (Kirkcaldy) (SNP) Abstentions Ahmed, Irshad (Edinburgh and Lothians East) (Lab) Baillie, Jackie (Dumbarton) (Lab) Baker, Claire (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab) Bibby, Neil (West Scotland) (Lab) Clark, Katy (West Scotland) (Lab) Fagan, Joe (South Scotland) (Lab) Griffin, Mark (Central Scot and Lothians West) (Lab) Johnson, Daniel (Edinburgh Southern) (Lab) Long, Joe (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab) MacKinnon, Donald (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (Lab) Marra, Michael (North East Scotland) (Lab) McNeill, Pauline (Glasgow) (Lab) Mochan, Carol (South Scotland) (Lab) Sangster, Katherine (Edinburgh and Lothians East) (Lab) Sweeney, Paul (Glasgow) (Lab) Young, Jenny (Central Scot and Lothians West) (Lab) The Presiding Officer: The result of the division on amendment S7M-00309.1, in the name of David Green, is: For 36, Against 67, Abstentions 16.”
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“At col 16, paragraph 5— Original text— Similarly to Mark Ruskell’s data centre in Fife, a 150-hectare data centre that would cover an area larger than 200 football pitches is proposed for the wilderness of the Lammermuir Hills, in the Borders. Corrected text— Similarly to Mark Ruskell’s data centre in Fife, a 150-hectare data centre development area that would cover an area larger than 200 football pitches is proposed for the wilderness of the Lammermuir Hills, in the Borders. This is a draft Official Report and is subject to correction between publication and archiving, which will take place no later than 35 working days after the date of the meeting.”
“Especially in areas of the Highlands and Islands, it is clear that industry can co-exist alongside communities, nature and built heritage. It is about making sure that we equip local authorities with resources and appropriate funding from our side to be able to handle that. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on individual cases, but I am sympathetic to Duncan Dunlop’s point about the difference between industrialisation and industry, because a balance needs to be struck, especially in rural and island communities. Better Surfaces Fund 7.”
“Similarly to Mark Ruskell’s data centre in Fife, a 150-hectare data centre that would cover an area larger than 200 football pitches is proposed for the wilderness of the Lammermuir Hills, in the Borders. In the absence of a Scottish Government strategy for locating energy-intensive industries, communities are being left to fight ad-hoc developments that might have potentially irreversible environmental impacts. Does the minister agree that such industrial projects belong in industrial areas and not our pristine wilderness? [Duncan Dunlop has corrected this contribution. See end of report.] Hannah Mary Goodlad: Again, I will not comment on specific planning applications that are going through councils. However, there is a difference between industrialisation and industry.”
“This week, the NSPCC has warned that there is a “baby blind spot” in the care system. That warning followed recent University of Stirling research that shows that children in Scotland wait, on average, more than two years just to get a decision on where they should permanently live. That is four times longer than in England. The reality of that wait is that babies and young children are left without the stability of a permanent home, and those children are then likely to struggle to attach, as well as to give and receive love in later life. I note that the Scottish Government is committed to reviewing the effect that delays to permanence have on children, but we do not need another review to tell us what we already know. The Promise was based on a three-year all- encompassing care review. We need to take action—”
“That also applies to funding, which can come from different pots of cash—for instance, for the Scottish Football Association’s extra time initiative partnership with the Scottish Government. Local organisations offering different opportunities and models of delivery, often with very different cost bases, must be seen as partners, not competitors. Planning will be crucial. Given the time that I have taken, I will draw my remarks to a close. I hope that we can come together as a Parliament and deliver this transformational Scottish Government policy.”
“In closing, I will say a bit about wraparound childcare and all-year-round childcare for young people of primary-school age. Breakfast clubs, after-school clubs and holiday clubs have been a mainstay for many years now. Some provision may look like a more traditional after-school club, but there is also the growth of emerging additional provision that is based around various activities such as football and dance, in particular during the summer holidays. In my constituency, I am lucky to have various providers such as Summerston after-school care, Maryhill mobile crèche, Achieve More! Scotland, and North Kelvin Sports Development Group, to name just a few. There are huge opportunities to expand provision in exciting, innovative ways; however, how and when delivery will take place will have to be co-ordinated.”
“Perhaps the Scottish Government could reach out to the UK Government to look at changing rules over employer national insurance contributions where employers seek to expand their early years workforce. Such dialogue and potential co- operation between the Scottish and UK Governments should be the norm, and should be supported cross-party in this place, irrespective of our constitutional positions. I hope that, on these types of things, we can start to make common cause. After all, moving someone into employment or providing someone with further hours reduces the benefits bill and bolsters the tax base, and it is a better outcome for all involved. The cost to an employer of NI contributions, however, can be as much as £2,800 each year.”
“I acknowledge Mr Dunlop’s expertise, however, and if he has concerns in that area, he is absolutely right to bring those to the Parliament and work through them as part of the positive, constructive scrutiny of this policy proposal. I understand that the childcare workforce increased by 8,000 to 46,000 individuals to support the doubling of early years provision, and that colleges were supported to assist with the upskilling of the sector. I hope that those statistics are right, because they are on the Scottish Government website. Many more will now be needed to expand early years childcare further. Well-paid and supported workers will be central to the delivery of the commitment, and anything that we can do to address the associated costs and make it more affordable would be very welcome. I will make one suggestion.”
“I appreciate Mr Doris’s comments that the policy will certainly suit working families and the economy. However, does lowering the age of the children for whom there is free childcare to nine months impinge on a child’s rights to be loved and to a family life? Half of a child’s brain development happens in the first 1,000 days of life, and the broader evidence out there says that a child really needs attachment. Yes, that should be in a mixed economy with group interaction, but having alone time with a parent really matters. The policy seems to be pushing us away from really respecting a parent’s ability to parent. Bob Doris: I very much welcome that intervention, as it allows me to put on record that, as the cabinet secretary said, there is no compulsion for a parent to put their child into a childcare establishment at nine months old.”
“The Deputy Presiding Officer: I call Rachael Hamilton. She has four minutes, but we have time in hand. 16:17”
“I estimate that more than two million days of life will not be lived by those who have died prematurely since promises were made. My ask of the Government today is simple: commit to publishing the premature death rates of care-experienced people. We have a moral responsibility to know, and that will also give us a baseline for knowing whether we are making progress. What parent does not know whether their child is alive? I will work constructively to improve that system, because, for me, this is a national emergency. The situation may well be endemic and have become normalised, but it must change. If we want to be ambitious for Scotland, let us start with our children. We already have all the powers in our constitution to do that. I dedicate this speech to Tony McDonald. He also died, in an accident on 2 September 2022.”
“Anyone in this chamber who has worked outside of politics knows that, when someone says that there is a cultural problem, you have a leadership problem and it is time for change. The reality of the situation is stark. This is a crisis because too many people have died since promises were made. I will name a few of those who are known to me and my friends; I will not give their full names, but I will give their ages: Chloe, 19; Violet, 21; Rachel, 25; Daryl, 19; Mikey, 17; Katie, 23; Michael, 16; Ian, 17; Mary-Anne, 23; Natasha, 16; Aylesha, 25; and Deksi-Leigh, 22. I could go on and on—those are only a few of those who have died. They were all care experienced. They were children of the state. They were, by law, the children of the ministers who sit on the benches at the front of this chamber.”
“The reason that this situation is galling is not just that we spend £1 billion a year on not really looking after those children as well as we could. Ten years ago, Tony McDonald shared his story, along with the story of 1,000 other young people, with the First Minister of the SNP Government at the time, Nicola Sturgeon. She was affected. She said that she was committed to ripping up the system. She commissioned a care review, which led to the Promise. To a large degree, I am stood in the Parliament today because that Promise is unfulfilled. Years on, we do not have a transformational action plan. We do not know what should start and what should stop. We are told that it is culturally difficult to make change on the front line.”
“I employed many other care-experienced people like Tony—brilliant, inquisitive and intelligent young people who were born the same as any of us. They have the right to claim others and to be claimed and loved, and many remarkable people in Scotland do just that. However, there are those—I am afraid that it is nearly half—who are not claimed and are left alone. For them, life is difficult. In fact, the personal and societal cost is tragic. If, in this Parliament, we want to make a change, and to halve the adult prison population, then we need to transform care. If we want to cut by a third our rough-sleeping population, then we need to transform care. If we want to end the scourge of Scotland that is drug deaths—a subject that has been debated in this chamber often enough—then we need to transform care.”
“He was held there for 20 minutes. In later years, Tony would recall, “How did they see me as a threat? I was a wee boy. I just wanted a cuddle. I wanted to be held, to be told I mattered and that I was loved.” The state would go on to spend more than £1 million not loving Tony throughout his childhood. An unloved child can all too easily turn into an angry young man. Unfortunately, that happened to Tony. Three months after his 16th birthday, he was sent to prison, where he would spend most of the next six years. However, there is hope. Remarkably, Tony’s mum turned her life around, and she gave inspiration to Tony to do the same. After he had spent 18 months in rehab, I am proud to say that I employed him.”
“I have been an expert independent adviser to the New Zealand and UK Governments on care system reform, and I led the charity Who Cares? Scotland for many years. A good friend of mine, Tony McDonald, was a care-experienced young man who spent most of his childhood in care. When he was 12 years old, he recalled wanting to go home to visit his mum, and he went to the phone in the corridor of his children’s home and called her. However, Tony’s mum had her own struggles. She said, “Nah, Tony, I can’t cope this weekend.” Tony felt the pain of rejection. The shame that came with that was the most corrosive feeling of all, and it quickly turned to anger. He slammed down the phone and was quickly restrained by three adult members of staff, pinned to the ground with such force that they ruptured his gut on the doorstop.”
“This is my first speech, and time is limited. With respect, I thank everyone who got me here—the voters of the south of Scotland, my supporters and my predecessors. My ambitions for Scotland are slightly different from the ambitions of those who are concerned with the constitution. Mine are inextricably linked to the future and aspirations of our care- experienced community: our children and young people who spend time in our foster care system, residential care and kinship care, who are looked after at home or in secure care, and those who have been adopted. About 13,000 children and young people are in care today. They are the responsibility of the state. I have worked with care-experienced people for the past 30 years.”
“I make this solemn affirmation to serve my constituents across the south of Scotland and to further the rights of care-experienced people. I, Duncan Angus Melville Dunlop, 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.”