Iris Duane
Scottish Green Party · Scotland
“Figures from Audit Scotland that were published in the press last week indicate that Glasgow City Council is looking at a budget shortfall of £86.7 million. That has worried many of my constituents, as well as councillors, who fear that they will have to pass on cuts.”
“Even though some blame can be placed on Westminster, part of the failure to forward plan and support our institutions still falls to this Parliament. That has left our institutions scared and cautious.”
“In my region, the sight of a higher education picket line has become all too familiar—often joined by boycotts on marking and by the bitter aftertaste of burnout, while pastoral teams juggle as many students as they can handle and academics are forced to step in to support them.”
“We need cross- party consensus that there must be change, advanced financial planning for our universities, a recognition of the massive struggles in the sector, and support for the staff and students who are being failed.”
“Today, members of the Educational Institute of Scotland at Glasgow Caledonian University, which is in my region, announced their intention to go on strike, with a 95.9 per cent mandate, to stop the compulsory redundancies. That follows a University and College Union strike that commenced only two weeks ago.”
“Colleagues, my entry in the register of members’ interests shows that I was employed at the University of Glasgow until 18 May this year. In addition, although it is not a registrable interest, it is important to mention that I am still a student at the University of Glasgow. I remain a proud member of Unison.”
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“Figures from Audit Scotland that were published in the press last week indicate that Glasgow City Council is looking at a budget shortfall of £86.7 million. That has worried many of my constituents, as well as councillors, who fear that they will have to pass on cuts. What action will the Government take to make sure that budget shortfalls at Glasgow City Council do not impact vital services and that we keep our constituents safe?”
“I hope that the Government will cure itself of that insanity and give the higher education sector the foresight and the support that it deserves.”
“We need cross- party consensus that there must be change, advanced financial planning for our universities, a recognition of the massive struggles in the sector, and support for the staff and students who are being failed. The Government must not be an ouroboros that, on one hand, lauds the amazing policy of providing free tuition—which, although it is fantastic, creates an obligation towards our young people—but, on the other hand, fails to support the institutions that we expect to implement it. In the crudest terms, we cannot return to this chamber God knows how many years down the line and watch this very same disaster unfold elsewhere. The definition of insanity is said to be doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.”
“Even though some blame can be placed on Westminster, part of the failure to forward plan and support our institutions still falls to this Parliament. That has left our institutions scared and cautious. Some constituents have told me that they have felt as though austerity has been imposed on them pre-emptively, that they fear for their jobs and that downsizing can only be inevitable. That in itself is worrying, and we already know what it looks like when jobs are ripped away from our communities. However, we must also remember what it will mean for our future: students with less support, exploration in academia becoming atrophied, a loss of opportunity for many, and a limitation on innovations and breakthroughs that we could have made years earlier. We can do better than that. We need movement and we need it now.”
“Today, members of the Educational Institute of Scotland at Glasgow Caledonian University, which is in my region, announced their intention to go on strike, with a 95.9 per cent mandate, to stop the compulsory redundancies. That follows a University and College Union strike that commenced only two weeks ago. We cannot sit by and let that process happen. Higher education institutions are supposed to be a hotbed of research and innovation that helps to drive us forward and gives many their start in their specified field. Although the Parliament is proud to boast about Scotland’s successful university alumni, such as Adam Smith and Lord Kelvin, we find ourselves in a place where we may be active barriers to the success of their contemporary equivalents.”
“In my region, the sight of a higher education picket line has become all too familiar—often joined by boycotts on marking and by the bitter aftertaste of burnout, while pastoral teams juggle as many students as they can handle and academics are forced to step in to support them. A failure to set a long-term vision, alongside negligence towards the growing issues, has left our sector in crisis. In some cases it is forced to rely on the financial stimulation of oversubscribing international students or, in others, on cutting courses. In each case, more stress is put on the lives of staff. As one of my constituents who works in higher education put it: “We are so reliant on international students, we are one bad Al Jazeera headline from being unemployed.” That is no environment for anyone to work in.”
“Colleagues, my entry in the register of members’ interests shows that I was employed at the University of Glasgow until 18 May this year. In addition, although it is not a registrable interest, it is important to mention that I am still a student at the University of Glasgow. I remain a proud member of Unison. Given that experience, I can say that I am not sure that we have emphasised enough the crisis that stands at our door. A key service in a service- based economy may be on the brink of collapse. What is, and has been, happening in Dundee cannot once again be treated as the canary in the coal mine when we have known for years that the rafters have been rotting and the cave has been collapsing.”
“As the discussions progress, I am happy to keep Glasgow region members—and, indeed, members across the wider chamber, should they be interested—updated on the nature of the discussions and the progress that we are making, including specifically on the financing of the project.”
“I want to provide reassurance on the Government’s commitment to working constructively towards the reopening of the palace and winter gardens. I do not want to pre-empt where those discussions will lead to and the specific funding package that will be brought together, which could include elements of match funding. However, we are committed to working on that constructively. I have come to Parliament, proactively, to make a statement on the back of a manifesto commitment—and Government commitment—to working towards the reopening of the People’s Palace. I hope that that provides the member with reassurance.”
“I thank the minister for sight of his statement before the debate. I share the concerns of my fellow Glasgow region MSPs about funding for the People’s Palace, but I am thankful that the minister has recognised that it is a cultural icon in Glasgow. It is quite disappointing, however, to hear that the Scottish Government is only using convening powers that it could have—and should have— used before now. Will the minister confirm whether funding from the Scottish Government will be forthcoming as part of the collaborative package that he speaks of, and whether, in the scenario in which a funding partner is not found, the Government is willing to shoulder the cost? Tom Arthur: I appreciate the question that the member asks.”
“Debates of this kind will always focus on making difficult choices. However, it is always those who give up who tend to have the least. Let us not do that. We have five years in which to address the problems that our state is failing to solve and to help those in all our communities. As my final assertion, I make one ask and plea: let us be a Parliament that is truly ambitious for Scotland, let us tax the wealth that we have and let us make our country work for everybody who lives here. 16:09”
“Although I may now be in the immensely privileged position of standing here, I refuse to leave anybody behind. At the thousands of doors that I knocked on during the election campaign, nobody asked for cuts, nobody wanted to see a reduction in service and nobody believed that we must shrink our state. In fact, so many people wanted to see us go further and faster. Across our country, we have countless teachers without permanent contracts; local councillors passing on the centralised cuts that we do not address here; a lack of good housing; a rise in homelessness; and an NHS that, admittedly, is doing better than it is down south but is still not being given sufficient support to thrive. I do not believe that this Parliament should use the politics of envy to address the problems that we face.”
“The STUC estimates that a wealth tax of 2 per cent on the 10 wealthiest people in Scotland alone could raise around £500 million a year. Imagine what we could do together if we were ambitious for Scotland. Colleagues, I speak of this matter with so much passion and urgency because of my own personal experiences. As someone who grew up in a single- parent household with a young working-class mum, I understand what such cuts could mean for so many people across our country. I am not ashamed of my upbringing, and I am not ashamed to have relied on free school meals or to know that my experiences growing up were markedly different from those of the majority of members in the chamber. However, I am afraid that, for many children like me, this Parliament will fail to deliver the necessary support for them to survive and thrive.”
“Its tendency to finger point and scapegoat has led to the re-emergence of the very hatred on our streets, in the form of the National Front and the British National Party, that we thought we had defeated. We cannot allow our communities to shoulder the burden of our failures. This Parliament cannot be an austerity Parliament. It was not disabled people who caused the current length of NHS waiting lists. It was not those seeking support for surviving gender-based violence who caused the shortage in social housing. It was not those who receive benefits who caused our fiscal black hole. Yet we find our counterparts down south ripping support from all those groups, and some of them are seriously suggesting that they must go further to help fund more of Donald Trump’s disastrous wars. Is that what this Parliament wants to be?”
“Colleagues, we are presented with a fiscal black hole and crumbling public services. Over the next five years, the 128 people who sit in this chamber will make choices that decide the fates of millions of people across our country. Our constituents look to us not to point our fingers at one another but to make decisions that will help them. If we fail to deal with issues adequately, it will only lead to further problems. Recently, we have seen what that looks like. We all remember the sandcastle majority led by Keir Starmer, which, with promises of change, swept its way into number 10 on the lowest vote share in history to form a majority Government. Two years later, it has failed to adequately challenge the systems that are holding down our constituents, which has made it one of the most unpopular Governments in history.”
“I look forward to serving my constituents and fighting for them in the greatest city on earth over the next five years. There are some new things that I bring to the chamber. As the youngest member of the Parliament, I must admit that I was slightly shocked to find out that the First Minister had already taken his first crack at leading the SNP before I had taken my first crack at breathing—I am sure that he will love finding that out. It is crucial that this Parliament reflects the whole of the country that it seeks to represent. Although I am the youngest in the chamber, I am absolutely honoured to bring my experience to all the debates in this place. Our world is changing rapidly and it has never been so important that our politics catches up with it. I will turn to the substance of the debate.”
“Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I take this opportunity to congratulate you and welcome you to your post. I also congratulate the cabinet secretary on her appointment. I look forward to working with her across the next five years. This is my first speech, and I must admit that I agree with my SNP colleague Katie Hagmann that the prospect of making it has been terrifying. However, it is also an honour to stand here, as one of Glasgow’s newest regional MSPs, after running what was an incredibly positive and hopeful election campaign. In Glasgow, hope beat hate and progress beat stagnation. I am proud that hundreds of activists from a variety of backgrounds came together and joined me to knock on thousands of doors. However, the real work begins here.”
“My allegiance is to the people of Scotland, for whom I hope to create a fairer and more equal future in which nobody is born to rule. I, Iris Duane, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law. So help me”