Alex Rowley
Scottish Labour · Scotland
“Does the minister accept that funding for Forth Valley College needs to increase year on year? Otherwise, we will be in the same position next year and the following year, with the Alloa campus facing the threat of closure.”
“We have had eight parliamentary debates on sport in this session since 2021—I checked that yesterday with the Scottish Parliament information centre; we have four cross-party groups in the Parliament that look at different aspects of sport; and we have a whole host of strategies.”
“Many years ago, when I was a councillor in Kelty, the local community came together to save a park, and it raised a whack of money—about £800,000 in total—for a play park.”
“I am a kind of glass-half-full type of person, and I believe that progress has been made over the 12 years for which I have been an MSP, although it is true that we need to do a lot more. One of the keys to that is getting people to work together. When it comes to sport in the area that I come from— Fife—I see loads of volunteers.”
“I am pleased to speak in Brian Whittle’s members’ business debate. When I saw the motion, I thought, “That’s the one I’ll make my final speech as an MSP in.” I know, from serving on committees with Brian over the past 10 years since he entered Parliament, that sport is an issue that he has consistently highlighted.”
“That is a result of the investment that Fife Council made in the park in 2012-13, including in an astroturf pitch that Kelty Hearts now play on. That is there for the public—it is a public park. Alongside that, there is a big new community centre. We can see the value of that. Most of those activities are run by volunteers.”
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“Does the minister accept that funding for Forth Valley College needs to increase year on year? Otherwise, we will be in the same position next year and the following year, with the Alloa campus facing the threat of closure. Does the Scottish Government accept that, if we are to grow the Scottish economy in the way that we need to, colleges across Scotland must be put on a more sustainable footing?”
“That shows that we do not need massive investments—much can be done with small investments. The lesson is that if we can work and pull together, we can achieve so much. 10:21”
“Many years ago, when I was a councillor in Kelty, the local community came together to save a park, and it raised a whack of money—about £800,000 in total—for a play park. Way back then, there was a lady in Kelty called Mrs Gillespie, who was 100 years old, and we asked her to come and open the park, because we felt that it was symbolic to have the oldest person in Kelty open a park for the town’s children. I remember Jim Leishman coming up—this was before he became a councillor; at the time, he was a famous sportsperson who lived in Kelty—and there was a photo of him sitting on a swing with Mrs Gillespie on his knee and all the children round about. Every time I go past that park and see all the children playing in it, I think of how much of a success it has been.”
“We have had eight parliamentary debates on sport in this session since 2021—I checked that yesterday with the Scottish Parliament information centre; we have four cross-party groups in the Parliament that look at different aspects of sport; and we have a whole host of strategies. We have got that bit right, but we need to start implementing these things instead of just talking about them in places such as this. Physical activity comes in many forms. My general practitioner used to tell me that the bus pass scheme for pensioners had done more for their health and wellbeing than his surgery could ever do, because it made those using the buses physically active. Indeed, I know, as someone who now regularly uses buses, that having to walk to get them makes me physically active. I will finish on this story.”
“That is a result of the investment that Fife Council made in the park in 2012-13, including in an astroturf pitch that Kelty Hearts now play on. That is there for the public—it is a public park. Alongside that, there is a big new community centre. We can see the value of that. Most of those activities are run by volunteers. We need to enhance that, which will involve local government, the Scottish Government and local communities working together. I am a passionate believer in devolution. If it was up to me, I would have far greater devolution to the Scottish Parliament. I also believe that there needs to be far greater devolution to local authorities.”
“I am a kind of glass-half-full type of person, and I believe that progress has been made over the 12 years for which I have been an MSP, although it is true that we need to do a lot more. One of the keys to that is getting people to work together. When it comes to sport in the area that I come from— Fife—I see loads of volunteers. Tim Eagle spoke about the role of volunteers. I see all the mums and dads and grandparents who are involved in sport at grass-roots level. The more we can support those people, the more chance we have of delivering sport across the country. I live near a public park in Kelty. During the summer months, it is an absolute delight to see the number of children playing there.”
“I am pleased to speak in Brian Whittle’s members’ business debate. When I saw the motion, I thought, “That’s the one I’ll make my final speech as an MSP in.” I know, from serving on committees with Brian over the past 10 years since he entered Parliament, that sport is an issue that he has consistently highlighted. I always remember a conversation that I had with him about Allan Wells, whose wife came from Kelty. When Allan Wells won the gold medal, his wife’s dad, Jock Wilkie, took the medal around schools to enthuse people about athletics and running. The energy that Brian Whittle has brought to the promotion of sport in the Parliament has been welcome.”
“I found myself struggling throughout the debate on amendments at stage 3, because legitimate arguments are being made on both sides of the debate. I kept asking myself what I would want at the end of life. Would I want to be able to make the choice of an assisted death? However, I kept coming back to the first principle, which is that I would want to be able to exercise the choice of accessing the support of quality palliative care. If that choice is not available, there is no choice. We have the power, ability and resource to prioritise palliative care and make Scotland a world leader. For the reasons that I have stated, I believe that that should be our priority, and I will vote against the bill tonight. 20:51”
“I am sure that we would all agree that that is an unacceptable situation but, for me, it is fundamental to the question that we are debating. I say again that if you are dying and you are not able to access the support and care that you need, but you are able to access an assisted death, you are being denied the choice of life. That cannot be right and it is not right. There are many other unanswered questions over the bill, but one that I will highlight is the cost of delivering it, which is unknown. The Scottish Government says that a degree of reprioritisation will be required. In other words, members are being asked to support a bill over the implementation and cost of which there are many uncertainties; nevertheless, we are being warned that other services will be cut to fund it. Surely, that is not right.”
“The proposer of the bill has said time and again that it is not one or the other, that access to quality palliative care should sit alongside access to assisted dying and that people should have that choice. However, we know that that is not currently the case: if the bill were to be passed tonight, people dying would have access to assisted dying but would continue not to have access to quality palliative care. They would be in a position whereby they can be supported to choose death but they would not be supported to choose life. Only four weeks ago, I raised a question in the Parliament on the report published by Marie Curie showing that one in three people in Scotland die with unmet palliative care needs.”
“First, I acknowledge every person who has taken the time to contact me to set out their views on the bill. Without doubt, this bill has generated more correspondence than anything else that I have dealt with in the 12 years that I have been an MSP: several thousand constituents have contacted me to set out their views. As I said in the stage 1 debate, some of the experiences that people have shared with me were heartbreaking. I understand with sincerity the strong views and beliefs, and the legitimacy of the arguments on both sides of the debate. For me, the questions around access to quality palliative care are crucial to the debate and to my decision making.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on tackling the reported critical shortage of social care workers. (S6O-05588)”
“Let us keep doing that so that we can have a positive future for Mossmorran and an industrial strategy for Fife and Scotland. 16:49”
“However, the biggest struggle, which caused the poverty, deprivation and social breakdown in our communities, was that there were no jobs for the next generations who would have gone into the coal mines. We need to ensure that the real legacy fae this is investment, through the partnership that is being created with the colleges, the schools and so on, so that young people in that area will have the opportunity to access skills, training and apprenticeships. That will be the legacy moving forward, so that we never again return to what happened with the pits, and the poverty and deprivation that came fae that. My conclusion is that people are working together. Apart from the Tories—and, it seems, David Torrance—the majority of members in the chamber recognise that we need to do that.”
“I was impressed by the progress that was being made at the task force, and I understand that there are companies that have looked at Grangemouth that would be suitable for the Mossmorran site. Before coming into the chamber, I had a discussion with a company that contacted me fae England, which will be put on the site, too. The site itself is crucial. Like other towns in that area, Kelty is a former mining community. My dad was a miner and was nearing retirement, so it was fine when the pits closed and he was made redundant. Those who had skills—such as a friend of mine who was an electrician in the pit—were able to go on working in that area in the North Sea. Others with skills, such as engineers, were able to get jobs. It was the least skilled who struggled.”
“In addition to the UK Government offering jobs or interviews at Grangemouth, Babcock and other companies have said that they can take workers from Mossmorran. That is really positive. Today’s announcement of additional funding for Fife College to support that work is also welcome. At the first meeting of the task force, I asked the UK Government minister what funding we could expect. I am absolutely clear that the UK Government must put funding into Mossmorran and into the plans that come out of the task force as they develop. I am equally clear that there must be a real commitment that the site, once decommissioned, will continue to be an industrial site that will employ hundreds of people.”
“Babcock down in Rosyth is saying that it is having to bring in hundreds and hundreds of foreign skilled labourers because it cannot get local people with the skills. An industrial strategy for Scotland would look at skills as well as jobs. I want to make a few key points. I will already be on record as thanking the Deputy First Minister and recognising the work that she did at the early stages—and I still recognise it. The task force that has been set up has had its first meeting, which was very positive, where people came together and talked about how we could move forward. The workforce has been the key priority, and various Government agencies, such as Scottish Enterprise, have been doing a lot of work on that.”
“Thankfully, we have not had too much party politicking in this debate—except from David Torrance and his friends on the Tory benches. I want to impress that what we need in Scotland is an industrial strategy. Like Willie Rennie, I live just a few miles from Mossmorran. I saw it at the planning stages and when it was being built. There were thousands of jobs there. Buses were running from Kelty, where I lived, except during the construction. Mossmorran has been a big part of those communities. However, when I talk to people in communities about a just transition, they say, “In order to have a just transition, you’ve got to have jobs to transition to.” The reality is that there are jobs in Fife right now, but people do not have the skills to get them.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to new figures on unmet need for palliative care that were published by Marie Curie on 16 February, showing that almost one in three people in Scotland die with unmet palliative care needs. (S6T-02900)”
“After two decades of broken promises, I am sure that the health secretary will understand why the people of Lochgelly will be hesitant to welcome this project. However, I hope that we are going in the right direction and that it will happen. The other health centre in Fife that is crumbling is the one in Kincardine, but there is no mention of that in any of the documents. Can he tell me what is happening there?”
“On that note, I am happy to confirm Scottish Labour’s support for the bill. 16:39”
“I suppose that, for someone like him—a mortgage-free millionaire who lives in a mansion—it is just pocket change. For most ordinary Scottish football fans, such prices are simply not affordable. Scotland manager Steve Clarke has quite rightly said that football fans should not get themselves into debt just to go to the world cup this year. Those of us who will not be going to the world cup should feel fortunate that most of us can hop on a bus or train to watch football here on our doorstep in 2028. With Scotland set to compete in the world cup this summer for the first time in 28 years, there is a feel-good factor in football right now. There is also an exciting title race at the top of the Scottish premiership for the first time in a long time; I know that some members will be enjoying that title race a little more than others.”
“I have spoken out previously, as many members have this afternoon, about the importance of affordability. Fans being priced out of the game is not right—there should be no barriers to participation by spectating in our sport. However, there might not be a consensus about that. Not everyone has the bank balance of former Tory peer and Reform UK’s new Scotland leader, Lord Offord, who on “Question Time” seemed to suggest that it appeared reasonable for football fans to be charged £4,000 for a world cup match day ticket. He has already boasted that he is off to Miami for the world cup, and I assume that he might be taking his yacht with him. He lives in a different world from most hard-working Scots if he thinks that £4,000 for a ticket to watch a football match is affordable.”
“Hosting major sporting events creates opportunities for the future, and there is no reason why Scotland cannot become a destination of choice for sporting fans around the world. We should be looking to host more events in the future. Although the bill is necessary, and specific to the tournament in 2028, I hope that serious consideration is given in the future to taking a more strategic approach by introducing a framework bill to ensure that we are ready to host events that comply with the requirements of governing bodies such as UEFA in the future. That will ensure that we are ready and able to host, and we can free up valuable parliamentary time to focus our efforts on the day-to-day business of preparing for such major events. Hosting will not only benefit our economy; it will benefit people right across Scotland.”
“According to UEFA, in 2024-25, Scotland recorded significantly higher top-flight attendance per capita than any other league in Europe. Supporters turned out more than 5.3 million times to watch their teams across all Scottish Professional Football League competitions in that season. That is the highest figure in the SPFL era, and a rise of nearly 185,000 on the previous record. With such encouraging statistics, Scotland is the obvious choice to host a major football tournament once again. We should be looking to build on our success in hosting major sporting events such as the Commonwealth games in 2014 and the 2020 European championship, with the upcoming Commonwealth games this summer and the European championship in 2028.”
“We need to see progress on that planning, so I hope that the minister will take it forward with ministerial colleagues. Those are different events, but lessons could be learned from such a plan going forward. As I said earlier and as many members across the chamber have said this afternoon, Euro 2028 should bring excitement and positivity to the country. It will be an opportunity to bring people together from across Europe through their shared love of our national sport and to welcome people to Scotland. As we have heard, football is in our DNA and is part of our culture. Every weekend, football fans across Scotland go through the gates to watch their local teams win, lose or draw. Fans keep turning up in droves. The popularity of football in Scotland speaks for itself.”
“Football—so I am told—has the power to bring communities together. However, to achieve that potential, it must genuinely be available and affordable to everybody. If corporate interests want to run cultural and sports events in order to turn them into mere commodities, we have a responsibility to take back that power and make sure that they are run for everybody. 16:35 Neil Bibby: I am pleased to close the debate on behalf of Scottish Labour. I start by concurring with Mr Harvie on the importance of public transport in getting people to and from major sporting events. We need to look at that issue in the context of Euro 2028, and it is even more pressing that we have a proper transport plan in place for the Commonwealth games in 2026, which is a matter of months away.”
“Taking such action would also mean that we would need to ensure that we had a public transport system that was capable of serving the greater Glasgow region, particularly when large events such as a championship take place. Having the Government commit money for bus franchising support, which the Greens successfully argued for, also has the potential to ensure that the city and region are ready for large events such as the Euros and for the public transport role that needs to be played to cut down on congestion and emissions. However, we will have to go further and reduce the bureaucratic effort that is involved in putting bus franchising into place. There are arguments for speeding up the process so that those measures can be put in place in time for the Euros if at all possible.”
“It covered local buses, trams and regional trains, to encourage sustainable transport use and reduce the costs that supporters faced. It was delivered in partnership with the football associations that allocated tickets. For Glasgow and the surrounding areas, something like that fan pass would enable fans to get in and out of heavily congested fan zones and Hampden as efficiently as possible. My colleagues in the Glasgow branch of the Scottish Greens are currently campaigning for something like that in relation to large events at Hampden on an on- going basis, but it could certainly be done for the Euros if the political will was there. It is not in the bill and it would not have been appropriate to try to crowbar it into the bill as a legislative requirement, but it is action that we can take ahead of the championship.”
“Presiding Officer, I hope that you will give me a little bit of flexibility at this point, because I would like to make some comments about matters that are not formally included in the text of the bill but are still relevant to the event that the bill is about and to the affordability issues that several members talked about. There is more that we—the Scottish Government, local government, the organisers and others—can do to address affordability. For example, at the previous European championship, which Germany hosted in 2024, with every ticket, fans were offered a free fan pass. That included a 36-hour travel pass for regional public transport in host cities that was valid from 6 am on match day to 6 pm the following day.”
“I thought for a moment that the debate would come back into my field of reference but, sadly, the moment passed all too quickly. Mr Adam and a couple of other members also acknowledged some the issues around civil liberties and human rights—in particular, the right to protest. I reinforce that point. Although I accept, as we all do, that some restriction on commercial activity will be a requirement on us from UEFA, in order that we can host the championship, none of us should want to restrict people’s right to protest, including by using, subverting or satirising the logos of the corporate interests that they want to protest against. We will need to ensure that we pay attention to how that is rolled out in practice.”
“However, there is a resource in communities up and down Scotland and, if it could be pulled together through politicians being willing to work together with local government, the legacy could be that we had a football team that was in every major competition and that young people had the opportunity to access football and become the greats of the future. The Deputy Presiding Officer: We move to closing speeches. 16:30 Patrick Harvie: Thank you, Presiding Officer. That was quick. I will acknowledge some of the comments that we have heard. There was one reference to flags, hats and scarves from George Adam. We heard about that issue in the committee pretty much every week that we debated the bill so it would have been wrong for today’s debate to pass without mention of it. At one point, George Adam also mentioned Eurovision.”
“It also depends on having sports coaches who are able to support it. I do not want us to believe that the Parliament can fix everything or that it is just about money. We need to work with local government and look at coming up with a Scotland-wide strategy that empowers communities and acknowledges that our greatest resource is in those communities. There are smaller football teams that are struggling that have professional players and coaches who could do more with our schools. I think back to 50-odd years ago when, at primary school, the local teachers would take us up the park and we would get to kick a ball about and play a bit of football. That all stopped in the 1980s and 1990s when we had industrial action and teachers’ workloads continued to rise.”
“How do we support football in Scotland to move forward? There will be excitement this year because we have qualified for the world cup, but we will then move on to the Euros, and I hope that one of the legacies of the Euros will be that we look at how we embed and support football at community level. Neil Bibby talked about the increase in funding for sport coming from the UK Government and the Scottish Government. We must consider how we empower communities more. When I grew up, people played football on the streets. There were not loads of cars on the streets like there are now. Society has changed since the days when I grew up. In communities across Scotland, I see strong community football growing. That depends a lot on volunteers, including parents and grandparents who give up their time to run local football clubs.”
“When we are out and about in our constituencies, people often say, “Why can’t you just work together in the best interests of the people who you represent?” Moving forward, I hope that all politicians, in seeing the rise of the right, ask themselves, “Why is that happening?” If it is happening partly because, as people say, the rest of us are all the same and we continually squabble, argue and blame one other while things do not get better, perhaps we should allow the approach that has been taken to the bill to rub off on us in the future. Stephen Kerr talked about some of the great names of the past in Scottish football. I absolutely believe that we must know and learn from our history, but I also like to look forward and try to ensure that, while learning from our history, we can move forward.”
“As Patrick Harvie said, the bill is largely technical, and it is difficult to get too worked up about the technicalities. Stephen Kerr mentioned the constructive approach that has been taken to the bill. I only wish that our politics and our Parliament could take that approach more often. The great Scottish journalist Brian Taylor would say to me, “It’s politics—what do you expect?” Although I massively respect Brian Taylor, I disagree with him on that, and so do the majority of the Scottish people.”
“To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress that it is making in supporting the Fife Council-led Mossmorran task force. (S6O-05355)”
“At the same time, councils had to protect education and social work, so leisure and recreation, including swimming, were disproportionately cut. The decline has not happened overnight, and solutions will not be found overnight, but the idea of putting together a task force would be interesting, and I would like to hear what the cabinet secretary has to say about that. Rather than just having hot air in the debates, which is what people see, we have to start to turn our words into action and make something happen. The Deputy Presiding Officer: We move to wind-up speeches. 17:19”
“Local authorities would not be able to say that they do not provide English as part of the curriculum, but they are able to say that they do not provide swimming. That is one area that we should look at. What else can we do? I am quite interested in the idea of a national task force that Jackson Carlaw and the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee have floated, because a lot of the issues have not happened overnight. Rising energy costs and transport costs for schools are immediate pressures, but we have had decades of failed austerity. I had the privilege of leading Scotland’s third largest local authority, and local authorities were disproportionately cut in that period of failed austerity.”
“I reflected and said to them that, when I was at primary school, in a certain week of the term in a certain year, a bus would come, we would all get on it, we would go down to the Bowhill swimming pool and we were all taught how to swim. If you think about it, that was more than 50 years ago—primary school kids were able to access swimming and learn to swim, so we seem to have gone backwards with a lot of provision. On a more positive note, before Christmas, I visited the newly refurbished Cowdenbeath leisure centre, and I give all credit to Fife Council for the investment that it has made there. We need to see more of that happening. For children, we need to look at the curriculum as a key component.”
“For many children, it is about whether their parents have the resources to take them and get them booked into swimming lessons so that they learn how to swim. If the parents are not interested or simply do not have the resources, the children are clearly disadvantaged, and something needs to be done about that. Before Christmas, a primary school class from Fife visited the Parliament. When we had a chat, I asked them whether they had received swimming lessons at primary school, and they had not. Some of them said that their parents had taken them to learn how to swim, and some of them just had not learned to swim at all.”
“There is a consensus here that more needs to happen around swimming. However, from the public’s point of view, the real challenge is not what we talk about in debates, but what happens outside them. That is a question that the public increasingly ask, not only about swimming, across much of Scotland. The figure that was given by Jackson Carlaw and Neil Bibby—40 per cent of children leave primary school without being able to swim—should be of real concern. We should absolutely look at the curriculum and how we ensure that, as part of it, children can access swimming. This morning the Daily Record said that a study found that 16 per cent of children in the most disadvantaged areas have to learn to swim outside school, which means that masses of children in the most disadvantaged areas are not able to learn to swim.”
“To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the on- going reduction to both provision and facilities at the Elmwood campus of Scotland’s Rural College in Cupar, what its position is on the future of the college’s base in the North East Fife constituency. (S6O-05314)”
“To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what action it has taken to support Forth Valley College’s Alloa campus, in light of the recent reported concerns that it may be closed for financial reasons. (S6O-05275)”
“We must recognise that there are quite a number of third sector organisations that do a lot of work yet are struggling for resources. As part of the collaboration that we need to see, we must recognise the third sector. However, overall, there has been good progress—well done. 17:15”
“There should be some kind of strategic group there, engaging with employers, colleges and so on for the skills that people may need. I know that the armed forces do so much before individuals leave but, if somebody is coming back from a base down in the south of England back to Fife, for example, we need some kind of collaboration at the local level, working with the armed forces to ensure that the support goes in, as well as working with employers. Finally, because I am running out of time, I note that there is an organisation in Cowdenbeath— your constituency, Presiding Officer—the Knights Templar Goodwill Charity of Scotland, which both of us have visited, that does masses of work with veterans and the wider community. It is also out on the streets at the weekends in Glasgow and Edinburgh, supporting people.”
“My experience when I was the leader of Fife Council was that the armed forces champions played a pivotal role in ensuring that local authority services were focused. The minister, when he is summing up, might want to mention something about that. It is a crucial area. Local authorities have a major role to play in any strategy in the future. I note what the commissioner said about a more joined-up approach for education, training and skills. There needs to be a more strategic approach. Colleges play a key part in how we organise and develop a more strategic approach to bring all the key players together. There is a role for employers, too. When people come out of the armed forces, they should be able to link into the local area that they are going back to live in.”
“I note that the report from the Scottish Veterans Commissioner shows good progress, and that is definitely to be welcomed. Over the years that I have talked in these debates I have often mentioned housing. We know that we have a massive housing challenge. In my experience in Fife over the past year or two, in cases where I have been approached by people coming out of the armed forces, Fife Council housing services, despite the massive challenges that they face, have been really good, working with veterans to ensure that they get housing. There is a lot of good stuff happening in local authorities, although I note from her report that the commissioner says that we need to adopt “a faster pace and greater scale of delivery”. I have not heard much in recent years about the armed forces champions; I have spoken about that in the past.”
“I have spoken in this debate on a number of occasions over the years, and I am pleased to do so again today. First, as others have done, I thank all those who have served in our armed forces over the years, and I thank those who are currently serving. As Paul Sweeney said, we live in difficult times, and it is important that we recognise the role that our armed forces and service personnel play in our country. I note that the UK Government recently launched a veterans strategy—the first in seven years, I think—and I welcome that. I heard what the minister said earlier, and I would hope that the Scottish and UK Governments will work together, specifically in an area such as this. If they can work together, those from Scotland who have served and who are serving in our armed forces will reap the rewards.”
“On mortality levels and the events that we are talking about, a lot of that can be completely outwith the control of the fish farm, because of the changing climatic conditions. It is important that we bear all that in mind when we look at some of the figures. We can pick out figures from month to month, but it is important to note that mortality can be variable and, as I outlined in my initial response to Edward Mountain, there have been increasing survival rates, too. We need to look across the whole cycle. A lot of work is going on in relation to the issue. We have responded to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee recommendations with a number of commitments, and I have followed up with the committee to outline our progress against what we said that we would do. That work very much continues. Education Statistics 14:25”