Richard Leonard
Scottish Labour · Scotland
“And yet we still hear calls, even during this stage 3 debate, in this, the third decade of the 21st century, in this Parliament, for the entitled voice of the laird and the privileged status of the landlord to be afforded their due place, as if they were a silent—they were an underrepresented—class in our society. If only they were.”
“It feels right to make my final speech in a debate led for Labour by Rhoda Grant, whose unswerving, loyal support to me in Parliament I have valued above all others’, and in a debate which, at its very essence, is about power, is about wealth, is about control and its ugly, unequal distribution.”
“Before I finish, before I leave for the very last time, I want to thank the outstanding people who have worked with me over the last 10 years: Billy McCauley, Thomas Mulvey, Craig Miller, Lesley Brennan, Lauren Harper, Linda Shevlin, Rich Simcox, and the one person who has been there from the very first to the very last, Mike Holmes.”
“So let me finish where it all began: two years after the very first crofters holdings act was passed, in direct response to the land raids, the forced Highland clearances, the battles against eviction—resistance often led by the women of the crofts—it was the crofters, led by their MP, Dr G B Clark, and the miners, led by Keir Hardie, who…”
“Eight years in the making, the Government has come up with a largely technical bill, which we will vote for, but it is the same formula that the Government has been habitually serving up—on the broader question of land reform, on a national care service, on community wealth building.”
“This is my last speech to Parliament as a member, after 10 years. As a back bencher and a front bencher, as a party leader and a committee convener, I have always tried to speak out not only for the labour and trade union movement who sent me here, but for all of those oppressed, denied justice, exploited, voiceless—and so, for those seas…”
The complete record
Every one of 399 lines we hold for Richard Leonard, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 1 of 8.
“Let this be my parting hymn: “Socialism with its promise of freedom, its larger hope for humanity, its triumph of peace over war, its binding of the races of the earth into one all-embracing brotherhood, must”— must, must— “prevail.” 17:41”
“So let me finish where it all began: two years after the very first crofters holdings act was passed, in direct response to the land raids, the forced Highland clearances, the battles against eviction—resistance often led by the women of the crofts—it was the crofters, led by their MP, Dr G B Clark, and the miners, led by Keir Hardie, who came together with the Scottish Home Rule Association in 1888 to found the Scottish Labour Party. It was a turning point in history. So let my closing words in this Parliament be the closing words of James Keir Hardie in “From Serfdom to Socialism”. They speak across the centuries. They echo down the ages.”
“Before I finish, before I leave for the very last time, I want to thank the outstanding people who have worked with me over the last 10 years: Billy McCauley, Thomas Mulvey, Craig Miller, Lesley Brennan, Lauren Harper, Linda Shevlin, Rich Simcox, and the one person who has been there from the very first to the very last, Mike Holmes. I thank my family, without whose love and support I would never have been here, never been able to lead the Scottish Labour Party, never been able to fight the good fight. Let me thank especially my wife Karen, who has been with me day and night, through the ups and downs of a life in front-line politics. I do not know where I would be without her.”
“And yet we still hear calls, even during this stage 3 debate, in this, the third decade of the 21st century, in this Parliament, for the entitled voice of the laird and the privileged status of the landlord to be afforded their due place, as if they were a silent—they were an underrepresented—class in our society. If only they were. I have always believed that we make our own history, and we have seen glimpses of what is possible, from the abolition of feudalism in the first parliamentary session, to public ownership of the railways in this—reminders that we can be ambitious, that we can have vision, that we can give people hope, that we can redistribute power and wealth. So I do not despair. My head is not bowed. I remain optimistic that we can return to radical reform, including of crofting, in the next session of Parliament.”
“Eight years in the making, the Government has come up with a largely technical bill, which we will vote for, but it is the same formula that the Government has been habitually serving up—on the broader question of land reform, on a national care service, on community wealth building. When we need real change, we are presented with a tepid continuity, with the result that too much power still rests in too few hands, from the commanding heights of our economy to the ownership of our land, where the old aristocracy and the new billionaire class—too often, absentees both—remain in charge.”
“It feels right to make my final speech in a debate led for Labour by Rhoda Grant, whose unswerving, loyal support to me in Parliament I have valued above all others’, and in a debate which, at its very essence, is about power, is about wealth, is about control and its ugly, unequal distribution. It is a debate, as well, on this distinctively Scottish landholding system, and so a debate which reminds us of the very reason why so many of us fought so hard, for so long, for this Parliament to be created. Although, I am bound to say that this Crofting and Scottish Land Court Bill is another example of a Government bereft of ambition. When we needed radical reform, we find timidity and mediocrity.”
“This is my last speech to Parliament as a member, after 10 years. As a back bencher and a front bencher, as a party leader and a committee convener, I have always tried to speak out not only for the labour and trade union movement who sent me here, but for all of those oppressed, denied justice, exploited, voiceless—and so, for those seasonal migrant workers, toiling on our farms; for the miners, still demanding justice; and for our crofters, whose historic land rights and security of tenure this Parliament must not merely defend but must advance, and so let flourish.”
“I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. To ask the Scottish Government whether it is content with the governance, accountability and delivery of both Scotland’s water supply and waste water treatment services. (S6O-05676)”
“Claire Baker: I recognise Richard Leonard’s promotion of that proposal and the strength of support that was expressed during his members’ business debate, which marked the centenary of Michael McGahey’s birth. The most recent meeting of the corporate body took place this morning, at which we reviewed and agreed our legacy report, which covers a range of issues. However, the corporate body reviewed and agreed the memorial policy this February, and the position to not include permanent memorials remains the same. World Cup Bank Holiday 6.”
“Richard Leonard: It was wonderful to see the magnificent Ian Homer Walters bust on display for the centenary of Mick McGahey’s birth, but I express my dismay to see him replaced a few weeks ago by a white marble cube. Mick McGahey was a self-taught, working-class visionary and a catalyst who reignited calls for the creation of this Parliament as far back as 1968. His ashes are buried under this building, and his image should be displayed inside this building. That should be part of our legacy, and it should be permanent— The Deputy Presiding Officer: Mr Leonard, I need a question. Richard Leonard: I simply ask, while there is still time, that this appeal be included in the corporate body’s legacy report to the next session of the Parliament.”
“I remind members of my voluntary entry in the register of members’ interests. To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will reinstate the bust of Michael “Mick” McGahey previously displayed in the garden lobby. (S6O- 05643) Claire Baker (Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): There are currently no plans to reinstate the bust of Mick McGahey in the Scottish Parliament. The bust was loaned to the Parliament’s art collection to mark the 100th anniversary of Michael McGahey on the anniversary date of 29 May 2025, and it remained in situ until it was returned to the National Union of Mineworkers, as agreed by the terms of the loan.”
“Kate Forbes: I am very thankful for Richard Leonard’s kind words; I was almost dreading that there was a “but” coming afterwards, but I am grateful for those comments. Richard Leonard raises a very serious issue. I had a call with the GMB this morning—the intention was to discuss another issue, but we spent some time at the end of the call talking about the Volvo situation; I also had a very helpful letter from the GMB about that this morning. In that call, I committed to the GMB to engage thoroughly and quickly on this very serious issue, because I understand what the consequences will be for that community.”
“I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. Can I pay tribute to Kate Forbes, who, in my view, has been a breath of fresh air as an active and interventionist cabinet secretary for the economy. Yesterday, another vehicle manufacturer in central Scotland, Volvo Construction Equipment, announced plans to close its factory near Holytown. Will the Deputy First Minister respect the fact that there will now be a statutory redundancy consultation with trade unions to consider options for averting closure and avoiding redundancies altogether, and, in that spirit, will the Government urgently meet the GMB and the company to consider how these 120 highly skilled jobs can be saved?”
“In between, we witnessed the Scottish Government being sued by the Scottish Government—or, at least, the ferry company that the Scottish Government is the sole shareholder of—in a dispute over the northern isles routes. When I hear the Conservatives wrapping themselves in their arid ideology and spouting their dry dogma obsessed with private enterprise and the free market, I say to them gently that Ferguson Marine is in public ownership because private ownership failed. Edward Mountain: It was the Government that failed.”
“I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. It never ceases to amaze me that something just as distinctively and as quintessentially Scottish as our islands and the ferry links to them, which are a social and economic necessity, have been treated so badly by this Scottish National Party Government. That goes from the former First Minister famously telling BBC’s Glenn Campbell, “I didn’t say ‘don’t go ahead’”, on the ordering of vessels 801 and 802, to the current First Minister, in an email exchange on the same subject—which, by amazing grace, once was lost but now is found—confirming the absence of banana skins.”
“I remind the chamber of my voluntary entry of trade union interests. To ask the Scottish Government whether it is confident that the changes to the working week for national health service agenda for change staff will be fully implemented by 1 April 2026. (S6O-05592)”
“On the question about additional capital funding, I said in my answer to Edward Mountain that, to date, we have focused on stabilisation, essential repairs, health and safety improvements and targeted equipment upgrades. However, securing this additional pipeline of work enables us to release the additional capital, because it is aligned with projects. We obviously have to navigate our way through the due diligence process associated with subsidy control, but it enables us to release the additional capital. The Deputy Presiding Officer: I advise members that a number of members seek to ask a question—one question, not three. It would be helpful if we could have succinct questions and answers, otherwise those members will not get their questions asked.”
“Finally, when will the results of the Grant Thornton forensic audit of the £124 million of public money that was handed over when the yard was in private ownership be published? Kate Forbes: That allows me to specifically name Alex Logan and put on the record how grateful I am to him for his absolutely tireless and unwavering commitment to the yard. I am sure that he could have spent any free time that he had in other ways, yet his dedication to the people of the yard and to the future of Ferguson Marine is absolutely remarkable. If nothing else, this Parliament should come together in acknowledging the phenomenal work that Alex Logan has done. It has always been a great pleasure to engage with him, and I have learned so much from my engagement with him.”
“I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. We have said all along that we just want these workers to be given a fighting chance to win orders, so I certainly welcome today’s news. Back in October, the Deputy First Minister told me that, of the £14.2 million set aside for capital investment in the yard, only £570,000 had been spent. When will the rest of the capital investment be released? The Deputy First Minister talks of working with the yard to optimise sequencing. Will the Government learn the lessons of the past 10 years and listen less to directors, management consultants and retired rear admirals and much more to the skilled and experienced workforce and their trade unions on how best to optimise sequencing?”
“I refer members to my voluntary register of trade union interests. To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to ensure that public transport workers can go to work without the fear of assault. (S6O-05576)”
“Some of the more contested elements have been dropped altogether, such as the automatic removal of MSPs sentenced for a custodial sentence of any length, which many of us could not support, and the removal of an MSP for not physically attending Parliament. However, it is self-evident to me that, for all of its flaws, we have to pass this bill tonight, because to not pass it is unconscionable; to not pass it would disconnect us from the real world; and to not pass it would send out the message that we were completely out of touch. Because there is growing discontent, and there is a corrosion of trust in politics. We need democratic renewal. As I step down from Parliament in the coming weeks, I leave it with the privilege of this experience—experience which is converted into determination—”
“An awful lot—too much, in my opinion—of the making of this law, if the bill were to become an act, would reside in the hands of future ministers through regulations and in the hands of the next Parliament through secondary legislation, and may, therefore, not come into effect until after the 2031 election. That, in my view, is not just unsatisfactory; it is a monumental deficiency. After all, this legislation is supposed to be about the dispersal and the decentralisation of power, and the transfer of power and political control to the people. We should not be reversing this by, at the same time, switching power to the ministerial box from the ballot box. The bill is in a much more reasoned and reasonable position now than it was when first presented. Some of the overcomplexities have been simplified.”
“If the only reason to visit a polling place, to apply for a postal vote or to arrange a proxy vote is in order to vote one way and one way only—to vote for recall—that negates that secrecy. And, as far as I can tell, there has still been no equality impact assessment, when we know that women, for example, are more likely to be hounded on social media, and so more likely to be targeted in a recall petition, than men. We have to understand this, too: that we are living through an era in which political leaders are less interested in a battle of ideas and much more concerned with personal smears; less interested in idealism, principle and power, and more concerned with individualism, privilege and positioning.”
“We all agree with the intent of this bill: that every other part of the United Kingdom has a system of recall, and so should we—that there should be accountability and control through the ballot box, not just to test popularity and measure support, but to hold members of this Parliament to account for any act of gross misconduct or of criminality, and so, in law, establish control not only by the police station, but by the polling station. What has proved difficult, of course, is the conversion of theory into practice: the design of the legislation for achieving this. Even today, it is still beset with potential anomalies: a recall petition for constituency MSPs and a recall poll for regional list MSPs, and the potential debasement of the democratic right, established a century and a half ago, to a secret ballot.”
“The Deputy Presiding Officer: We move to the open debate, with back-bench speeches of up to four minutes. 16:27”
“Hear, hear. Willie Rennie: We are fighting over the crumbs that come from such events, when we should be looking at a much longer-term plan. I hear Richard Leonard saying “Hear, hear,” in the background. It automatically makes me nervous when he agrees with me, but he is right, because we need a plan for the longer term, and that means a proper partnership between the UK and Scottish Governments, which I think has been demonstrated today. I have attended working groups and meetings on the plan for Mossmorran. The fact that those are now led by Fife Council is a good thing, as it is rooted in the community. Fife College, with its new campus in Dunfermline, is also fully engaged in the process. Those are good things, and that is what we should build on, rather than making knee-jerk reactions to individual events when it is far too late.”
“Why is it that the Government can find parliamentary time to pass legislation to collect rates on empty properties in days but there is no time to modernise our freedom of information laws in weeks? Well, this is a member’s bill in the name of Katy Clark, who is to be congratulated for getting it on the Parliament’s agenda and for winning the argument, but let me make it clear to the Government, which seeks to wreck this bill today, that there is a movement out there demanding these reforms. It is a movement made up of campaigners who will not go away. If Parliament does not pass this legislation tonight—if the Government kills the bill today—it will return. We will see civil rights advance. We will see the veils of secrecy torn down by the people. We will see the triumph of hope and democracy. We will see the people empowered. 14:53”
“We now know as well, because of the Covid public inquiry, of the deletion on an industrial scale of communications by SNP Government ministers, up to and including the current First Minister. The culture change that the bill will help to drive is not just out there; it is in here—and we know that publicity is the best disinfectant. To the Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans, who tells us that the bill is timed out, I say: what about the Government’s Covid emergency legislation, which we passed in a matter of days in 2020? What about the Government’s deeply flawed Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill? Why is the minister pressing ahead with that and finding the parliamentary time for it?”
“What we should have learned down the years is that our security and our wellbeing spring not from surreptitious secrecy but from open democracy, which is why many of us see this bill as an important antidote to the corrosion of trust in public life. I am speaking in this afternoon’s debate as a Labour Party representative, but my experience as the convener of the Parliament’s Public Audit Committee is that there continue to be persistent data deficits and chronic information gaps right across the public sector in Scotland. When we conducted our inquiry into the ferries order at Ferguson Marine, we found that the Scottish Government’s record keeping, up to and including meetings taken by the then First Minister, left a lot to be desired.”
“It is because of that that, if we are to update our freedom of information, improve the statutory right of access to it, advance the proactive publication of how public money is used, defend public interest journalism and challenge the existing structure of power, we need to pass this reform bill today. Bodies, including many transnational private corporations that deliver public services with public money, should be covered by freedom of information—of course they should. In fact, maybe that should be a condition of receiving public money or being awarded public contracts in the first place. Information, including data, should be published not just reactively but proactively. It is not a burden, it is not red tape, it is not an inconvenience or a distraction—it is a democratic right.”
“It was the great French philosopher and civil rights campaigner Voltaire who warned: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”, and that is the crime that we are being invited to commit in the Parliament this afternoon. I have grown tired of members opting for inaction and mediocrity in place of action and ambition, or saying that we agree with these universal and immutable principles of democracy, of openness, transparency and accountability, but not here and not now. We know that the provision of public services has become a mixed economy and that outsourcing is rife.”
“Where there is extant law, my first priority is to make sure that it is being used, as opposed to layering on top of that further law that complicates the scenario. I again call on local authorities that have such practices happening in their areas to use the existing law and to make provision in their areas. Mr Leonard and the Worker Support Centre are absolutely right that current housing standards do not cover agricultural seasonal workers’ mobile homes. As I have committed to him and to the Worker Support Centre, we are currently working to develop that. The Deputy Presiding Officer: That concludes portfolio questions on social justice and housing. There will be a short pause before we move on to the next item of business, to allow front-bench teams to change position. Sentencing and Penal Policy Commission”
“Now we are told that local councils and national Governments have had the power to introduce standards going all the way back to 1987, but, in four decades, nothing has been done and no protections are in place. No other housing standards in Scotland are left to the discretion of local authorities or to the vagaries of local byelaws. What is it about those migrant workers that they are being discriminated against in this way? Màiri McAllan: The Government has always been clear that there are existing provisions. They are in sections 314 and 315 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 and they oblige a local authority to make byelaws with respect to accommodation for agricultural and seasonal workers.”
“As I committed to Richard Leonard to do, I will be writing to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on this matter very soon. By way of an update, since our initial scoping work concluded, officials have been exploring what provisions are already in place and the potential to include seasonal worker accommodation standards in the existing regulatory framework. Richard Leonard: I thank the cabinet secretary for that reply and for meeting me and the Worker Support Centre just last month. I have raised the absence of any accommodation standards for migrant seasonal workers repeatedly in this Parliament. Low-paid migrant seasonal workers, crammed six to a damp, mouldy, dilapidated, unsafe caravan, are having £2,000 deducted from their wages every month for rent.”
“To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to ensure that seasonal workers can expect to be provided with accommodation which meets agreed standards during their stay in Scotland. (S6O-05514) The Cabinet Secretary for Housing (Màiri McAllan): I thank Richard Leonard for his question and his continued interest in this important area. As we discussed in our meeting on 29 January, the Scottish Government simply will not accept that people should need to live in substandard accommodation in Scotland. As I indicated during our meeting, I am committed to addressing the gap in legal standards, but that will take time for officials to complete. In the meantime, I have also made it clear that I expect local authorities to exercise their duties to create byelaws to further protect seasonal workers.”
“Maybe the local whisky distillery or the local data centre would have excess heat that they could use, or maybe one of the public bodies would have land that they could use to install a pool. That is about how we pool our resources—private enterprise, public bodies and local authorities—with volunteers and organisations to make the best of what we have, and it should be making the best of Scotland. I look forward to working on the implementation of the bill in the next session of Parliament. 16:21”
“It could be about local energy resilience—if local energy generation is in place in a distributed way and the grid gets taken out by a terrible storm, local people would still have heat, electricity and maybe a safe place to retreat to in the case of terrible cold, wind, flooding or fire. That is the kind of community resilience that could be built because of the work on the bill. Last week, Liz Smith, Maree Todd, Neil Bibby and I attended a hustings where there was a discussion about the challenges of maintaining swimming pools in our communities. Those could be an interesting example of a community asset. If swimming pools were owned by a community, partners in developing community action plans could come together to figure out how they would heat their local pool.”
“That is exactly the kind of bringing people around the table that can achieve things even without a substantial input of funding. I hope that the power of the bill will be the facilitative effort that happens when people sit around the table and say, “Here’s what we need,” and “Here’s what we have,” so that we can co- operate to make the best of everything that we have. I will give members some examples of how the bill might benefit our constituents. It is not just about community shares in renewable energy schemes, although it is partly about that, and it is not just about lovely community gardens and orchards, although of course it is partly about that.”
“It behoves us all and all our successors to get out to the community groups and stakeholders in our regions and constituencies and get them making noise about this and pester their local authorities to get their community action plan started and see how they fit into it, because this is going to matter to them. We need to make sure that our stakeholders know how to apply for procurement contracts and that community organisations know how to contribute to their local action plans. I hope that, through the bill, local authorities and public bodies are encouraged to think in an entrepreneurial way about how their assets and resources can be used to prioritise wellbeing and resilience in their areas—how one organisation’s derelict land may be another organisation’s community garden.”
“16:17 Lorna Slater: The report that has been referenced by several colleagues, “Developing Scotland’s Economy: Increasing the Role of Inclusive and Democratic Business Models”, was, to cast our minds back to the distant past, a Bute house agreement requirement, and it is an achievement that I am still really proud of. Moving the recommendations of that report forward—notwithstanding my disagreement with Richard Leonard about tax breaks—will be a substantial step forward in supporting community wealth building in Scotland. I commend the report to the members in the chamber and to the next Scottish Government, because we are now just weeks out from an election and it will be for the next Scottish Government and the next Scottish Parliament to implement the bill as well as the recommendations in the report.”
“I hope that we can believe that those who follow us really do have, in Bevan’s words, “something serious in mind”, something that goes way beyond trivial ends: a rejection of the creed that the economy is nothing to do with Parliament and politics and an understanding instead that there is an alternative to an overreliance on foreign direct investment and extractive capitalism and that we can act in the wider community and national interest, rather than simply the narrow shareholder interest—economics as if people mattered, as if communities matter, and as if future generations matter. The Presiding Officer: Thank you. We now move to closing speeches.”
“The sacrifices are too much, unless we have something serious in mind.” I hope that the low platform provided by the community wealth building act will be something that the next Parliament can build upon; that we can have a Marcora law in Scotland, with statutory rights for workers to become co-operative owners; and that we can make this—the home of Robert Owen and the birthplace of the Fenwick weavers— a Mondragon of the north.”
“In the end, the real test of our political principles is whether or not they bring about change. All too often, change is promised but not delivered—a hollow political slogan rather than meaningful political action. I started by quoting Nye Bevan; let me finish by quoting him on something that, over the years, I have tried to apply to my own politics. In his final speech to the Labour Party conference just a few months before his untimely death, he said this: “Let me give you a personal confession of faith. I have found in my life that the burdens of public life are too great to be borne for trivial ends.”
“In the passage of the bill, many amendments that I lodged, including some that I lodged for debate this afternoon, have been opposed by an unholy alliance of the Scottish National Party and the Conservatives, with the Conservatives claiming that some of my proposals were, in their words, “extraneous” to the bill and the SNP claiming yet others to be “tangential”, when it is my contention that in-sourcing, not outsourcing public services, harnessing the considerable community wealth that already exists inside multibillion-pound local government pension schemes in Scotland or using public procurement progressively are measures that are the very essence of community wealth building—they are axiomatic to community wealth building, not extraneous or tangential.”
“There will be a review of the Procurement (Scotland) Act 2014 within 12 months of royal assent, including, explicitly, how it can support workers to transition their company into employee ownership. Those are very welcome improvements.”
“It is true that the bill is in better shape than it was when it was introduced by the Government, but I cannot help but be reminded of the phrase that Aneurin Bevan once famously used. He said: “It has taken five years of governmental labour to give birth to that mouse”. Parliament has improved the bill, and the Minister for Public Finance has been listening and co-operating. The promotion of employee ownership, worker co-operatives, social enterprises and supported businesses is now on face of the bill, including their promotion by the enterprise agencies and the Scottish National Investment Bank. Credit unions, mutual banks and building societies and municipal banks are also in the fabric of the bill, which is welcome. The ministerial list of measures is now mandatory, not discretionary. Reporting mechanisms are now much more robust.”
“Smaller economic delivery units are most likely to re-spend money earned from providing services at a local level; the smallest economic unit of delivery is directly employed staff, and the shortest supply chain is direct provision.” Amendments 2 and 6 ask the Scottish Parliament to use this bill to promote and encourage more democratic forms of ownership and control in financial services, including the encouragement of municipal banks, of mutual banks and building societies and of credit unions. That should be recognised as part of the mosaic of community wealth building, in both the community wealth building ministerial statement and in local community wealth building action plans. That was a feature of the Economy and Fair Work Committee’s stage 1 report, and finance is one of the key pillars of community wealth building.”
“Other examples can be seen in the Scottish Prison Service, where HMP Kilmarnock has been brought in-house, and Serco has been removed; and on the railways, where Abellio and—again—Serco are now gone, and ScotRail and the Caledonian Sleeper service are run in-house. A recent Scottish Trades Union Congress- commissioned report into outsourcing pointed out that the outsourcing of social care and, in particular, soft facilities management means that women are much more likely to be outsourced than men. Paragraph 9.3 of that STUC report addresses the five pillars of community wealth building. It says: “Each of these elements” of community wealth building “is undermined by the outsourcing of public services.”
“I will speak to amendment 1 and the other amendments in my name in this group. The purpose of amendments 1 and 5 is to challenge the outsourcing of public services, especially by local anchor institutions. A founding principle of community wealth building is to stop leakage and to build greater local and community self-sufficiency. That is why we should be encouraging in-sourcing, not outsourcing, of public services. We have seen some good examples of it in the national health service, where, over the past year, bank nursing/agency spend has been driven down by local health boards, and, over the past few years, facilities and staff at hospitals such as Cumnock community hospital have been brought in-house, and, in Lanarkshire, Serco has been removed from Wishaw general hospital.”
“So when I hear members of this Parliament or read of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation—the gun club—speculating on unintended consequences, I say to them: what about the deliberate, the calculated and the intended consequences of the wilful polluters, of the species destroyers and of the nature wreckers?”