Oliver Mundell
Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party · Scotland
“Indeed, much of the debate in this chamber seems a far cry from the genuine excitement that I witnessed as a child when I first watched Donald Dewar address the Parliament in 1999. Most institutions grow in stature as they age, but Holyrood seems to be stuck in reverse.”
“Before I start with some final thoughts, I want to make it clear, up front, that my comments are not personally aimed at the cabinet secretary, who I respect and with whom I enjoy working, as everybody across the chamber does. I have never felt the need to compare her to a chlorinated chicken, unlike her predecessor.”
“I share the frustrations of my constituents that Holyrood is dominated by urban, central-belt thinking and is obsessed with telling people who live in rural Scotland how to live. When the Scottish Government is not busy banning things, it is busy imposing them.”
“It often feels as if money talks, with hillsides being sold to the highest bidder without any thought about the social consequences or about how future generations will put food on the table. Meanwhile, here in our national Parliament, tokenism too often prevails over substance.”
“Rural Scotland, not least Dumfriesshire, holds real potential. The answers to many of our most pressing challenges can be found in our rural and remote communities, but they must be given the freedom to flourish. Our communities need politicians who will listen to those on the ground, who really do know best.”
“The amendment would make it more difficult for ministers to put in place appropriate regulations with the right protections, so I urge Dr Gulhane not to press the amendment.”
The complete record
Every one of 120 lines we hold for Oliver Mundell, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 3 of 3.
“To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the mental health of police officers and ensure that they have access to the appropriate specialist services. (S6O-04450)”
“Local authorities should not be, on the one hand, collecting council tax, registering people to vote and providing other services to such individuals while, on the other, claiming not to know about them. I urge the minister to back Murdo Fraser’s motion and get behind the cross-party efforts to ensure that park home owners are treated with fairness and given the same rights as other home owners. 13:10”
“How can sizeable residential developments be allowed to be built and operated without proper roads, drainage and lighting? We then come to another area of bad practice that has already been referenced—the misselling of homes on non-residential sites. I first became aware of the scale of the issue during the Covid pandemic, when many non-residential sites were asked to close, in line with regulations. My inbox was flooded with emails from people who had been asked to move out of what they considered to be their main residence to go to other homes that did not exist. Thankfully, the Scottish Government stepped in in that instance, but, given the prevalence of the practice, I think that there needs to be a more serious rethink.”
“Too often, park home owners feel as though they are being treated like second- class citizens, and they are not, as other members have mentioned, given the full facts before signing on the dotted line. However, it is not only site owners who give rise to concern. As has been referenced, local authorities are not doing their bit and too often take a hands-off approach when it comes to their statutory and other duties in relation to such sites. In my experience, they often opt for the path of least resistance rather than stand up for local residents, adopting a tick-box approach to site licensing and showing little interest when it comes to ensuring that site designs are fit for purpose. How can it be right that roads and planning officials have such limited powers to root out bad practice in that space?”
“I am deeply troubled by the charges that are, as Colin Beattie mentioned, imposed for electricity usage, the lack of transparency around how those costs are calculated and the inability of residents to control them. How can it be right that households that are among some of the most vulnerable—many of whom have, as Murdo Fraser has said, moved specifically to try to make their homes more affordable—are totally excluded from the consumer protections that the rest of us enjoy? Equally, I have seen a number of issues with, for example, water pressure on sites, on which there is no oversight. There are also the well- known and well-rehearsed issues of exploitative rates for changing ownership and excessive and inflated site fees.”
“Their concerns are such that I do not want to give a number of specific examples today, because people are in such fear of the relationship that they have with park home owners and the control that they have over their home. That sort of thing would not be acceptable in any other part of the housing landscape. Although overregulation concerns me in many other sectors, the situation here is quite the opposite. Too often, the park home sector feels like the wild west, where the normal rules do not apply. I know that some diligent site owners are doing the right thing, but too many operate to an unacceptable standard. They have identified it as a weak area in housing policy, where they can exploit vulnerable people, who are often older and disabled, and use them as a cash cow.”
“I pay tribute to my colleague Murdo Fraser for securing this important debate and for shining a light on an often undervalued and overlooked part of Scotland’s housing landscape. The Scottish Confederation of Park Home Residents Associations does a great job, but it is working without resource and on an entirely voluntary basis to make the case on behalf of thousands of residents. Given my constituency experience over the past eight and a half years, I was keen to speak in this debate and give voice to the legitimate concerns of local residents of park homes, who are often left without a voice or adequate mechanisms to address the unfairness and discrimination that they face.”
“Since Mr Mundell is potentially in a position to be reckless now, as he will be standing down at the next election, I encourage him to break the whip and vote for the Government’s budget on Tuesday. [Laughter.] The Presiding Officer: We will move to general and constituency supplementary questions. Ukraine (Support)”
“I recognise the First Minister’s personal commitment to the project. Will he go one better and come to Dumfries to meet the young people and their families who are at the heart of the project and see at first hand how life-changing it is? Perhaps he will bring his famed deal-making skills and try to pull together a positive future plan for the organisation. The First Minister: I should have said in response to Colin Smyth that I am very happy for ministers to engage on that, but as Oliver Mundell is inviting me to go to Dumfries to have that discussion, I will certainly do all that I can to do so. He will appreciate that there are many pressures on my diary, but I will try to do that as early as I can. My “famed deal-making skills” will be available that day, although, of course, they could have an early outing on Tuesday.”
“As Mr Mundell has reminded us, the Presiding Officer’s Burns supper is taking place this evening, so there is a bit of time pressure on the debate. I want to get in everyone who would like to speak, but that will require members to stick to their time allocations. 17:42”
“Of course, I could mention endless other projects and events relating to Burns, but I want to leave the final word with the Big Burns Supper in Dumfries, which has been revived this year after some funding challenges. Putting on that spectacle seems the very least that we can do for a man who continues to inspire and who has done more to promote Dumfries and Scotland than anyone else. A Scotland without Burns would be less colourful, less rich and more divided. We ignore his literary works and his social, cultural and economic value at our peril. The Deputy Presiding Officer: Thank you, Mr Mundell. I will be having a word with the official report, just to make sure that the spelling in that contribution stays on the right side of the line.”
“The Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture is not in the chamber, but I am sure that Jamie Hepburn would be willing to sign him up to visit the project and see more of what Dumfriesshire has to offer. One such offering, which would have been right up Burns’s street— and, I am sure, the cabinet secretary’s—would be the chance to sample the newly matured 10-year- old Man O’Words whisky, named in Burns’s honour, from Annandale Distillery, which itself celebrates its 10th birthday this year. The whisky is served in Burns’s favourite howff, the Globe Inn in Dumfries. The whole of Dumfries and Galloway owes a great debt of gratitude to Professor David Thomson and Theresa Church for their vision in realising those projects. We look forward to seeing what they have planned for the proposed new Burns quarter in Dumfries.”
“However, there is no doubt in my mind that, without Joan’s passion and drive, the moment would have been missed and the project, which had fallen on hard times, would have simply withered and been lost. Instead, there is now an ambitious initiative that aims to breathe new life into Burns’s legacy and create a world-class visitor destination that, when realised, will be a game changer for the regional economy across Dumfries and Galloway and will deliver a Burns trail in south-west Scotland that is worthy of his name. I hope that the Scottish Government will continue to support the project, through its agencies and its influence with wider stakeholders, to build on the initial funding and backing from South of Scotland Enterprise, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Holywood Trust, among others.”
“She has not only shown me that there is life beyond politics but done something truly special, which goes beyond the achievements that many of us in the chamber could hope for. She has saved anew for the nation one of the most important and significant parts of Burns’s legacy: the home of “Auld Lang Syne”, his farm at Ellisland, which he helped to build and where he wrote some of his best-known works, including that song. Joan McAlpine would be the first to point out that that has not been achieved single-handedly; it has been a real team effort. Special mention should be made of the distinguished and varied board of voluntary trustees, many of whom are in the public gallery tonight, who have given up their time to take the project to its next stage.”
“Many Burns songs would fit the bill here, but the Presiding Officer will be pleased to hear that I will not do any actual singing. If I were to do so, there would be a real danger of repeating an incident involving Burns himself, in which he ended up snowed in at a pub in, of all places, Ecclefechan, which is known locally as the Fechan. In the letter, he described the pain of listening to a barmaid sing as being like that of hearing an old sow meeting the butcher’s knife. He said that, in that moment, he could not decide which fate was worse: freezing to death in the Fechan cold or spending the rest of the evening listening to the Fechan barmaid. [Laughter.] With that, let us go back to Joan McAlpine.”
“In what I hope is the only negative point in this speech, it is therefore sad to note that Burns has been downgraded in the higher English curriculum this year. I am not sure what that says about us as a nation and what we believe is valuable to hand on to future generations, but, for me, it certainly raises serious questions about how we see ourselves. If we cannot learn from Burns the man and Burns the poet—if we cannot understand him as a creature of his time and one with a vision beyond it—what does that say about our country? Now, I turn to the positives. Members from across the chamber who have sat here in years gone by could be forgiven for falling off their chairs at what I am about to say. I want to take a few moments to sing the praises of Joan McAlpine.”
“Anyone who, like me, has a school-age child will know the reach of Burns at this time of year and his importance, for Scots more generally, as a focal point in schools, where interest in him is broadened and our many words and stories are kept alive. I am very proud of my eldest daughter, Isla, who has volunteered to recite a Scots poem at her school assembly on Friday. Listening to her practise and learn the words of J K Annand’s “Mince and Tatties” has brought me joy, and it has sparked an interest in her that I hope will last a lifetime. It also brings back fond memories of my introduction to Scots-language poetry, and to Burns himself, as I sat at the kitchen table with my mum.”
“Such debates get a lot of attention, but I believe that it would be wrong to dwell on where Burns divides. Instead, in a world that often seems more divided and tribal than ever, the enduring appeal of Burns is that he offers something for everyone. His universal appeal and his ability as a poet to reach beyond simplistic points of view are arguably his greatest gifts. We have only to look at research from the University of Glasgow’s centre for Robert Burns studies to see how that translates into the real world, the influence that Burns has and—dare I say it—the commercial value that he offers to Scotland. The Pittock report is a great place to start for anyone who is doubtful of the potential in that regard.”
“It wad frae mony a blunder free us, An’ foolish notion:” Would he have seen a people’s Parliament or something altogether different? I suspect that many aspects of Holyrood and its inhabitants would have fuelled his rich political satire. Over the years, his views and politics have, of course, been hotly debated and applied to many issues of the day. So, too, has his identity. Does Burns belong to Ayrshire, or does he belong to Dumfries and Galloway, where he remains to this day? This year, the hot take at Burns suppers and in homes across Dumfries and Galloway is whether Burns would have been for or against a new national park. Would he have lined up with his fellow farmers or stood in solidarity with the “wee ... cowrin, tim’rous beastie”?”
“As people at home and around the world prepare to celebrate Burns night, it seems only fitting to mark Burns’s legacy here, in the heart of our debating chamber. In yet another coup for Dumfries and Galloway, when the Presiding Officer hosts her Burns supper in the Parliament tonight, my constituent, the much-accomplished young Burnsian Ella McTeir from Sanquhar, will deliver the address to the haggis. Having listened, at the opening of the new Scottish Parliament in 1999, to Sheena Wellington’s rendition of “A Man’s a Man for a’ That”—which, by the end, was accompanied by Christine Grahame and by many others in the public gallery—I often wonder what Burns would have made of this place. “O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!”