John Grady

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

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355 held · 341 searchable for John Grady. The searchable lines are below in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 7.

This is not an official version of UK Parliament proceedings. It reproduces the published record and links to it; the official version is the one UK Parliament publishes.

1. “I, too, wish Wales luck in the Six Nations, but I wish Scotland more luck. Scotland, like Wales, is set to benefit from significant tax incentives and investment, under the UK Government’s freeports scheme. Does the Secretary of State agree that the scheme offers an excellent opportunity for economic growth?”

   House of Commons29 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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2. “I should declare that before entering the House, I advised, as a competition lawyer, on various CMA matters, including investigations and panels. Some of the criticisms from Conservative Members seem half a world away, to channel Oasis, from both the topic in question and economic reality. Will the Minister confirm that yesterday’s announcement does not change the independence of the individual CMA panels that deal with matters before the CMA?”

   House of Commons22 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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3. “Value for money in public spending is important to my constituents, who work hard for their money. In Scotland, under the Scottish National party, we have higher rates of income tax for anyone earning more than £29,000. The Government in Edinburgh and the UK Government that we have just finished with have indulged in some shocking wastes of money. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is essential for the Office for Value for Money to set out its suggestions for ways of securing value for money for future reference in both London and Edinburgh?”

   House of Commons20 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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4. “The Chancellor may be able to learn a bit about emergency spending cuts from the Scottish Government in Holyrood, who have had three years of emergency spending cuts. Does the Chancellor agree that it is essential to engage with large economies like China so that we can export our brilliant financial services sector and whisky from Scotland? In the real world, we have to trade with large economies like China.”

   House of Commons14 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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5. “It will take time; 14 years of Tory failure have left our transport system in a mess. I am reassured that the Government are committed to working hard to get our railways back on track. I fully support those efforts, which will take time to yield results, but we must stick with them.”

   House of Commons8 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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6. “Avanti’s response was to cut the services in the run up to Christmas—I thought it was only good children who got presents at Christmas, but there we are. Problems persist. Between July and September 2024, only 41% of Avanti services were deemed to be on time. Reliability is crucial for such an important service, and currently it is not acceptable. Our Labour Government have inherited an absolute mess of a transport system, after years of neglect and poor policymaking. The Government are absolutely committed to boosting economic growth in all areas of the UK, including Glasgow and Scotland, and that is something I am 100% proud to support. In order to achieve this, we must be ambitious in our plans to improve transport. It is essential that Glasgow is not left behind due to poor transport links with the major cities in England.”

   House of Commons8 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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7. “The Conservatives’ record of connectivity for Glasgow is, I am afraid, nothing short of abysmal. May I say to hon. Members from Scotland that it is not just a question for Glasgow? It affects people across the west coast of Scotland, including those in the countryside, who rely on those services. Let us talk briefly about connectivity to the north-west, the midlands and London, which is also very important for Glasgow. For many years, Avanti West Coast has operated that service, and it has—to be charitable—left a lot to be desired. Even the last Conservative Government accepted that the performance was appalling. Their response to that appalling service has always puzzled me somewhat; in autumn 2023, they awarded Avanti West Coast a nine-year extension.”

   House of Commons8 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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8. “I did, however, meet the chief executive of LNER to discuss the decision made back in April to scrap the last remaining service connecting Glasgow and the north-east that it operates. I was clear that I was in full favour of any attempt to revive this service, and I would be keen to engage with the Minister on this matter. I am aware that Lumo has made an application to run a service, extending from Edinburgh to Glasgow Queen Street. I am keen to hear more about that proposal, as it fundamentally demonstrates that there is untapped demand for direct travel from Glasgow to the north-east of England and Yorkshire. I am interested in anything that increases connectivity between the north and north-east of England, and Glasgow. With nine out of 10 direct train services cut over the last few years, we need improvements.”

   House of Commons8 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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9. “I will first deal with links to cities in the east served by the east coast main line. Previously, Glasgow had an excellent direct train service heading to the east of England, connecting it with cities such as Newcastle, Durham and York. In 2010, there were 10 direct trains running on the service, run by both LNER and CrossCountry; now there is only one service per day. Under the Tory regime, nine out of 10 services have been cut—yet another blow to getting economic growth into Glasgow. I got in touch with CrossCountry to ask about the severe reductions to its service and to have a chat about increasing the frequency of that service. I am disappointed and a little surprised that I have yet to receive a reply, and I trust I will receive one soon.”

   House of Commons8 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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10. “Improving connectivity between Glasgow and the rest of the UK is a topic that is deeply important to my constituents and one that I have been working hard on since I was elected in July. Glasgow is Scotland’s largest city, and as we head into its 850th anniversary celebrations this year, we have much to celebrate: a vibrant city with so much economic and cultural potential. Improving connectivity in Glasgow and England is crucial to realising that potential; a high-quality inter-city service attracts investment and talent. It is critical for people in our vibrant creative, scientific, cultural and energy sectors; for people coming to Glasgow to work; for people coming to enjoy our city’s brilliant cultural, sporting and night-time economy; and for people visiting friends and family.”

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11. “It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Lewell-Buck, as you are from South Shields—I have some family there too and it is a wonderful place. I thank the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) for securing today’s important debate; he spoke eloquently about transport in his constituency. I gently remind him, as he mentioned net zero, that it was the Conservative Government who had an offshore wind allocation round that secured no bids when we desperately need clean, cheap and fixed-price electricity. I also gently remind him that, last time I checked, many of these transport links were under the supervision of the Conservative Government from 2010 to 2019, with some art and part assistance from another party in the early years.”

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12. “As my dear friends tussle, I want to make a minor point. The Conservative Government were in power for 14 years until July, and the SNP Government have been in power in Holyrood for about 18 years. It is quite remarkable for the hon. Member to criticise a Government who have been in power for just six months and have been clearing up a mess left by the Tories. Might I gently ask him to bear in mind those different periods as he proceeds?”

    House of Commons8 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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13. “There have been three years of in-year emergency budget cuts due to their mismanagement and £5 billion wasted on failed SNP pet projects, while, for example, ferries do not sail and the islands suffer from appalling connectivity.”

    House of Commons7 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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14. “They have no excuses; they must use the funding wisely to clear up their mess. SNP and Tory colleagues have repeatedly criticised the Government’s Budget, but failed to offer a credible alternative. Time and again, they say we should spend more money but fail to explain where the funding should come from. That is not credible. One hears about “magic money tree” economics—here we have a whole forest of magic money trees. Yes, we have made difficult decisions in our Budget, but government is about confronting difficult decisions to manage public finances carefully. Independent experts are clear that the SNP has failed to manage the Scottish public finances.”

    House of Commons7 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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15. “In fact, it delivers the largest settlement ever for a Scottish Government, with £4.9 billion of additional funding over the next two years—a UK Labour Government and 37 Scottish Labour MPs delivering for Scotland. That significant boost to Scotland’s public finances is critical, with nearly one in six Scots on an NHS waiting list. As we heard just before Christmas, there are many people who have been waiting for more than two years for NHS treatment in Scotland—many more, proportionally, than in England. One in three Scots children is regularly absent from school, and there are declining police officer numbers on the street at a time when people are petrified about crime. Scotland’s public services are in utter crisis after almost 18 years of SNP misrule. This Government have provided the SNP Government with the money.”

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16. “I simply point out that this Government are pro-growth and pro-industry; people understand that and economists understand that. The Budget delivered by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor delivers on our commitments to the electorate. It adds VAT to private school fees, providing more funds to state schools, including in Glasgow; it tackles poverty by increasing the national living wage, giving thousands of my constituents a pay rise; it provides pensioners with over £400 this year due to our commitment to the triple lock; and it reduces the level of deductions that can be made for universal credit payments—a boost to struggling families in Glasgow. If one were to listen to the SNP, one might think that the Budget was terrible news for Scotland and an absolute disaster.”

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17. “It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Livingston (Gregor Poynton) for securing this debate, and for his excellent survey of the considerable benefits of the Budget for Scotland. On economic forecasts, I am a somewhat boring Member of Parliament—I like to read the Financial Times . It wrote a leader a few days ago that was, in some parts, somewhat critical. However, the article pointed out that “Britain’s economic outlook in fact looks quite robust compared to other advanced economies. According to the Financial Times’ annual poll, economists reckon that the UK will outgrow France and Germany this year…Labour’s strong parliamentary majority is another positive for investors as political uncertainty ramps up elsewhere.” I could go on.”

    House of Commons7 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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18. “Scotland chose a Labour Government, electing 37 Labour MPs. This Budget, with its record increase in funding for Scotland, demonstrates this Labour Government’s absolute commitment to Scotland.”

    House of Commons7 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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19. “No, I will not. Time is marching on, and many people wish to speak. The SNP cannot be trusted with public money—remember that this is the public’s money. People in Glasgow East face much higher income tax rates than their counterparts in England because of the SNP Government’s mistakes. As my friend, the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, set out yesterday, after nearly two decades of SNP failure in government, Scotland needs “a new direction”. It needs a new Government, with “new hope, new thinking, new solutions”, not more of the same divisive politics of the last two decades. On 4 July, the people of Glasgow made a choice: that our great city, in its 850th year, shall be represented by a Labour Government. That Labour Government have delivered for Scotland by providing a record funding settlement.”

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20. “Q7. Recent data shows that almost 11,000 Scots have been waiting more than two years for hospital treatment since their referral. The equivalent number in England is around 113. Does the Prime Minister agree that that shows the catastrophic damage the SNP Government have done to the Scottish NHS?”

    House of Commons18 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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21. “Under the previous Government, the tax burden was placed mainly on the shoulders of working people. We heard from the hon. Member for Angus and Perthshire Glens (Dave Doogan), who represents a beautiful constituency, that that is precisely what SNP members are fans of—increasing income tax and national insurance on working people. We have seen that in Scotland time and again. The tax burden that working people face is absolutely enormous. If a person works in Newcastle and wants to move to Edinburgh, they will have to pay more tax to work in the NHS in Edinburgh. If that is supporting Scotland, who knows? We are delivering on our promise not to raise taxes on working people.”

    House of Commons17 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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22. “A number of the parties on the Opposition Benches, and the Conservatives in particular, criticise, but they broke Britain’s economy and we are left to clean up their mess. There is nothing clever or great about promising that hospital after hospital will be built and not having the funds to cover that. That is the politics of the Santa Claus letter. The Budget of my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, delivers on our commitments to the electorate. It puts an end to non-dom tax status and gets rid of a VAT exemption on private school fees to fund state schools, such as those in Glasgow. The national insurance contributions are an important part of that financial package. The Budget delivers a fairer, more sustainable tax system.”

    House of Commons17 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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23. “Like many on the Government Benches, I have spent many years of my career in business—in my case, as a lawyer. I have worked with some of the largest companies investing in the United Kingdom and some of the smallest companies in the country, such as charities, third sector organisations and others. What they value most of all is economic stability. What they do not value is huge increases in interest rates overnight and rampant inflation. I understand how important it is to investors to ensure that the public finances are managed in a prudent way, which embraces and faces up to the realities. That is the foundation of the Budget and of our approach to the difficult decisions the Chancellor of the Exchequer has taken on national insurance contributions.”

    House of Commons17 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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24. “They may have a shopping list of additional spending commitments, but they simply do not explain how they will tax or fundraise those spending commitments. This is not serious. We are having to make difficult decisions. The Government are asking employers to contribute more. That will enable investment in public services, which is good for employers. We are being straightforward about the choices regarding the public finances, spending, tax and national insurance. I say to Opposition Members that cakeism is for Christmas. It is not an approach for serious Government or serious Opposition. The job of a serious Government is to make serious choices to progress the country—choices that will allow us to invest in our public services.”

    House of Commons17 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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25. “Let me provide a simple example: the replacement Arran ferries are hundreds of millions of pounds over budget and years late, making lives miserable for people trying to get from Arran and damaging the tourist industry. It would be unwise to choose Rod Stewart’s song “We are Sailing” for the SNP Christmas karaoke, because no one is sailing under the Scottish Government’s appalling management of the economy. The SNP has criticised our choices. This Government have not been in power for even six months. The Tories were in power for 14 years and the SNP have been in power for 17 and a half years. On any view, the criticism of our Budget after nearly six months defies logic, but that defiance of logic does not end there. The Conservatives criticise our choices, but they do not say what they would do instead.”

    House of Commons17 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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26. “Our Budget delivered the largest settlement for the Scottish Government in the history of devolution—£4.9 billion of additional funding and further funding to cover the national insurance rise over the next two years. This is a UK Government delivering for Scotland and giving the SNP the tools to clean up its mess. The changes to national insurance are critical to this additional funding, which will benefit the people, charities and businesses of Glasgow and Scotland. Despite this extra funding, the SNP repeatedly criticises our Budget and our management of the public finances. This is—as some say of Christmas dinner—somewhat rich coming from the Scottish National party. After almost 18 years of the SNP Government in Holyrood, public finances are in a catastrophic mess.”

    House of Commons17 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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27. “This strikes a fair balance. As a Scottish MP, I must turn to Scotland. The context of this national insurance rise is that around one in six Scots is on an NHS waiting list. On a Friday evening a few weeks ago, I was contacted by a constituent whose wife of 40 years was in hospital. He was petrified and devastated because there was no bed available for his wife after she had suffered a stroke. That is the context of this national insurance rise. It is correct to raise taxes to invest in our health service, and that is the beginning and the end of it. In Glasgow, this year, 172 teaching posts have been removed. That is the context of this national insurance rise.”

    House of Commons17 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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28. “I wish to make some progress if I may; I have been waiting a long time to speak. Our plans will not see additional taxes coming out of a worker’s payslip. We are supporting small businesses by doubling the employment allowance before companies and charities have to pay national insurance, which will protect hundreds of thousands of employers from paying any national insurance at all. According to the OBR, changes to the employment allowance will see 250,000 employers across the UK gaining from these changes, while an additional 820,000 or so will see no change. This means that around half of all businesses that are liable for national insurance will pay the same or less than they were previously, while, set against that, many businesses and charities in Scotland and Glasgow will be protected against the increase.”

    House of Commons17 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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29. “I am actually a big fan of fireworks; I love fireworks. However, my enjoyment of fireworks should not inflict misery on animals and people in my communities in Glasgow East. It is clearly time, in Glasgow, in Scotland and in England and Wales, for us to review how fireworks are regulated. Many good ideas about how to improve the system have been suggested in this debate, and there is much to consider and learn from every contribution to it. However, the current situation is not sustainable and I submit that it is high time that both the Scottish Government and the UK Government looked at this issue again.”

    House of Commons9 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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30. “As every trainee lawyer knows, it is necessary to count the days for a notice properly if it is to be effective. That basic error has caused misery for my constituents and the constituents of my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South West. There is much hard work by council officials, fire services and the police to deal with fireworks in Glasgow. However, the legislation is not working: it is not being properly implemented. How can it be that in Edinburgh it is not possible to introduce an exclusion zone for fireworks around a zoo, which obviously has many animals? How can it be that we cannot review the introduction of exclusion zones around buildings such as hospitals? Clearly, the legislation is not being properly implemented, is not properly drafted and requires thorough review.”

    House of Commons9 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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31. “I regret to say that, although there has been legislative reform, it has not been an unalloyed success. The flagship measure was the introduction of a licensing system, but the Scottish Government say that that has been postponed to at least 2026 due to resourcing issues. Well, this Government have provided £4.9 billion to the Scottish Government, so hopefully they will start to make some progress on introducing that much-needed reform, which will prevent misery from being inflicted on my constituents and others in Glasgow. The Scottish legislation also included firework control zones, and one was to be introduced in Glasgow, in the constituency neighbouring mine. That was bungled by the SNP council, which simply did not use the correct time period for the notice.”

    House of Commons9 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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32. “Like her colleagues, she is absolutely heartbroken about what happened to the red pandas. Fireworks cause misery for people with PTSD, young parents, people with autism, animals and people across Glasgow, so we need to think about how to manage and regulate them. Clearly, in Scotland and across our family of nations, the current situation is not working. Although fireworks bring joy, they also bring misery to many communities. The SNP council in Glasgow has cancelled the major public displays, particularly in Glasgow Green, and the reason for that has never been fully explained. We need to give people opportunities to see fireworks, and councils cancelling displays without explaining why do not help. The power to restrict the use of fireworks is, in the main, devolved to the Scottish Government.”

    House of Commons9 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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33. “It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I thank the hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) for his opening speech, which covered many of the points that I want to make. I also wholeheartedly echo everything that my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South West (Dr Ahmed) said. Bonfire night brings great joy to people across the west coast of Scotland. For the most part people use fireworks safely, but they remain a significant problem in Glasgow and the west of Scotland. I recently met a constituent who has worked for many years at Edinburgh zoo, and one of her responsibilities was to look after its red pandas and black and white pandas. She explained to me how the death of the two pandas came about: she said that there is no doubt that the cause was fireworks in Edinburgh.”

    House of Commons9 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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34. “That has a terrible impact on low-paid workers in Scotland and a real impact on both economic growth in Scotland and such critical matters as the transition from oil and gas to renewables. With six seconds to go, I will conclude by saying that elections take place in Holyrood in 2026. It is time for change and a Government that put education first.”

    House of Commons13 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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35. “Put simply, in many Scottish schools, parents, children and teachers have great fear and worry about school behaviour. Nicola Sturgeon made it clear that closing the attainment gap was her main objective, but the SNP has failed on that. Adult education, which my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe spoke so compellingly about, is critical for jobs for people in Scotland. The OECD recently carried out a study of Scottish adult education and other matters in the west coast of Scotland, where my seat is located. It reported that career guidance for adults is “challenging to access” and financial incentives to invest in reskilling and upskilling workers are very low.”

    House of Commons13 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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36. “Where someone is born is becoming more, not less, important than it was and barriers for poorer children are increasing. It is worth saying that the Government are tackling one of the causes of the attainment gap—poverty—by introducing legislation that will make work pay and tackling family poverty by increasing the national minimum and living wage. However, the SNP is also responsible for the attainment gap in our schools and that is preventing young people from getting good jobs and being able to provide for their families. A simple example of that failure is that since 2010, there has been a material drop in school attendance. If someone does not go to school, they do not learn. There has also been a general worsening of behaviour in Scottish schools since 2016, shown by figures from the Scottish Government themselves.”

    House of Commons13 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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37. “It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) for securing this important debate and for his compelling and comprehensive survey of adult education. For centuries, Scotland had one of the best education systems in the world, but that is not the case today under the Scottish National party. Attainment has been falling for years. As recent programme for international student assessment reviews show, standards in literacy, mathematics and science are falling, and that is closing doors for children and young people in my seat. The response in Glasgow, I am afraid, has been to cut 172 teaching posts this year, with further cuts to come. The attainment gap in Scottish schools is widening.”

    House of Commons13 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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38. “It increases the national living wage, giving a pay rise to the lowest paid in my constituency, and gives pensioners more than £400 this year under the triple lock and more than £1,700 over the course of the Parliament. This Budget makes a choice—it targets our scare public resources at the poorest—and I support it. My constituents rely on the Scottish NHS, but the Scottish NHS is in crisis. Almost one in six Scots is on an NHS waiting list.”

    House of Commons5 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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39. “Glasgow has the shortest life expectancy in Scotland and in western Europe. The people of my city, who bring me so much joy, live shorter and less healthy lives than those anywhere else in the UK. Far too many die too soon. They do not get the happiness that the autumn of life brings: time with grandchildren, time with friends and time volunteering at a local church or a local mosque. My constituency has some of the highest levels of poverty in the United Kingdom. Poverty is one the principal causes of ill health and early death. Health is the topic of today’s debate. Many of my constituents cannot afford to pay for the essentials and live in shocking housing conditions. They live every day petrified of what tomorrow will bring. This Budget confronts poverty.”

    House of Commons5 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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40. “Our Budget puts the people of Scotland first and enables the SNP to fix the mess it has made of our health service. With its record increase in Scottish funding, this Budget demonstrates our commitment to Scotland.”

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41. “I am discussing Scotland. This is a serious topic about my constituents’ health. The waste by the Scottish Government—hundreds of millions returned to the EU unspent and hundreds of millions wasted on ferries—could have been diverted to the hospitals in Glasgow, to put beds in the Royal Infirmary, where they are needed. The SNP is never to blame. The 62-day cancer treatment standard has not been met for over a decade, despite cancer being one of Scotland’s biggest killers. I have met countless pensioners who have been forced to pay thousands of pounds to go private for their hip replacements and knee operations, because the Scottish NHS waiting lists are so long. This Budget means £1.5 billion this year for the Scottish Government to spend on the NHS, and an additional £3.4 billion next year.”

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42. “I thank my right hon. Friend for his answer. Yesterday saw the largest Budget settlement for the Scottish Government in devolution’s history. The Labour party’s commitment to Scotland runs through this Government. Last week, the highly respected Strathclyde University’s Fraser of Allander institute reported that only 9% of Scottish businesses agree that the Scottish Government understand the business environment in Scotland. Does my right hon. Friend agree that Government understanding of business is crucial in driving investment and growth in Scotland, and that it is critical that the Scottish Government improve their understanding of the business environment?”

    House of Commons31 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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43. “Does my right hon. Friend agree that being honest and transparent about the state of public finances is the right thing to do, and that having a long-term plan to fix the foundations of our economy and the public finances is preferable to the short-term, chaotic approach taken by the SNP in Scotland, which has led to three consecutive years of emergency in-year budget cuts?”

    House of Commons29 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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44. “The terrible state of public finances and higher income taxes in Scotland do not concern only working people: 82% of Scottish business leaders are concerned about Scotland’s tax divergence from the rest of the UK. Why? Because it makes it harder to recruit talented people to come and live in Scotland. I would venture to say that that is what we are desperate to do: have more people living, earning and contributing in Scotland. There are wider problems.”

    House of Commons15 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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45. “The Scottish Fiscal Commission said of the Scottish budget that “much of the pressure comes from the Scottish Government’s own decisions.” The Auditor General has warned that the SNP’s short-term approach to budgets is not addressing unsustainable public finances in Scotland. We can have no confidence that the Scottish Government are able to address these problems. As Audit Scotland said in 2023: “Historically there has been an implementation gap between public sector reform ambitions and the ability of the Scottish Government to deliver change”. Translated into more normal language, that means that the Scottish Government keep saying they will do stuff, but they never get round to doing it.”

    House of Commons15 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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46. “The SNP seeks to blame others, including our very new Government. However, culpability for the state of the public finances sits with the SNP. Hon. Members should not take my word for it. The Scottish Government have been persistently and consistently warned that their approach to public finances is simply not sustainable. The gap in public finances has long been predicted by a wide range of organisations and fiscal experts, including the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Scottish Fiscal Commission—an institute in Scotland similar to the Office for Budget Responsibility, although I am glad to say that Liz Truss did not get anywhere near it.”

    House of Commons15 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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47. “Now, I love Europe and I am pro-European, but even I would venture to say that this is taking love for our fellow Europeans a little too far. Since the SNP came to power in 2007, it has wasted more than £5 billion of taxpayers’ money on pet projects, failed industrial interventions, incompetence, costly agency spend in the NHS, overspend on infrastructure projects and, of course, the two famous ferries that do not sail. Scots also face much higher taxes compared with the rest of the UK. If I have understood it correctly— I must say I find it difficult to follow—the SNP’s position seems to be that the oil and gas giants who have made billions of pounds of windfall profits due to elevated oil and gas prices should pay less tax, but someone working in Midlothian on £29,000 a year should pay more tax than their counterpart in Northumberland.”

    House of Commons15 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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48. “I would not recommend marriage with the SNP: for the honeymoon, you would be offered the Orient Express, but you would not even get the National Express—you would be hitchhiking on the M8 in the rain. When faced with brutal budget cuts, surely the Scottish Government would make sure that they had spent the money they had, but that does not seem to be their approach. The SNP has failed to spend at least £250 million of European structural funding and may have to hand back up to £373 million of unspent funding. Let us pause for a minute. The UK was a net contributor to EU funds. This is money that Scottish businesses and workers paid into Brussels. We then got some of that back to spend in Scotland, and the SNP is sending it back again.”

    House of Commons15 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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49. “They did so in two ways. First, they spent much of the remaining ScotWind receipts, which are not recurring income, but one-off, windfall income that was meant to be dedicated to the energy transition, which is absolutely critical for places such as Grangemouth and Aberdeen. They also made £500 million of cuts, slashing NHS funding and raiding the transport budget, when our transport system is already incredibly unreliable. That is the result of short-term, quick-fix solutions to balance the books, with no long-term plan, no public sector pay strategy and no vision for our economy. After 17 years in power, the SNP has failed to grasp the concept of proper budgeting and long-term thinking.”

    House of Commons15 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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50. “Wind farm developers have for many years complained about delays to consent for their projects. Consent for wind farms and transmission projects in Scotland is the responsibility of the Scottish Government. Delays put at risk the next wave of projects that are critical to economic growth and good jobs in Scotland and to getting energy bills down. All of this results in lost jobs and damage to supply chains. All of this means that people in Scotland are paying much more for their energy. And all of this puts Scottish business at a real disadvantage, because energy is a material part of their costs, and those costs are higher than they should be. Turning to public finances, in September the SNP was forced to fill a £1 billion black hole in Scotland’s public finances within the year—this is not part of planned year-on-year budgeting.”

    House of Commons15 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗

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