Patricia Ferguson
MP for Glasgow West · Labour · United Kingdom
“It is estimated that decisions by the Scottish Government cost my city of Glasgow some £347 million last year. Does the Secretary of State agree that devolution should not just stop at Holyrood but should be pushed down to local government, cities and towns across Scotland, that it should be accompanied by money from the record settlement…”
House of Commons28 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Too often, discussion focuses narrowly on weapons and overlooks the engineers, researchers, software specialists, manufacturers and innovators whose work contributes both to security and technological advancement.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Committee heard from numerous SMEs, many of which told us that participating in defence procurement remains difficult and that complex bidding requirements, high compliance costs and financial risk are all burdensome barriers to growth.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for granting time for a statement on the publication of the Scottish Affairs Committee’s report, “Securing Scotland’s Future: Defence Skills and Jobs”.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“These colleges will help to develop the skills that employers tell us they need. The Committee heard overwhelming support for DTECs, and we believe they could have the potential to address persistent skills shortages.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank my hon. Friend for mentioning that skills academy. It is in my constituency, so he will not be surprised to hear that I agree with him entirely about that.”
House of Commons26 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
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“Will my hon. Friend reflect on the fact that my experience of being elected under three electoral systems—additional member system, single transferable vote and first past the post—suggests that none of them are perfect? However, there are advantages to first past the post that we should be very careful about doing away with. The other two systems that I have been elected with served my constituents far worse than first past the post does. Voting for 16 and 17-year-olds was passed by the Scottish Parliament a number of years ago and enabled young people to vote in elections as of 2016 in Scotland. I was delighted to vote for that measure, as were all members of the Scottish Parliament, so will the Scottish Conservatives give a lesson to their colleagues at Westminster about why they voted for it in 2016?”
House of Commons17 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Residents in areas of my constituency have raised the poor postal service they have been receiving in recent weeks, which has led to their not receiving important financial information on time and missing hospital appointments. I realise that that issue is often raised with the Leader of the House, but will she join me in saying that Royal Mail and Ofcom really do need to get their act together and ensure that my constituents do not continue to receive such a second-class service?”
House of Commons17 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The right hon. Gentleman will understand that it is for me to decide what my intervention will be. I was going to say that I am very pleased to hear him sticking up for people who really need help. What part of new clause 9 actually makes things better for people who need help?”
House of Commons9 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for taking a further intervention. As a signatory to his amendment, I wonder whether his discussions with the Minister have included someone with a condition such as relapsing-remitting MS who can spend long periods appearing to be perfectly healthy, but then have other periods when a crisis occurs and they are debilitated by their condition. Will the provisions that the Minister describes be sympathetic to those sorts of situations?”
House of Commons9 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My right hon. Friend will be aware of the importance of post offices to communities up and down the country, particularly those where there are no banks and where other facilities are in short supply. I hope she shares my concern that the post office in Drumchapel, in my Glasgow West constituency, is being threatened with closure. Will she allow a debate in Government time on the merits of post offices and their importance to local communities across the land?”
House of Commons3 July 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am grateful to my colleagues on the Front Bench for listening to what Back Benchers have been saying for months, and for making so many changes. However, I did not see any changes that affect young people, particularly care-experienced young people. Will the Secretary of State cast some light on what discussions are ongoing with young people about the processes involving them?”
House of Commons30 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My constituent applied to have his case against his pension provider considered by the ombudsman, and he contacted me because of the delay in receiving a determination. I, in turn, wrote to the ombudsman, who advised that my constituent was in the correct place in the queue and would be allocated to an adjudicator in September 2025. My constituent made his original application in May 2020. I am sure the Leader of the House would agree that this timescale is not acceptable, so will she find time for a debate to shine a light on why such inefficiency and poor response to constituents is happening?”
House of Commons26 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the Prime Minister for his statement and his leadership—something that I am sure is welcomed by our allies around the world, if not by the Opposition. My right hon. and learned Friend mentions that there is now a window of opportunity for peace in the middle east. I am sure that we would all want that to come to fruition. However, given the continuation of deadly attacks on Palestinian people seeking food, can the Prime Minister advise, following his discussions, whether there is any prospect of Israel allowing the United Nations and other humanitarian organisations to resume food distribution in an ordered and fair way?”
House of Commons26 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about the need to test in the Western Isles, and his solution of using the community payback from wind farms is an excellent idea. Would he want to go further thereafter and test more widely? My brother has haemochromatosis, and it was discovered completely by accident. The rest of the family were then tested, and one or two cousins were found to have it, although I fortunately do not. It is much more prevalent than any of us ever imagined, and I had never heard of it until my own brother was diagnosed.”
House of Commons25 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“However, the site is now home to St Joseph’s primary school, and the pupils and staff arranged their own memorial and honour the fallen every year. I mention Lyon Street because researching the story made me realise that this part of Glasgow has changed completely since the world war. Lyon Street has gone and the overcrowded tenements have gone, but the memory of those men, and the place that was their home, is still alive—not least thanks to the pupils of St Joseph’s, who although separated from the first world war by more than 100 years, understand the importance of remembering.”
House of Commons24 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Sometimes, according to the census, families of eight or nine took in lodgers to help to pay the rent. From that street, 211 men volunteered to fight in world war one. They served in every Scottish regiment: the Cameronians, the Highland Light Infantry, the Black Watch, the Royal Scots Fusiliers and the Seaforth Highlanders. Forty-five never came home, 27 were wounded and two were missing in action. Immediately after the first world war, Lyon Street was recognised as the most decorated street in Britain. Unfortunately, nothing now remains of Lyon Street—it does not exist any longer, and even the plaque commemorating the fallen has long since disappeared. When I was the local MSP, I tried hard to locate it, but it seems to have been lost forever.”
House of Commons24 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is the rallying point for all the commemorations that take place in the area, most of them also organised by Terence, but outwith those days, it is always good to see people sitting on its benches, admiring the flowers and perhaps reflecting on their own family’s service. The third way in which memorials are important is in giving communities a sense of place. I served for some time as a Member of the Scottish Parliament, and my constituency contained part of an area now so ably served by my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North (Martin Rhodes). The area in question was, until the 1960s, the location of a great many tenemental properties. One particularly short street was called Lyon Street, and the 1901 census tells us that there were a dozen tenement buildings housing around 1,500 people. It really does beggar belief.”
House of Commons24 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Clearly, his body was never recovered, so there was no funeral, and until the national memorial at Runnymede was established in 1953, there was no official record of his service and death. To the family, it is important that his name is recorded, and I very much look forward to visiting Runnymede to see the memorial for myself. Memorials are also important to communities. In 2010, after a considerable amount of lobbying and hard work, a memorial was created and dedicated at Knightswood Cross in my Glasgow West constituency. Terence McCourt, himself a Parachute Regiment veteran and a charity fundraiser, was recently recognised with the award of an MBE, in part for his efforts to secure that memorial.”
House of Commons24 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I, too, thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) for securing this important debate. In preparing for this debate, it occurred to me that war memorials are significant in a variety of ways. The first and most personal is their importance to the families of those who died in war. My great-uncle Philip Ferguson served in the 75th Squadron of the RAF Volunteer Reserve. Philip was one of 13 children, but a combination of age and reserved occupations meant that he was the only one to serve in the second world war. Unfortunately, on 22 January 1943, Philip’s plane was shot down over the channel. For a time, he was officially listed as missing, but it quickly became clear that he had been killed.”
House of Commons24 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary for her statement. One of the questions running through Baroness Casey’s audit is “Why?”—not just why that type of offending has been allowed to grow unchecked in our society, but why people are driven to commit such vile crimes. Can the Home Secretary assure me that the Government will commission serious, thorough and considered research into the drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation, including looking at all the issues around ethnicity and age? Will those findings be shared with the devolved Administrations who, as we have heard, have not been exempt from these issues?”
House of Commons16 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement and for making so clear what the UK Government’s actions are. However, it is very clear that the suffering in Palestine will continue, if not accelerate, given the situation pertaining in the middle east, so what action can be taken to try to ensure that aid gets into that beleaguered area? Also, what efforts can be made to ensure that the recognition of Palestine is kept firmly on the diplomatic table?”
House of Commons16 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am genuinely looking for clarification. As a former Cabinet Minister in the Scottish Government, I jealously guard the devolution settlement. I wonder how the extension of some of these clauses to include Scotland will be interpreted. What conversations have taken place between my hon. Friend, Scotland’s Lord Advocate and the Scottish Government?”
House of Commons13 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Importantly, following our considerations in Committee, the Bill no longer requires that the chief medical officer be responsible for monitoring whether or not the assisted dying regime complies with the law. That responsibility has now been transferred to the voluntary assisted dying commissioner, so the person in charge of overseeing the process and setting up the panels will also be the person deciding whether the Act is being administered correctly.”
House of Commons13 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I rise to speak to my amendment 13, which concerns the appointment of the voluntary assisted dying commissioner. In Committee, it was decided that the Prime Minister would appoint the voluntary assisted dying commissioner, and that the appointee would serve for five years and be responsible for appointing the assisted dying review panels. The commissioner would also oversee the training of panel members, give them guidance on the procedures to be used and, crucially, decide when a case that a panel has refused should be referred to another panel for reconsideration. According to the Bill, the commissioner will not be acting as a judge, but they must be a current or former senior judge of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal or High Court. However, they are not required to have any expertise in medicine or healthcare.”
House of Commons13 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“No matter what side of the debate we are on, it is important to ensure that the Bill is as strong and as good as it possibly can be; we owe it to the people who send us here—the people who have been writing to us in such great numbers. My amendment seeks to strengthen the Bill in respect of the voluntary assisted dying commissioner.”
House of Commons13 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Considering that such pre-appointment scrutiny is required for the chair of the Competition and Markets Authority, the chair of the BBC, the chair of the Charity Commission, the Information Commissioner, the chair of the Care Quality Commission, the health service commissioner for England, the chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission and the chair of the UK Statistics Authority, the omission of such scrutiny in this case is clearly a serious oversight, which my amendment seeks to remedy by ensuring that the correct Select Committee has the power of scrutiny. In my view, we need to guard the rights and privileges of Parliament jealously. We must ensure that Parliament is involved in the scrutiny of this legislation going forward as much as we possibly can. The Bill itself requires this to be as rigorous and transparent as is possible.”
House of Commons13 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend makes a valid point. The point of my amendment, as I will come on to, is that we need to ensure as much scrutiny as possible in this regard. From what I have outlined, this is clearly an exceptionally important post, which carries great responsibility and significant power; indeed, it seems the postholder will require the judgment of Solomon to be able to fulfil their role. It is therefore surprising that, as the Bill stands, there is no requirement for pre-appointment scrutiny by the relevant Select Committee, despite the profile of the post and the controversy it will inevitably attract.”
House of Commons13 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank my hon. Friend for taking my intervention, and it is always a pleasure to serve under your chairpersonship, Dr Huq. Earlier this year, I held a consultation event on the Child Poverty Taskforce. One of the themes that came out starkly was that many children in migrant families act as interpreters for their own parents, who do not speak English, and often they attend appointments, miss school and are exposed to situations and correspondence that children really should not be exposed to, which adds to the inequality that these young people are facing. Does my hon. Friend agree that this “adultisation” of children really should not be happening?”
House of Commons11 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Does the hon. Member agree with me that it is also invidious that young people in Scotland who want to apply for the Young Scot card, which allows them free travel, have to produce a British birth certificate?”
House of Commons11 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Many of us have urged this course of action on the Government for some time now, and the imposition of sanctions on these two individuals and others in the Israeli Government is something that is, perhaps, over time. However, I very much welcome the Minister’s statement this evening and the hard work that has gone into getting us to this point. I understand the importance of working in concert with our allies, but if the co-operation of our allies is not forthcoming, will the UK Government, given the strength of feeling across the Chamber, unilaterally recognise the state of Palestine?”
House of Commons10 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the hon. Member for taking so many interventions; it is very welcome. As she will be aware, health is devolved to the Scottish Government, and we Scots have a slightly different system. However, Alzheimer Scotland has called on the Scottish Government to commit to recognising that the needs of people with advanced dementia are healthcare needs and to ensure equality of access to appropriate health and nursing care that is free at the point of delivery, regardless of our geography. Does she agree that that is what we all want for our loved ones?”
House of Commons3 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I was pleased to read in the SDR about the importance of building on the 2024 joint declaration on the Norwegian-UK strategic partnership, which recognises the autonomy of both countries and the strength that comes from working together. Does my right hon. Friend agree that that important partnership would be further strengthened if Norway decided to purchase the Type 26 frigates—the best frigates in the world—that are built in Govan, in Glasgow South West, and Scotstoun, in my Glasgow West constituency?”
House of Commons2 June 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Government have taken welcome action to implement targeted sanctions on Russia to disrupt the military supply chain and revenue funding for the war; hopefully, the same urgency can be applied to identifying and sanctioning those involved in the illegal transfer and mass deportation of children. I am very taken with the idea of a day of action to highlight this issue—perhaps we should do that on Ukrainian Independence Day in August. Without imminent action, more Ukrainian children will lose touch with their family, their home and their culture. Russia’s actions will have far-reaching and damaging effects for the families and for Ukraine, but most of all for the children.”
House of Commons21 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Russian Government also used the forced displacement of children and the erasure of their culture during the annexation of Crimea. According to a 2017 review of court records, this meant that less than 10% of children born in occupied Crimea were able to get a Ukrainian birth certificate. This deliberate war strategy will have long-term implications for the future of Ukraine. By targeting the youngest members of society, Russia is purposefully raising a future generation whose ties to their country and heritage have been weakened and, in some cases, completely erased.”
House of Commons21 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As we have heard, this ideological strategy comes directly from the top of the Russian Government, with President Putin repeatedly denying the legitimacy of Ukraine’s sovereignty and describing Ukrainians as Russians. Beyond the horrific removal of children from Ukraine, the Russian Government are using a deliberate tactic of cultural suppression and re-education to further erase the children’s Ukrainian identity. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has described the Russian Government’s actions as the targeted destruction of Ukraine’s culture, noting that the Russian authorities have removed cultural symbols, dismantled Ukrainian language education and rewritten national history in the occupied territories. Sadly, this is not a new tactic.”
House of Commons21 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“People across all generations were brought together in a celebration of Ukraine’s cultural heritage. But many Ukrainian children are denied the opportunity to engage with their heritage. Russia’s forced deportation of children has torn Ukrainian families apart, and the weaponisation of citizenship by the Russian Government is making it increasingly difficult for stolen Ukrainian children to be identified and returned to their families and homes. The naturalisation of these children as Russian citizens has a further devastating consequence, because it robs Ukraine of its future citizens. By denying those children their right to be Ukrainian, Russia is systematically working to remove their identity.”
House of Commons21 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) for securing the debate and for all the work she has been doing on such an important issue. In August last year, I was delighted to attend what has become a regular event in Victoria park in my constituency to celebrate Ukrainian independence day. It was hosted by the Friends of Victoria Park, in partnership with the Glasgow branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain. We celebrated Ukrainian culture, freedom and sovereignty, and created a sense of community by bringing together Ukrainians and Glaswegians who took part in various sporting activities, enjoyed Ukrainian art workshops—best to gloss over my efforts—and listened to beautiful Ukrainian music.”
House of Commons21 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Football Families for Justice is a voluntary organisation that campaigns on behalf of ex-professional footballers who have died or are suffering from neurodegenerative diseases incurred by heading footballs. Footballers suffer such diseases at four to five times the national average. The FFJ has tried to engage the football industry to persuade it to accept some responsibility for the problem, but to no avail. Will the Leader of the House advise on whether the Government would consider amendments to the Football Governance Bill that would encourage the industry to do so?”
House of Commons15 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend makes a powerful case for the efficacy of sanctions in achieving our diplomatic and foreign policy aims, but as we observe the 50,000 deaths, the countless injuries, the forced displacement, and now the possibility of mass starvation and the renewal of bombing of hospitals by Israel in Gaza, is it not time that sanctions were applied to Ministers such as Smotrich and Ben-Gvir? It is perfectly understandable for the Minister to say that he will not discuss future designations in the Chamber, but will he consider and discuss with colleagues the strength of feeling in this Chamber that sanctions must be placed on these individuals sooner rather than later?”
House of Commons15 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Friend the Member for Glasgow North East again. She was absolutely right to be challenging about what we all have to do, what all Governments have to do and what all local authorities have to do. It is only by working together that we will begin to make a difference for the people who rely on us to do that.”
House of Commons6 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I will not rehearse that; I will just say that we have known for a very long time that health inequalities, housing conditions, educational opportunities and poverty are all connected. A lifetime ago, I worked in the health service, and we were proud of but challenged by the Black report, which drew attention to all those facts. We have known about them since 1980, and have had the opportunity to do something about them over the years. We made some progress under the Blair Government, and we began to look at poverty, particularly child poverty, in the early days of the Scottish Parliament, but we need to do much more. All these issues are connected. If one part of that jigsaw is in the wrong place, the life chances and life opportunities of all those families and young people are badly affected. I close by thanking my hon.”
House of Commons6 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As we have heard, since 2013-14 the funding received by Glasgow city council has reduced significantly, putting severe pressure on services across the city. Hopefully, the record settlement that this Government has passed to the Scottish Government will allow them to address what is now chronic underfunding. Over recent years, I have been disappointed that the SNP administration in Glasgow has not seemed to feel it either necessary or required that it should challenge its colleagues in the Scottish Government at Holyrood about that funding situation, because it should not have been allowed to continue. We have heard a lot about the mortality rate in Glasgow.”
House of Commons6 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Earlier this year, I held a child poverty taskforce event. The submission from that has been fed into the Government’s taskforce. It was attended by many organisations that work with children and families in Glasgow West. The stories they told and the evidence they offered were truly shocking. One participant, a volunteer with a youth club, reflected on her experience of taking a group of children on a day out and giving each child £5 to buy lunch. One child asked if he could forgo lunch and give the money to his mum so that she could buy bread and milk for the family. As you will gather, I find that story horrific, but that is the reality for many children who are all too aware of the financial pressures that their parents are facing. In effect, it takes away their ability to enjoy their childhood and be children.”
House of Commons6 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Butler. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North East (Maureen Burke) on securing this important debate and on being such a doughty champion for her constituents. Poverty is experienced by many communities across Glasgow, as we have heard, and my constituency of Glasgow West is no exception. In 2022-23, 19.3% of all people in Glasgow were income-deprived, compared with 12.1% in Scotland across the board. In Glasgow in 2023, 41.1% of secondary pupils were registered for free school meals. The figure for Scotland is just 13.2%. The Drumchapel/Anniesland ward in my constituency has the greatest depth of poverty in Glasgow. That is a lot of statistics, but as my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North East says, there is a family or an individual behind every single one.”
House of Commons6 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Across the country, homeowners are suffering financial and material harm as a result of unqualified tradespeople carrying out work on family homes and often botching it. Many families across the country, not least in my constituency of Glasgow West, have suffered real hardship and worry as a result. As consumer protection is a reserved issue, would the Leader of the House consider giving up Government time for a debate where solutions to address the situation could be debated?”
House of Commons1 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is time for Governments on both sides of the border to act and work with Parkinson’s UK and Parkinson’s UK in Scotland to ensure that we do better for people with Parkinson’s for their families and the staff who support them. Parkinson’s UK has shown us the way; it is now time that we follow it.”
House of Commons1 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“By my calculations, that is something like £34 per person suffering from the disease in Scotland. That seems to me to be a woeful amount of money. I recognise that the effort to find a cure for Parkinson’s will inevitably have to be a global exercise, and one that this Government, I am sure, will want to play a large part in. But everyone has to get their act together and up their game, including the Scottish Government. At the end of the day, we want to find a preventive approach to Parkinson’s, but a cure along the way would be helpful too. Parkinson’s UK in Scotland called its report “Scotland Can’t Wait”, and rightly so. The 30 people diagnosed every week cannot wait, and the 222 people in Glasgow West certainly cannot either.”
House of Commons1 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The report drew on experience and robust data and makes some very important points. It highlights that investing in professional staff who can offer the kind of specialist treatment that people with Parkinson’s need would be an important step forward. Existing staff are already stretched, and if action is not taken soon they will be pushed to breaking point. Ensuring that people get the appropriate medication when it is needed, whether they are in hospital or at home, is also vital. Crucially, the mental health impacts of Parkinson’s need to be addressed, including Parkinson’s dementia, which can be frightening for patients and their families. A recent freedom of information request revealed that since the year 2020, less than half a million pounds was spent by the Scottish Government on research into Parkinson’s disease.”
House of Commons1 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In my constituency, some 222 people are believed to be living with Parkinson’s as we speak. I want to thank those who care for them—professionals, family members and volunteers alike—for their hard work and commitment. As we have heard, there is no cure for Parkinson’s, and current treatment can manage only some of the symptoms. It can be a frightening disease, and one that can lead to depression and despair. In Scotland alone there are approximately 30 new diagnoses every week. In 2024, Parkinson’s UK in Scotland produced an excellent report called “Scotland Can’t Wait”. In the report, Parkison’s UK in Scotland highlighted the many challenges that people with Parkinson’s currently face and the problems that will arise if the challenge of the increasing number of people being diagnosed is not addressed.”
House of Commons1 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) on securing this important debate at the end of Parkinson’s Awareness Month. I would like to begin by paying tribute to my old friend and former colleague Margo MacDonald, SNP Member of this House briefly in the 1970s and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the SNP and as an independent from 1999 until her death in 2014. Anyone who knew Margo will remember that she was a force of nature and that anything she did was done with her typical determination, wit and good humour. I credit Margo with my limited understanding of Parkinson’s and its variability, because for all the time she was in the Scottish Parliament she had Parkinson’s, but it did not stop her being one of the most effective communicators and advocates for her constituency.”
House of Commons1 May 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I have debated for many years with members of the Conservative party, and I have often disagreed with them, but I have never before been ashamed of them. Considering that Israel has for a long time now not been allowing journalists into Palestine and the west bank, and now seems determined not to allow parliamentarians to go to that country to build links and to see for themselves what is going on, is this the point where we need to consider what action we take going forward? Should that action be about talking to Israel, or does it need to be something slightly stronger?”
House of Commons7 April 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The council is considering imposing it only on those who live outside Glasgow, but I really do not know how people will prove where they live before they go into the tunnel. I am sure that the £500 million that this Labour Government have allocated to alleviate the problem in England and Wales will make a real difference. It is therefore to be hoped that the Scottish Government will pay close attention to this Government’s actions and learn from them for the good of all Scottish road users, and to allow our tourism and our economy generally to grow as it should.”
House of Commons7 April 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In this day and age, we could surely make that better for residents and for the utility companies, who must be literally pouring money down the holes that they dig. I want to draw attention to the situation of the Clyde tunnel, which is partly in my constituency. As its name suggests, it is a north-south vehicular tunnel that runs underneath the River Clyde. It is a very important road because it connects most of Glasgow, one way or another, to the Queen Elizabeth university hospital, among other locations. However, the Clyde tunnel is only allocated the same amount for repair as any other standard stretch of road, and that has resulted in an £820,000 maintenance shortfall every single year. As a result, Glasgow city council is now thinking about applying a toll to the road, and I think that would be absolutely crazy.”
House of Commons7 April 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is estimated that the city needs to spend £104 million repairing potholes, with the backlog for Scotland standing at a whopping £2.56 billion. As the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont), who is no longer in his place, mentioned earlier, as a former councillor I also know how hard the staff in the Glasgow city council roads department work, but they need to be given the resources to do the job. The hon. Gentleman also mentioned utility companies. I have a particular bugbear about utility companies: there does not seem to be any way of enforcing or even encouraging them to do a job, do it once and do it well. My own road has been dug up three times in the last two years by different utility companies.”
House of Commons7 April 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“At night and in winter the situation is worse: people sometimes cannot see the potholes or they find that they are so deep that they retain rainwater, so they look as if they are a clear stretch of road. Cars are damaged and pedestrians, cyclists and drivers are put at risk. However, Great Western Road is not unique. In fact, in the past two years in Glasgow, compensation to drivers has almost doubled, while the amount of additional money spent on repairing potholes has decreased by 20%. As we know, this year the Scottish Government received their largest ever budget settlement in the 26 years of devolution, but unfortunately little of that was passed on to hard pressed councils. Glasgow alone has lost out on over £400 million since 2014, even though it has been SNP controlled since 2017.”
House of Commons7 April 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗