Brian Leishman
MP for Alloa and Grangemouth · Labour · United Kingdom
“Fuel is being transported hundreds of miles from Stanlow in Cheshire to Scottish airports, increasing emissions and undermining our local fuel distribution industry.”
“Both were launched when the Iranian Government were sat around the negotiating table. Secondly, there is the rapid unravelling of the subsequent ceasefire under Trump’s maximalist attitude, with his having stopped the military campaign which his Administration had started in the first place without agreement or approval internationally.”
“We must also openly denounce and separate ourselves from the Trump Administration’s dangerous and hypocritical tactics, specifically Trump’s willingness to initiate and pursue illegal wars while claiming to negotiate.”
“I have often quoted the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in this place, and it says: “It is now 85 seconds to midnight.” That is the closest the world has ever been to annihilation.”
“This could easily become an all-out full-scale war with devastating consequences, not just for the people of Iran but for the wider middle east region and, of course, for hundreds of millions more, with the economic and environmental impacts reaching across the globe.”
“We now witness a new cycle of rapidly worsening tit-for-tat military action, with the Islamic Republic Government targeting commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz and US assets in neighbouring countries, and the US launching blunt-force bombardments, primarily of cities and areas along Iran’s southern coast, but also elsewhere in the…”
The complete record
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“When I am out campaigning and knocking on people’s doors, they tell me just how irritated they are with politicians who endlessly try to deflect and defend the most absurd and wrong decisions, just because of the party they represent. Of course, this is not unique to the Labour party—all parties indulge in this. The Conservatives defend their record of austerity that ripped the heart out of communities up and down the United Kingdom. Many in the SNP refuse to take responsibility for failures in housing, education, health, local authorities and vital public services, but credit to the right hon. Member for Aberdeen South (Stephen Flynn) for alluding to, with a lightness of touch, some of the travails that his party has experienced. I just want my Labour Government to be better than that.”
“The accusations of secrecy and goings-on in this place are serious political issues that mean the world to a whole host of our constituents. Sometimes that relates to the traditions and protocols of this place, which to many people seem archaic, arcane and totally unrelatable to how they lead their daily lives. People are regularly frustrated by Ministers not answering questions at the Dispatch Box, and, equally, by shadow Ministers’ amnesia about their own record when in power. People are infuriated watching politicians do the media circuit, slavishly going through the party lines, no matter how illogical they may be. All of it just breeds utter contempt in politics and for politicians. People are sick to the back teeth of it all.”
“From the outset, I wish to state my support for the delivery of justice for all the people who were harmed by Jeffrey Epstein and those involved with him who committed such despicable violations and crimes, and who must be held responsible. The people who were exploited should be at the front of all our minds. It is my opinion that this motion does not come from anything noble or a deep concern for those who were trafficked or abused; nor is it about the protection of democracy or anything of that nature. Of course, the motion is designed to embarrass the Prime Minister and put Labour MPs in an awkward position. Not for the first time, we Labour MPs are in an awkward position, and not for the first time, it is because of the Prime Minister’s actions, not those of the Opposition.”
“Increasing the uptake of bowel cancer screening improves rates of early diagnosis and saves lives, but about a third of people eligible for a FIT test—a faecal immunochemical test—do not complete one. That figure rises in the most deprived areas of Scotland, where up to half of people are not completing the test. What collaborative work are the Government undertaking to improve participation rates and reduce such health inequalities across the United Kingdom?”
“Can he name another profession that encounters such high levels of violence, where it is so normalised and where workers are expected to work until they are 68 years old? Does he accept that prison officers working until 68 is unrealistic and that the unjust retirement age is a factor in the staff recruitment and retention issues in the service? Finally, will the Government do the right and sensible thing and lower the retirement age for prison officers?”
“The Prison Officers Association has stated that since 2010, over 116,000 years of cumulative prison officer experience have left the UK wide service. Time is pressing, so I will lay out some questions for the Minister to address either today or, if it is more convenient, by letter. On body armour, does he agree with the POA that stab-proof vests should be mandated across the entire closed adult male estate, not just separation centres and close supervision centres? Does he agree that slash-proof vests should be available to all prison officers, wherever they work? Does he accept that one of the drivers for increased prison violence is the amount of experience that has left the Prison Service?”
“No one should go to their workplace if it is in a decrepit condition. Our prison officers pride themselves on their professionalism. They are rightly concerned about conditions for the prisoners that they are tasked with keeping safe, but also with helping to rehabilitate. If these issues are not tackled, the strain on our prison system and on the officers who staff it will only keep growing, leaving our prisons much more dangerous and rehabilitation much less likely. Overcrowding, squalid conditions and increases in prison violence can be attributed to the political cuts of austerity. Rising numbers of assaults on officers have led to retention issues. With so many officers leaving the service, that means an exodus of vital skills and expertise. This is no anecdotal tale.”
“Scotland’s prison population is the largest we have ever had. Overcrowding is making everything much more difficult. It has an impact on officers’ ability to look after prisoners safely, and a negative impact on the likelihood of effectively rehabilitating offenders. We simply do not have enough prison officers to safely manage a prison population of this size. Alongside the record numbers, the complexity of the prisoner demographic means an urgent need for extra prison spaces, increased investment in staff training, a staff recruitment drive and an overall longer-term strategy that will define the purpose of our prisons. With much of our prison estate in dire need of investment, many facilities are not at the standard necessary to keep officers and prisoners safe. Facilities that are outdated and unhygienic must be addressed.”
“No amount of body armour will assist an officer who has to deal with criminals who are looking to gain psychological advantages over them and trying to ingratiate themselves, ultimately to manipulate the officer and to garner information. It is a relentless mental attack, all done to assert power, control and dominance over the officers. Many officers have said that the mental strength and fortitude necessary to be always in a heightened state of alertness is incredibly exhausting. There is also the physical element of working on landings. It is absolutely ridiculous to ask someone in their mid to late 60s to cope with the demands of going up against a prisoner who could be 40 to 50 years younger. Common sense says that that just should not happen. Why are we considering body armour provision as a solution?”
“The 3.5% pay award that officers are due to receive this coming year is just not enough—not when inflation is sitting at 3% and is projected to rise with ongoing global war and conflict, increasing energy costs and a cost of living crisis that shows no sign of stopping. Prison officers deserve better—all workers deserve better. No one should become poorer. When we factor in the fact that those officers are expected to work until they are 68, which is ludicrous for any worker, and when we look at the mental and physical demands of being a prison officer, we see that it is unrealistic, unjust and utterly unacceptable. Let me talk briefly about the psychological strain of the profession.”
“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Betts. I thank the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) for bringing this very important debate to Westminster Hall. Even though the prison system is largely a devolved matter, I would like to speak about things from a Scottish perspective. I regularly speak about prison officers’ working conditions in this place, in both Chambers and as a member of the Justice Unions Parliamentary Group. I am fortunate to know many serving and recently retired officers from HMP Glenochil in my constituency. Officers at Glenochil and every other prison in Scotland do remarkable work every day for pay and conditions that, in all honesty, do not match their skills, commitment and efforts.”
“When I went campaigning with Paul Godzik, Suzanne Grahame and Siobhan Paterson, three outstanding Scottish Labour candidates in the Holyrood elections, I was often asked, “What’s the difference between Scottish Labour and the SNP?” Well, let us try this one on for size. I joined the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Grangemouth in December as she announced £120 million to save 500 jobs on site and the future of the UK chemicals industry. Let us compare that with the SNP Government announcement yesterday. They have decided that they are going to buy more buses built in China than in Larbert and Falkirk. I know how I feel, but what does the Leader of the House make of the SNP abandoning Scottish workers, communities and industry?”
“It is expected that food inflation will hit 4%. That means that a typical family’s annual grocery bill will increase by approximately £240. In Scotland, approximately 1 million people experienced food insecurity in the last year, and food insecurity is closely linked to access to and consumption of fruit and vegetables. The Chancellor said that she will meet with supermarkets, but what will the asks and demands be so that people can access nutritious and affordable food?”
“I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way, which is generous of him. I have been very critical of my Government in relation to the closure of Grangemouth refinery, but I will give you the opportunity of being critical of your Government’s inaction on the issue.”
“I also say to the Government that it is common sense to take at least some form of ownership in these new clean, green industries. They should break the cycle of reliance on private capital, foreign ownership and volatile fossil fuel markets and do more of what a Labour Government should.”
“The SNP abandoned the workers in the Grangemouth community. Some £434.5 million has been committed for Grangemouth’s industrial future from this Labour Government—I have had to fight tooth and nail for it. The excellent news is that 500 jobs in the chemical industry have been saved, and that Project Willow is starting to deliver new jobs through the MiAlgae and Celtic Renewables announcements. However, I say to the Minister that the Government must match their ambitions with much more action. That means providing thousands of good, well-paid jobs and getting the new industries we need into Grangemouth and other industrial towns like it. There is still more than £190 million available in the National Wealth Fund for my constituency—we should start using it.”
“I am ideologically opposed to the Conservatives and Reform UK, but what really pains me is being at odds with my own party. I have been clear that there should be no ban without a plan, and there really must be a plan, because the danger is that oil and gas workers will become the modern-day coalminers. Thousands of workers are nervous about what the future holds, and they are right to be—they have seen billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos and the Chinese state company PetroChina close the Grangemouth oil refinery, ending 100 years of Scottish industrial history. The Conservative Government did not want to know about the issue, and the SNP Government refused to engage with Ratcliffe, the Chinese and the trade unions that represent the workers even, though they knew about the planned closure for three years.”
“I would like to draw the House’s attention to my membership of Unite the union. I agree with my right hon. Friend the Member for Oxford East (Anneliese Dodds): the framing of this debate is somewhat misleading. The Conservatives and Reform have no real desire to lower people’s bills; nor are they interested in saving jobs or the prosperity of working-class communities. We can see that from looking at history. Let us look at the coalmines: right hon. and hon. Members on the Conservative and Reform Benches would have been on the side of Thatcher, MacGregor, Ridley, Walker and Heseltine. This debate is really about Tory and Reform Members revelling in the free market. The only extraction they really care about is that of corporate profit and shareholder dividends.”
“Energy, agriculture and food, chemicals, iron and steel, and construction all have far greater employment multipliers than military spending—for example, health is 2.5 times more efficient than military spending for job creation. British military spending supports less than 1% of the UK workforce. So let us not kid each other: it will not be working-class communities who benefit; it will be weapons manufacturers. Defence is neither a UK-wide industry, nor does it massively help small or medium-sized businesses, as they only secure approximately 5% of all orders. Ministry of Defence figures highlight that defence employment is densely concentrated in specific geographical pockets of the country. Instead of bombs and weapons and talking about a defence dividend, what about what Tony Benn called a “peace dividend”?”
“Now, a cost of living crisis has taken hold to the extent that most of the public think it will never end. All of that means deteriorating living standards. The social fabric of our country has been ripped apart—this is life in the world’s sixth-largest economy. Pursuing economic growth and improving people’s living standards are the right thing to do, but thinking that militarism is the way to achieve that is at best misguided; at worst, it will further jeopardise global security. It also makes little economic sense. Military spending has one of the lowest employment multipliers of all economic categories: it is 70th out of 100 in terms of the employment it generates.”
“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. This will be a tough enough listen for many in the Chamber to hear it just the once—I do not need to do it three times. In January, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the doomsday clock forward. We are currently sitting at 85 seconds to midnight: the closest the world has ever been to ending. We live in a time of great political turmoil—of that, we are all certain—but the debate about ramping up defence spending, and making cuts to public services to do it, has been going on for decades. The suggestion of reinstating the two-child benefit cap so that we can have more bombs and weapons is against everything that I believe in. We have seen austerity that has created immiseration and poverty up and down the United Kingdom. Then we had a pandemic, with an explosion in wealth inequality.”
“Yes, I do. But when I look at the threats that we face in this country, I have an inbox full of constituents who are saying that they have to make the incredible decision of whether to feed their family or put the heating on. That is actually killing people. I appreciate what the right hon. Gentleman said about perceived threats, but those are the actual threats that I am dealing with in my inbox. As I say, there is a choice. We can build hospitals to save lives and schools to educate our children, and upgrade infrastructure—we all know that local authorities most definitely need that, as they need investment in public services. These are the things that really will improve people’s living standards up and down the United Kingdom.”
“I feel that workers and communities, certainly in my constituency of Alloa and Grangemouth, need the former and not the latter. It is my opinion that militarism will not make the UK a more equal country or, indeed, the world a safer place. I fear that, given the way that we are going and when we look at geopolitical forces, in January next year the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will move the second hand closer to midnight once again.”
“The hon. Gentleman focuses on the constitutional question that is such a huge part of Scottish and UK politics. I honestly have no issue with people who voted yes and I have no issue with people who voted no. The politics that I try to bring to this place is not based on nationalism versus Unionism; it is about class, which I think is the overriding political force in this country and has been for centuries, regardless of whether that is north or south of the border. I mentioned the choice that I would want. The other choice is to spend tens of billions of pounds on military hardware, with that money inevitably flowing to private capital and corporate shareholders. For me, that will only serve to create even more inequality. It is very much an either/or. Do we build or do we destroy?”
“I have been very clear—I have said it outside the Chamber, and I will say it inside—that I do not want Scotland or the United Kingdom to have any nuclear weapons. What is the hon. Gentleman’s personal opinion?”
“US military aircraft departed from the Scottish Government-owned Prestwick airport up to 32 times in the 10 days before American and Israeli strikes started on Iran. Like many of my constituents, I am worried about the prospect of a Scottish airport being used in an illegal war. Will the Secretary of State definitively say today who has the authority to stop the US military using Scottish civilian infrastructure? Is it the Prime Minister or is it the First Minister of Scotland?”
“It would put an end to the reductions in service provision; to the cuts to resources, including recruitment and retention issues; to the prioritisation of parcels over letters; and to the disgraceful imposition of low wages and inferior conditions for new starters in 2022. Postal workers across Alloa and Grangemouth are sick of their working conditions. Every day, they see a national institution being ravaged by private capital. No wonder morale is at an all-time low. We, as Back-Bench or Front-Bench Labour MPs, are here as trade unionists. What is happening to our postal workers is against everything we believe in. Our postal workers need us to be in this place for them. It is not too late for us to step in to stop the asset-stripping of Royal Mail and nationalise it. What would a Labour party in opposition say about the situation?”
“It is a pleasure to have you in the Chair, Mr Twigg. I refer Members to my registered interests. I thank the hon. Member for Exmouth and Exeter East (David Reed) for securing the debate. “Public services should be in public hands, not making profits for shareholders. Support common ownership of rail, mail, energy and water”— I could not agree more with that quote, which was leadership pledge No. 5 from the now Prime Minister, then simply the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras, when he was bidding to become the leader of the Labour party. Public ownership really does offer the best solution for ending the managed decline of Royal Mail.”
“Whether it is providing libraries, meeting rooms, workspaces, kids’ play areas, community gardens or warm spaces for socialising and catching up, the Tillicoultry, Coalsnaughton and Devonside development trust is doing so much good. Community asset transfers are so much more than just taking on a building: the feeling of belonging that they often provide is invaluable, and the people involved deserve every bit of credit possible.”
“The trust has also taken on the library, and it plans to expand the range of activities that it offers to local people—congratulations to everyone involved. It was great to meet Janette from the Tullibody community development trust, which promotes social inclusion and healthy living, and is instrumental in creating community spirit and a sense of tremendous local pride. I also met those involved in the Tullibody Heritage Centre. Its history group has amassed an incredible collection that celebrates life in the ancient village—a fantastic way to spend a morning. Last Saturday, I popped into the Ben Cleuch Centre in Tillicoultry for World Book Day, where some of the trustees were dressed up as famous literary characters.”
“In the beautiful Zetland and Inchyra Parks, the Central Football Foundation has taken on the pavilions. Extensive repair works that will make the pavilions more energy-efficient are scheduled, and alongside the Young Portonian Theatre Company, they will be excellent venues for sporting and cultural community activities. Another local football club doing great things is Gairdoch United, which has taken on the Glensburgh pavilion in Carronshore and the Letham pavilion, for the advancement of public participation in the beautiful game. Across the constituency in Clackmannan, the development trust has secured the future of the town hall, where I had a ball playing indoor bowls—badly, I must admit.”
“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair this afternoon, Sir John, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) for securing this debate. When it comes to recognising what communities need, no one knows better than local folk. I am lucky that there are so many special organisations and inspirational people positively impacting all the communities across Alloa and Grangemouth, and I would like to highlight a few today. The Newlands community hall in Grangemouth has been taken over by SeaLock Infinity, which has increased community use of the facility with various clubs, exercise classes and social activities taking place. That will improve health and wellbeing enormously. Also in Grangemouth, the local community council successfully campaigned against the cuts to Zetland Park maintenance.”
“If it came to a vote, I certainly would not vote for the reforms, and anyone who would needs to have a look at themselves, and ask themselves the serious question of what happened to their humanity.”
“I honestly do not know why the current leadership seems to think there is mileage in copying the far-right ideals of Reform. Thinking that that is the route to gaining electoral success is incredibly misguided and in no small measure wrong. No one voted Labour thinking that we would make social media videos bragging about deporting some of the most vulnerable people in the world. It is beyond distasteful and it is dangerous, because this is a huge political and moral moment, not just for this Labour party but for this country. We all see that the far right is making headway across Europe. Fascists are already in power in Italy. France looks likely to elect as President a known extremist with a racist past. With the Government’s cruel reforms, we are trying to appease and pander to the far right’s lack of humanity.”
“But with its immigration reforms, the Home Office is being tough on the very weakest—the most oppressed people. The reforms do not represent the values of the Labour party that I joined, and that I am still proud of. We should always stand up for oppressed people at home and all over the world. That really should be a given. The feeling of perpetual review and assessment will cause no end of uncertainty. The change from five years to 30 months will negatively impact people’s ability to integrate and contribute to Britain. What a barrier to building a new life for people who have fled war, oppression and persecution—the sort of traumas that, personally, I cannot comprehend. This is most certainly not the route to making the country a more caring and more tolerant place.”
“It is a pleasure to have you in the Chair, Mr Stringer. My appreciation goes to the hon. Member for Perth and Kinross-shire (Pete Wishart) for securing this debate. He has been consistent in defending human rights in his decades of service to this place, and he has my respect for that. When the country elects a Labour Government, it does so with certain ideas in mind: to lift people out of poverty, to improve public services, to offer genuine left-wing solutions for the problems the country is facing, and to show compassion to the most vulnerable people, both domestically and from across the world. That is why I vote Labour, and one of the main reasons why I joined the party. No one ever votes Labour with the desire to be tough on the weak and weak on the tough.”
“I appreciate it, and I will be quick. I understand what my hon. Friend is saying, but could he clarify what he thinks, with regard to Labour values, about the horrendous social media posts that we have seen, showing people being bundled into the backs of vans?”
“T8. Prison officers are beyond frustrated. They want the Government to sit down with their union, the POA, to negotiate a fair and realistic pension age. We were told in this Chamber over a year ago that Ministers were waiting for advice from civil servants. What does the advice recommend, and does it recognise that for prison officers, 68 is too late?”
“The sudden shift in steel import policy has created uncertainty for firms that have invested heavily in expanding their operations based on previously stable trading conditions. Will the Secretary of State commit to working with affected businesses in Scotland, including Central Rebar in Alloa, and provide clarity to prevent further disruption and to ensure that companies vital to the Scottish industrial base are not placed at a competitive disadvantage?”
“I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Having spoken with postal workers from across Alloa and Grangemouth, I know that morale is at rock-bottom because of years of savage cuts, and restructuring that has negatively impacted their ability to do their job. Does the Government accept that the erosion of the service and workforce morale is due to privatisation, and that an essential public service like Royal Mail should be under public ownership, for the public good? When will the Government effectively hold bodies like Ofcom to account, because its inaction and impotence is costing our constituents dearly?”
“It is interesting to note that, for the duration of this statement and the question and answer session, there has been zero participation from the SNP and Reform, which goes to show exactly how much both parties care about Scotland’s energy security. I appreciate that the Secretary of State will not be able to give an in-depth response at the Dispatch Box, but can he give any update on Project Willow at Grangemouth? Specifically, I want to know about the future jobs coming to the town and any potential Government ownership to secure our industrial security and Scotland’s energy sovereignty.”
“The path that we are on will lead only to more suffering for the working class of all nations. War is a relatively easy thing to talk about, especially for people like me who have never served in a war in uniform. The respect and gratitude that I have for those who have and who do is enormous. Tragically, I find it incredible that the post-war consensus of trying to avoid war at all costs seems to have been largely forgotten.”
“Back then, European nations were vying for resources, colonies and the expansion of trade routes in Africa and Asia, so war was a certainty. History also teaches us that it is mainly nations’ working-class populations that are sent off to fight and die. In world war one, the working class, including from Commonwealth nations, were treated as nothing more than fodder; they were disposable. They were sacrificed for glorious imperial gain. Across two world wars, fanatical nationalism, extreme militarism and the pursuit of imperial supremacy accounted for more than 75 million deaths. We have had terrifying contributions from Members across the Chamber regarding the massive increase in spending to rearm the country. Do people not see that we are heading towards more conflicts, more war, more destruction and more death?”
“More than 1 million troops from Commonwealth nations died in the “war to end wars”. My thanks go to my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford South (Jas Athwal) for securing this important debate today to honour their service and the service of their comrades who did survive the first world war. Anyone who has been in a secondary school history class knows that world war one was the result of hyper-nationalism growing across Europe, coupled with a passion for militarism. Armament is all too familiar once again today, with the perverse and absurd theory that spending billions of pounds more on weaponry than on housing, health, education and funding vital public services will be the route to improving people’s living standards. History shows that after nationalism and militarism, imperialism is likely to follow.”
“Crucially, they allowed his family to stop being carers and simply be mum, dad and a loving sister in those precious final days. Families deserve a system that recognises that young people at the end of life are individuals, with a unique set of needs. I ask the Minister to please listen to Calum’s story and invest further in palliative care, so that other families do not find themselves in the same position as Laura, Keith and Kate. There is not a pounds-and-pence figure in any budget that can be put on giving families the best treatment and comfort possible at the time they need it most.”
“District nurses and adult hospice services, dedicated as they are, are more equipped to care for elderly patients, not a 16-year-old boy. The sensitivity and understanding required for caring for a young person at that stage of life is very different from that required for caring for someone in their later years. While Calum had the bravery, attitude and confidence of an adult, he was still a child. Traumatically, the Turners waited more than seven hours for morphine, and were negatively judged for taking the decision to bring Calum home, but that changed when Children’s Hospices Across Scotland became involved. CHAS nurses brought dignity and understanding. They listened. They treated Calum as a young person, not as a patient.”
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) for bringing the debate to the House, and for all the campaigning that she does. She is a force for getting palliative care the funding that it truly needs. Laura and Keith Turner and their daughter Kate are at the heart of the community spirit that makes Sauchie such a special place. The Turners shared the story of their son, Kate’s younger brother Calum, who was just 16 when diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma. No family should face what the Turners did with Calum’s illness. When the Turners were told that no more could be done, Calum made the decision that he wanted to pass away somewhere familiar—at home. The family did everything they could to make Calum’s final days comfortable and as peaceful as possible, but the Turners experienced a system designed for adults.”
“For example, it is always great to see so many people come to the Christmas lights switch-on and for kids to meet Santa Claus. I thank the trustees, Craig, Colin, Stewart, Gordon, Robert and Davy, for inviting me along to serve up tasty dinners at the senior citizens Christmas lunch. It was commented that seeing an MP do an honest day’s work was somewhat refreshing.”
“Heading across the Forth to Grangemouth, it was a pleasure to meet Kirsty from Talbot House, who runs a lunch club for pensioners. Coming together to spend an afternoon in company over a meal and playing bingo is a social highlight for so many. In Larbert and Stenhousemuir, Keeping Larbert and Stenhousemuir Beautiful was originally set up to tidy green spaces and plant and maintain flowers in the community. Now, it also runs a food pantry for vulnerable people in low-income households. It is a vital community drop-in centre for local people to come and spend some time. Then there is the Carronshore heritage forum, a volunteer-led organisation dedicated to strengthening local community spirit in the village through projects, initiatives and events.”
“There is no doubt that the support that the group has given has saved the lives of brave ex-servicemen and women. The Sauchie Community Group has done so much for nearly 35 years. Laura’s Tiny Tots group gives children the best start in life; Anne always guarantees a warm welcome at Chatty Latte; and Keith’s recently formed history group preserve and promote Sauchie legends. There are also lots of other positive mental health activities in various musical groups, all of which are fantastic. The Sauchie resource centre is always busy. Love in a Box was founded by two ladies from Alloa: Sharon McCafferty and Margaret Douglas. They want every kid in Clackmannanshire to experience the festive season. They make sure that every child wakes up on Christmas morning with presents to open.”