Graeme Downie
MP for Dunfermline and Dollar · Labour · United Kingdom
“Young people make a hugely positive contribution to our communities, but for months, sadly, we have seen physical assaults and antisocial behaviour at Dunfermline bus station, perpetrated by a small minority of young offenders.”
“It is something I have raised with the Department since the publication of the DIP. On future infrastructure capability, I will be slightly parochial and ask the Minister to respond to a couple of questions around submarine infrastructure when he is winding up.”
“I have repeatedly argued in this place that the United Kingdom should regard itself as already being in a sustained confrontation with the Russian state—not a conventional shooting war, but a prolonged campaign of hostile activity directed against our people, our infrastructure, our economy and our democratic institutions—and that raises…”
“Friend the Member for North East Derbyshire (Louise Sandher-Jones), said: “We cannot provide detail on how the MOD would respond to certain activities versus others as this would assist our adversaries.” Rather than burden the Department with a load of additional written questions, can I ask the Minister some very specific questions?”
“That includes the improvements in pay and support for serving personnel and their families and in housing, which is leading to increases in recruitment, retention and morale. That is all a vital part of rearmament and deterrence, showing our adversaries that our armed forces are ready to fight tonight, as was mentioned earlier.”
“We are not alone, and for anyone who wants to track this activity across Europe, Emma Burrows from AP News has a fantastic website with up-to-date information. At what point do Governments say enough is enough, and at what point, crucially, do they tell the British people that a line has been crossed?”
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“I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. It is clear both from the statement and from the follow-up questions that the previous Government have wasted millions of pounds in defence spending that could have been spent better, making it clear that Labour is the party of defence. That money could also have been spent better in our economy, to support the defence sector across the UK. What steps will the Secretary of State take to ensure that future programmes will be spent in the UK? What guarantees can he offer to support shipbuilding across this country?”
“I will return to Sandra, who said to me: “I am the only person who wants to see my job eliminated. I want to be out of a job, because it would mean we have successfully ended the need for food banks in this country.””
“I genuinely hope that the SNP take action in their budget in December to tackle poverty, and I truly hope that they are successful, but the warning signs are not positive. Groups such as the Poverty and Inequality Commission and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation have said that we are running out of ways to stress the need for rapid action from the Scottish Government. Food banks and the Trussell Trust have told us that the cap on universal credit deductions is one of the main things pushing people towards food bank use. That is why I am delighted that the Budget last month reduced the cap from 25% to 15%. Is this the limit of what the Government and I want to achieve? Absolutely not, but the Budget set a clear direction and showed the priorities of the Labour Government.”
“I spoke to Sandra again this week and asked her for an update. She said that, in the year from April ’23 to March ’24, the Dunfermline food bank fed just under 9,000 people, approximately one third of whom were children. The Government have already delivered a genuine living wage in Scotland, meaning a pay rise for more than 200,000 of the lowest-paid Scots and £3.4 billion of extra funding for Scotland. The question now for the SNP is: how will they spend that? There are no hiding places. Will they carry on as they have to date, scrapping the fuel insecurity fund from £30 million to zero, cutting and scrapping the parental transition fund, and driving more people towards food banks?”
“That is pressure, Ms Vaz; It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. I congratulate the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan) on securing this debate. Every Member wants to reduce the number of people relying on food banks and to tackle poverty effectively. I am surprised that the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East chose to reference so many devolved policy areas—he made clear in his point of order in the Chamber yesterday that he does not believe that such behaviour belongs in Parliament. I shall begin by thanking the 200 volunteers who operate the Dunfermline food bank in my constituency. It has one site in Dunfermline itself and four satellite sites around the area. It is led by the fantastic Sandra, whom I was delighted to meet over the summer.”
“Where we have another layer of government, we must ensure that it does not fail local authorities—I am, of course, thinking particularly of Scotland. It has taken a long time for a Parliament and Government to recognise and address the different lives lived by our armed forces and their families. It should be no surprise that it has once again taken a Labour Government to take the necessary action to protect our armed forces.”
“The independent role that the Bill seeks to establish offers the possibility to create an effective and independent process that will provide people with confidence that they can raise concerns and see an established and transparent process for how those concerns will be investigated and addressed quickly and effectively. I do not welcome the future position of Ministers who must respond to some of these reports, as I believe they will lay bare some of the challenges that have been allowed to build up over years and decades, but face them we will and face them we must. When the Minister responds, will he explain how the commissioner is intended to work with the devolved Administrations and local authorities inside those Administrations?”
“In an ever more unstable world, we must ensure that UK armed forces are an attractive employer, not only for those on the frontline but for the thousands of essential staff who might otherwise choose to work in the private sector, in areas such as logistics or technology. We must ensure that bullying, harassment and discrimination are driven from our armed forces at all levels. Not only is that the right thing to do, and how we make the armed forces an attractive and responsible employer, and not only is it how we build and maintain morale, and recruit and retain staff, but it is also how we ensure that our armed forces are able and ready to fight when we need them to.”
“On a related matter, I strongly welcomed the announcement by the Prime Minister and the Government’s actions with the homes for heroes commitment, and I thank my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary, and his ministerial team, for the rigour that I know they are applying to its implementation. I wish we could see more action, particularly from the SNP in Scotland, where I would like to see a much more committed approach to services for our armed forces and veterans. If we do not begin to address some of these issues quickly and directly, and with the highly competitive career market that we face, it will only become harder to recruit and retain armed forces personnel.”
“While some issues must continue to be dealt with by the chain of command, because the role of serving personnel often means that their families must follow them around, there must also be a route that allows them to raise broader issues of concern—something that the Bill will achieve with the Armed Forces Commissioner. As others have mentioned, we must ensure that living conditions are appropriate for our armed forces personnel, both with their families and when apart. It is unacceptable to expect our armed forces to live in inadequate housing, not just from a health perspective but because that is not conducive to modern family life. I spoke recently to veterans in my community, and they said that sometimes they would just welcome access to adequate wi-fi, so that they can keep in touch with their families when abroad.”
“From the Royal Navy and Rosyth Dockyard in my constituency, to the former RAF base at Leuchars, now used by the Army, the existing RAF base at Lossiemouth, the nuclear deterrent on the Clyde, and training grounds for commando and special forces units throughout the highlands, Dunfermline, Fife and Scotland know a lot about what is needed to support soldiers and their families, which is why I welcome the Bill. Forces families face long periods apart, frequent moves, educational changes, housing issues—those have already been mentioned—inconsistent access to healthcare, and sometimes even different tax arrangements within the UK. The nature of the military, with the vital and necessary chain of command can lead, and in the past has led, to a closed shop, and the development of toxic and unhelpful practices and cultures.”
“The Government have already taken action to stabilise our economy, unleash investment, and reform the House of Lords. For Scotland, the recent Budget saw a record £3.4 billion of additional funding, a pay rise for 200,000 Scots, and many other benefits. In defence, as others have mentioned, the Government have increased pay for our armed forces, delivered an extra £2.5 billion for the defence budget, on top of £3 billion annually for Ukraine, for as long as it will take to defeat Vladimir Putin. The Bill will help to protect those serving in our armed forces and their families. In the Dunfermline and Dollar region and the wider part of Fife we have a proud heritage of military families, both serving and in veteran communities.”
“May I, too, begin by welcoming contributions from across the House? It has been a remarkably cross-party, consensual debate so far, and I am sure that will continue. Unlike some who have spoken, my family do not have a veteran, but I grew up for three and a half years on an RAF base in Berlin. It was subject to something called the Berlin budget, which ensured that adequate housing was not a problem, thanks to taxpayers in Berlin. It is interesting that this provision is modelled on an existing German position—that is always something I would welcome, and a country that I have great feelings for. It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, as this Labour Government continue at pace to put in place more of the many commitments made to my constituents, and others, in our manifesto.”
“Last week, I was made aware of a constituent who is a carer for his wife, who experienced a stroke in 2016. The constituent is a veteran who lives with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was awarded carer’s allowance in 2017. Late last year, the DWP began demanding the return of more than £51,000 in alleged universal credit overpayments, and this April, under the previous Government, the DWP began taking it from his state pension without warning. Will the Minister meet me to discuss this case in more detail so that I can help my constituent?”
“Like others on this side of the House, I welcome the increase in defence spending that was announced in the Budget, after years of Tory cuts to our armed forces. Does the Secretary of State agree that we need to increase defence spending in response to emerging threats around the world, from Ukraine to the middle east and Asia-Pacific, and that the figure of 2.5% should be kept under review in the light of changing events around the world?”
“I could go on and on about the fantastic rural communities in my constituency, but I will end with my commitment to continuing to champion and advocate for the different needs, priorities and considerations of our rural communities throughout my time in this House.”
“Tourists increasingly visit Culross, a village in my constituency where movies and TV shows such as “Outlander” were filmed. As we approach Christmas, the House might be interested to know that much of the film “Christmas in Scotland” was filmed in this beautiful village. But, of course, this brings its own pressures, as thousands of visitors and hundreds of tour buses visit Culross each week. I am delighted that Fife council is working with the excellent and very active Culross community council on these issues, but we must balance the needs of visitors with the needs of, and impact on, the local community.”
“Although failing transport infrastructure causes challenges, digital infrastructure is similarly problematic and is not the panacea for accessibility that it is sometimes heralded as being. Rural areas suffer from delays in getting broadband infrastructure. Openreach was very excited to bring cabinet service to the village of Blairhall in my constituency. Everyone was looking forward to it, and it was completed—other than for seven houses on one street, where Openreach decided it was not commercially viable to introduce the service. The SNP’s R100 programme, already delayed and over budget, will eventually get to delivering this upgrade, but not until 2026 or 2027. After the pandemic, increasing numbers of tourists have sought to take advantage of the beauty to be found in rural Scotland.”
“Buses to either Forth Valley hospital near Falkirk or Victoria hospital in Kirkcaldy can take more than an hour, so getting to an appointment at a specific time without a car is difficult and very disruptive to day-to-day life. The community in High Valleyfield experienced this just over a year ago, when the breast screening van was withdrawn. People were then required to travel to Dunfermline, a journey of more than two hours each way. Sadly, I heard of women of all ages no longer making their appointments, and I do not think anyone in this House would want that. At a recent surgery in Dollar, I was told of the incredible challenges in accessing hospital transport services; the excessive bureaucracy and other barriers disadvantage people living in rural areas.”
“Their rurality, along with high levels of deprivation, presents unique challenges. Bus services are irregular and unreliable, making access to healthcare difficult. It can take more than an hour to get to Dunfermline by bus, a journey that takes just 15 minutes by car. Similarly, without a car it is next to impossible to access train or bus services to cities such as Edinburgh or Glasgow, while the lack of services after 6 pm in some areas means that park-and-ride options are not viable for those who want to commute by public transport. Living in rural areas presents a further difficulty in accessing health services.”
“Along with five Scottish Labour colleagues and Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, I was recently able to meet NFU Scotland and have a constructive conversation on that and other issues. It was disappointing, however, that no one from the Scottish National party was able to attend. Constructive engagement, rather than the often misleading and divisive rhetoric we have seen from some Conservative Members, will always be appreciated by our farming communities. I am awaiting further information from NFUS, but I believe that it understands the intention of the policy that has been announced, and our eagerness to work with it and others to support Scottish farmers. My constituency includes former coalmining villages such as High Valleyfield, Oakley and Blairhall.”
“I congratulate those who made their maiden speech this afternoon. My constituency of Dunfermline and Dollar has a significant rural area, particularly through west Fife and Clackmannanshire. While rural areas often face different challenges from urban areas, the concerns are often the same. They include access to health, education, transport and other public services, so while this debate is about rural affairs, we must always be careful to ensure that we tackle the different challenges faced in rural areas with thoughtful consideration and sensitivity, and without creating division with those who live in urban and suburban areas. I begin by mentioning concerns that farmers in my community have raised about changes in the Budget to agricultural property relief.”
“I do not always find such arguments convincing, but they at least have a perceived logic to them. However, fuel is not a luxury; it is a lifeline. It enables people to commute to work, take their children to school, and provide care and support to loved ones.”
“After launching a market study in July 2022, which reported a year later and made a series of recommendations to protect consumers, the CMA has issued three interim reports. In those reports, the CMA found that drivers were overcharged at the petrol pump by £900 million in 2022 and a further £1.6 billion in 2023. That means that, in just two years, drivers were overcharged by some £2.5 billion on their fuel in the midst of a cost of living crisis. That is shameful profiteering, which we know hits lower-paid workers and families the hardest. The cost of living crisis has meant that changes in the prices of utilities and fuel have been sorely felt. We have long understood the argument that rural drivers might pay more for fuel due to the increased logistical costs and additional staffing costs.”
“The topic for this, my first Adjournment debate, is fair fuel pricing, an issue that has been raised repeatedly with me by residents of Dunfermline and Dollar since I was elected in July, and that has been examined by previous Governments of all colours and by the Competition and Markets Authority. In July this year, the CMA said that weakened competition in the fuel sector is negatively impacting drivers’ wallets. Its examination found that, in 2023 alone, high prices cost motorists a staggering amount of money. In the midst of a cost of living crisis, that seems especially egregious. The CMA’s warning was not, however, the first or even the second significant warning on fuel pricing.”
“Having been let down by the Scottish Government, commuters in Dunfermline are being taken advantage of by fuel retailers and market competition in my constituency.”
“We encourage the use of greener transport, but we have seen the failures of the SNP Government and ScotRail to provide Fife with a reliable service, so that is not an option for people such as Aimee, with short trains and unreliable service, particularly in West Fife. One step that the SNP-Green coalition at Holyrood did take was to remove peak fares, which saw a 6.8% increase in train usage. However, that encouragement of behavioural change was swiftly removed—just like the Scottish Greens from the coalition—when the financial incentive of fairer train fares was also removed. Behavioural change of a positive nature does not happen overnight, but the switch back to the car from the train does, and has. That short-sighted decision—like the short-formed trains that often serve the region—has put people off using green transport.”
“With just over £1,000 a month to live on, Aimee uses £200 a month of her hard-earned wages on fuel. She gets her petrol at Asda in Dunfermline where, as I mentioned, unleaded was 134.7p per litre yesterday. Her £200 is buying her 148.48 litres of fuel. However, if Aimee was buying her petrol at Asda Bridge of Dee in Aberdeen, where unleaded was 121.7p a litre yesterday, she would have paid just £180 for the same amount of fuel. That is a full £20 a month difference. Over the course of a year, Aimee would have to work an additional 36 hours just to pay for the difference in price of petrol for her to get to and from work. That is not justifiable. Aimee, who is learning while earning, is experiencing a real-terms pay cut differential due not to anything she has done, but to the effects of this broken market.”
“Like many fellow Members of this House, I welcome the Chancellor’s announcement in the Budget, which we passed this evening, on freezing fuel duty, which will help people who are still feeling the impact of out-of-control inflation on their take-home pay. However, while this pricing behaviour by retailers continues, I am concerned that the full benefit of the Government’s efforts to keep down fuel costs will not be passed on to my constituents. To help the House understand fully the consequences of this kind of price clustering and the effects of a broken market, I will share the experience of one of my constituents, Aimee, a 20-year-old apprentice who wrote to me last month. Aimee was proud to secure her apprenticeship, which she started this autumn, earning the apprentice minimum wage of £6.40 an hour.”
“I am all in favour of market forces being used to shape prices, but not where the market is demonstrably broken, and fuel pricing has all the signs of a broken market mechanism. It is nothing short of outrageous that the most essential aspects of daily life are subject to broken competition, a non-functioning market and what appears to be price clustering by retailers. Across the constituency, small businesses and sole traders such as plumbers, builders, florists and taxi drivers, along with families, are paying the price. As we might say in Scotland, small businesses are being pumped at the pumps.”
“That is not local competition; that is a local cartel. Even worse, my constituents are paying 134.7p per litre at Asda in Dunfermline, whereas in the Asda Bridge of Dee store in Aberdeen, 112 miles further north, they pay just 121.7p at the pump. Never mind 5p—that is a difference of 13p per litre. In rural and semi-rural areas, as was said earlier, where public transport infrastructure is less entrenched—certainly in my constituency, where the train service is frequently short-formed, delayed or cancelled at short notice—fuel is not a choice; it is a necessity. My Dunfermline and Dollar constituents rely on their vehicles more heavily, yet often face the highest prices. That is an issue of basic fairness.”
“Research by the Federation of Small Businesses shows that more than three quarters of small businesses saw their costs go up in the last quarter, and of those more than a quarter said that the increased price of fuel was one of the main reasons for that rise. My constituency is just 20 miles from Scotland’s oil refinery in Grangemouth, yet residents in Dunfermline consistently pay a full 5p a litre more than those nearby in Glasgow, Stirling, Glenrothes or Kirkcaldy. That is despite the local supermarkets Tesco and Asda, as well as a host of other outlets in the city such as BP, all supposedly competing to be the driver’s choice. What we see in Dunfermline is a cluster of prices around the same level within the city, and price clustering around Dunfermline as well, with all supermarkets and suppliers at roughly the same price.”
“I thank the hon. Member for his intervention; I believe that taking an intervention from him is a rite of passage in this House. I could not agree more, particularly in relation to constituencies such as my own, where there is a mix of urban and rural areas and the rural pricing hits particularly hard. Those are often areas that have poorer public transport as well, so the impact is felt even more. Most small businesses rely on efficient and cost-effective transport for their deliveries, staff and customers, and that often means running and fuelling a car or van. High prices at the pumps have a direct impact on small businesses and squeeze already thin margins in the ongoing crisis in the cost of living and of doing business.”
“Fuel prices are undoubtedly subject to a range of external factors, as we have seen over the years, but by increasing transparency and ensuring real competition between forecourts, we can have a functioning market where competition helps drive down prices. However, nothing is preventing fuel retailers from choosing to do the right thing right now and to stabilise fuel prices, to remove price clusters like we see in Dunfermline and to ensure that people such as Aimee are not financially penalised for where they live. I hope this Government will build on the excellent start they have made to protect working people and small businesses, and I hope we will be able to do more to stop fuel retailers profiteering on the back of hard-working people up and down the country.”
“I am also pleased that this new Government have confirmed that they will implement two of the CMA’s recommendations: an open data scheme called fuel finder that will require all fuel retailers to share their prices in real time, and a road fuels monitoring function that will report on the state of competition in the road fuel market. Scenario modelling by the CMA suggests that pump prices could reduce by between 1p and 6p a litre as a result of these measures, helping to ensure that drivers get a fair deal for fuel across the UK. I am keen to hear from the Minister what more she thinks the Government can do specifically around ensuring a fair and functional fuel market, so that pricing is fair and not allowed to cluster into local price-fixing, as seen in Dunfermline.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. I will come on shortly to the action the Government are taking and where I think there is still more to be done. The impact goes beyond personal strain; it creates an uneven playing field for businesses, hindering economic growth by harming small business owners in Dunfermline who rely on vehicles for operation. In this Budget the Government have taken a wide range of steps to help working people across the country, including in my constituency: a wage rise for 200,000 Scots, record funding to Scotland, fixing the mineworkers’ pension scheme, protecting the pensions triple lock and, as I have said, committing funds to maintain the freeze on fuel duty that the Conservatives failed to do and which would otherwise have seen people like my constituent Aimee paying even more for fuel.”
“The right hon. Member was keen to quote the IFS earlier. Does he also agree with the IFS that “it was not credible for Jeremy Hunt to claim that planned departmental spending limits would hold” and there was “no world in which 2 per cent rises would have happened and been sustained”?”
“I ran a small business for at least 10 years. Does the hon. Gentleman welcome the increase in the Budget to the allowance on national insurance from £5,000 to £10,500, which will protect small businesses and help them grow?”
“The right hon. Member mentioned people fleeing the country. Could he point to at least three examples of anyone at the investment summit now saying that they will withdraw that money?”
“That includes an additional £1.5 billion for the Scottish Government this financial year, and an additional £3.4 billion next year.”
“Despite GB Energy being described by Conservative Members as a vanity project, it will deliver the infrastructure that this country needs, which they failed to deliver in 14 years. We have increased the employment allowance for small businesses to £10,500. As someone who used to run a small business, I know how well that will be received. We have preserved the state triple lock on pensions, which will see over 12 million pensioners gain up to £475 next year. We have provided an uplift of £2.9 million for the defence budget, while maintaining £3 billion in annual support for Ukraine for as long as it takes. As has been mentioned by my hon. Friends, this UK Labour Government will deliver a total of £47.7 billion in Scotland—the largest settlement in the history of devolution.”
“That is what changed yesterday as we heard the first female Chancellor deliver the first Labour Budget in 14 years, and what a Budget it was. It boosted public investment by over £100 billion and maintained the fuel duty freeze and 5% cut, which are vital for families and small businesses in Dunfermline and Dollar, and across Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. Alongside that, the Budget supported the take-up of electric vehicles and abolished non-dom tax loopholes, raising £12.7 billion. It increased, extended and reformed the energy profits levy, as we promised to do, and kick-started GB Energy, which is headquartered in Aberdeen, to deliver the clean energy and green jobs that we will need in the future.”
“I congratulate all those on this side of the House who have made their maiden speeches this afternoon. It has been absolutely fantastic to hear all those stories. It has been a long 14 years since we had a Government and a Budget that will deliver for Scotland, the UK and working people. We have had 14 years of austerity, 14 years of chaos, seven Chancellors and 19 fiscal events, but not one of them delivered a thing. Opposition MP after Opposition MP—wherever they have gone—welcomed investment and said, “I want a new hospital; I want this and that,” but not one of them had an idea about how to pay for it. Yesterday, I was proud to sit and listen to a Chancellor who was being honest with the British people about the mess that was left, what we will spend, the improvements that we will make, and how we are going to pay for them.”
“I believe the Chancellor outlined all of that absolutely perfectly yesterday. I would never seek to improve on the performance of our fantastic Chancellor, from whom we heard just yesterday. Whereas the rest of the UK has only had to endure 14 years of the Conservatives’ incompetence, we in Scotland have suffered even more. We have had 17 years of the SNP blaming the Tories for its own economic incompetence and decisions. We have had years of two failed Governments who have been content to play political games, rather than come to the help of the people of Scotland.”
“Having being failed by the previous Government promising money that they did not have, will Ministers meet me and others behind these plans to find ways of perhaps funding that commitment? Yesterday, we truly turned the page on 14 years of Tory austerity and have given the UK and Scotland the chance to grow and succeed again. I will be the proudest Member of Parliament to support this Budget, which fixes the foundations of our country and sets us on a path to prosperity and growth in the future.”
“As the consultation on cultural funding is under way, prior to the Budget, I also wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer asking for assistance and support to find a small amount of investment for the port of Rosyth in my constituency to enable a new, regular passenger and freight service between Scotland and the continent. With major local employers such as Mowi and Amazon UK in the area, a ferry service to Europe would further strengthen their position as major contributors to the Fife economy and provide the option of more environmentally friendly logistics by removing truck journeys from the road. Both the previous UK Conservative Government and the current SNP Scottish Government have talked about supporting that project, but neither have been willing to make the necessary investment.”
“Alongside the good news, we heard the Chancellor outline the mess and legacy left after 14 years of Conservative Government, who made announcements with no funds allocated. Among the empty promises from the Conservative Members was the £500 million of cultural funding promised to the city of Dunfermline in my constituency. While it is absolutely clear that the blame for that lies with the previous Government, it is none the less disappointing for the city of Dunfermline that the Government have been forced to consult on and review the funding. Dunfermline is an old city and the historic capital of Scotland, but it was officially awarded city status only in 2022. It is a growing city, which has the potential to be the driving force for the economy of Scotland. To achieve that, however, we need the right investment and support.”
“But before the SNP exits stage right—although SNP Members seem to have exited the Chamber during this debate—I urge it to use the record funding wisely and start delivering for the people of Scotland. The SNP Government must abandon their austerity programme of cuts to public services and a focus on their pet projects as they have gone along. They might be on their way out the door, but the least they owe the people of Scotland is not to leave the same kind of mess as their partners in constitutional distraction, the Tories, have left for the rest of the UK. That includes projects such as the Kincardine health centre in my constituency. Like the health centre mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Glenrothes and Mid Fife (Richard Baker), that has been delayed by more than a decade after being promised by the SNP.”
“My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. As I and other Members from Fife know, we are celebrating the 125-year anniversary of Fife College. I will attend a college dinner this week and I will make exactly that point to those attending. Further education is critical in providing the skills that Scotland needs, as I said yesterday during Scotland questions in relation to the defence sector. We need to ensure that the investment being provided by this Government is best used in Scotland to develop the skills that we need. We have had years of two failed Governments but that time is coming to an end. It will truly end only in May 2026 when the people of Scotland have the opportunity to elect a Scottish Labour Government.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for that reply, and I congratulate him on his debut at the Dispatch Box this morning. As he mentioned, earlier this month the Secretary of State joined me on a visit to Rosyth dockyard in my constituency. Does my hon. Friend agree that the failure of the SNP to support the defence sector in recruiting the highly skilled workers it needs from my constituency and the rest of Fife is a damning indictment of the SNP’s commitment to the security and prosperity of the people of Scotland? Will he reassure me that he will do all he can to ensure that the defence sector in Scotland contributes fully to the UK’s security and future economic growth?”