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Date: 08 May 2008
Debate on Housing
In some respects, this debate has been a reprise of last week's Conservative sponsored debate on housing, althou...
Date: 01 May 2008
Debate on Housing
In the Parliament, the Scottish National Party loves to tell us how hard done by we are and to criticise the alleged...
Date: 24 April 2008
Debate on the Trump Planning Application in Aberdeenshire
This inquiry is fundamentally about the integrity of the planning system in Scotland...
Date: 17 April 2008
Debate on Local Income Tax
The SNP's plan to introduce an unfair, wholly bogus, so-called local income tax is coming apart at the seams. It...
Date: 20 March 2008
Debate on Housing
The title of the Government's consultation document, "Firm Foundations", is a misnomer, because the SN...
Date: 21 February 2008
Debate on Prisons Policy
I struggle to think of any other area of the public sector in which 95 per cent of resources are devoted to men and 5 per cent are devoted to women, and in respect of which the ...
Date: 07 February 2008
Debate on the Regulations introducing the Single Seller Survey
Yesterday, I welcomed the fact that the Scottish National Party Government had finally come round to the Conservative point of view on the need for substantial cuts in business ...
Date: 07 February 2008
Debate on Local Government Finance Order
Today's debate has been a much lower-key affair - but also a more thoughtful one - than yesterday's debate on the budget as a whole. When I reflected overnight on the ex...
Date: 06 February 2008
Stage 3 Budget Debate
This budget debate is, as many have noted, the most significant in the Parliament's history and the culmination of a three-month process that has tested the mettle of all pa...
Date: 23 January 2008
Budget Bill - Stage 1 Debate
In its construction, the budget marks a significant break with the past, particularly with regard to the local government settlement. Many groups and organisations are genuinely...
Date: 10 January 2008
Debate on the Gould Report
The failures in the conduct of the Scottish Parliament and council elections in May last year made Scotland a laughing stock, diminished our democracy and are a salutary lesson ...
Date: 20 December 2007
Graduate Endowment Abolition Bill – Stage 1 Debate
Today I invite members to give free rein to their imaginations. I would like them to imagine a world in which there was no graduate endowment and there were no tuition fees, top...
Date: 20 December 2007
Abolition of Bridge Tolls (Scotland) Bill - Stage 3
The bill that the Government has introduced seeks to repeal the legislative framework for the imposition of tolls on the Erskine, Tay and Forth road bridges, by which is meant t...
Date: 13 December 2007
Debate on the Local Government Finance Settlement
I congratulate Mr John Swinney on his astute playing of the blame game that we have been discussing today. The blame game is, of course, a feature of both the overall constructi...
Date: 06 December 2007
Debate - A New Agenda for Scotland
This important debate is firmly focused on improving the government of ...
Date: 15 November 2007
Stage 1 Debate on Abolition of Bridge Tolls Bill
I welcome the bill to abolish tolls on the Tay and Forth bridges.Although the new Government has been quick to tak...
Date: 08 November 2007
Debate on "Holding the SNP Government to account"
Today's debate is about the process by which the Parliament scrutinises the Government's budget, holds ministers accountable for their spending decisions, and ultimately...
Date: 25 October 2007
Debate on Free Personal Care
It is ironic and regrettable that a policy that has been so frequently proclaimed from all sides of the chamber one of the flagship policies of devolution and evidence of a dist...
Date: 04 October 2007
Debate on SNPs Broken Promises
Today's debate is conspicuous because of an absence. As my friend Murdo Fraser pointed out, one would have thought that the new leader of the Scottish Labour...
Date: 27 September 2007
Debate on Rail Links to Edinburgh Airport
Today's contributions from the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties can be best characterised as a rather desperate exercise in self-justification. I was somewhat surprised t...
Date: 19 September 2007
Debate on European Treaty
It was inevitable that the main focus of the debate was the similarities between the treaty and the EU constitution and whether there should be a UK-wide referendum on the treat...
Date: 17 September 2007
What MSPs Do - A Day in the Life
Whenever I am asked to describe a typical day in the life of an MSP, I always think of the Beatles song with that title from the Sgt Pepper albu...
Date: 13 September 2007
Debate on Education
The speeches so far have more than adequately demolished the uncosted and unrealistic commitments on a range of educ...
Date: 05 September 2007
Debate on the Government Programme
Today's statement and debate are a welcome reminder that a programme for government is not just about a series o...
Date: 28 June 2007
Speech on Ship to Ship Oil Transfer
The proposed ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Firth of the Forth...
Date: 27 June 2007
Speech for Transport Debate
Three weeks ago in this chamber, the decision of the Scottish Executive to invite the Auditor General for Scotland t...
Date: 27 June 2007
Debate on Tartan Day Celebrations
As a member of the cross-party group in the Parliament on Tartan Day, it is a pleasure for me to make a short contri...
Date: 21 June 2007
Debate on Council Tax
The financing of local government has been one of the most contentious areas of political debate in this country ove...
Date: 14 June 2007
Debate on Free Personal Care
My contribution will focus on the sorry saga of assistance with meal preparation as an aspect of free persona...
Date: 07 June 2007
Debate on a Sustainable Public Transport System
The proposition that Parliament cannot bind its successors is a key principle of our constitution. Although the famo...
Date: 22 March 2007
Duchene Muscular Dystrophy
Thirteen months ago, I knew nothing about Duchenne muscular dystrophy. I had not even heard of the condition until o...
Date: 21 March 2007
Speech on Park and Ride Facilities
I thank Mike Pringle for raising this subject in Parliament and I echo many of his remarks. As he said, the issue im...
Date: 14 March 2007
Edinburgh Airport Rail Link Bill - Final Stage Debate
In the preliminary stage debate on the bill, I said that inadequate information on the project's funding and on alternative and more cost-ef...
Date: 08 March 2007
Protection of Vulnerable Groups Bill - Stage 3 Debate
This bill has its genesis in the recommendations of Sir Michael Bichard's report following the murder of Holly W...
Date: 22 February 2007
Road Pricing Debate
Two years ago this month, the citizens of Edinburgh...
Date: 08 February 2007
Transport and Works (Scotland) Bill - Stage 3 Debate
The Transport and Works (Scotland) B...
Date: 25 January 2007
Debate on the 2007 Local Elections
I am pleased to be able to contribute to the debate, although in many ways I regret the necessity for it. The order ...
Date: 17 January 2007
Debate on Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Bill
When that self-proclaimed expert mathematician otherwise known as the First Minister of Scotland appointed Mr George...
Date: 17 January 2007
Debate on Protection of Vulnerable Groups Bill
There is a legal maxim that hard cases make bad laws. Essentially, this is a warning not to generalise from the part...
Date: 11 January 2007
Debate on Skills Academies
The Conservative party in the Scottish Parliament has long advocated greater emphasis on skills and vocational training in our schools and throu...
Date: 10 January 2007
Debate on Bus Services in Edinburgh
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this evening's debate. Colin Fox's motion has identified the prob...
Date: 07 December 2006
Adoption and Children Scotland Bill – Stage 3 winding up speech
I welcome the Bill and will vote for it. Attention has focused on a limited number of controversial issues, most of ...
Date: 06 December 2006
Debate on Council Tax
A review of local government finance was one of the cornerstones of the partnership agreement between Labour and the Liberal Democrats in May 20...
Date: 22 November 2006
Transport & Works (Scotland) Bill – Stage 1 Debate
Some members will regard this Bill as a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted; others, as a ca...
Date: 08 November 2006
Debate on “Supporting Positive Transitions from School to Work”
I begin by warmly welcoming the initiative that the City of Edinburgh Counci...
Date: 02 November 2006
Debate on The Financial Powers of the Parliament
Once again, the SNP has trotted out Mr Mather as the siren voice of soft porn nationalism, seeking to seduce us into...
Date: 25 October 2006
Debate on Early Years Care, Education and Family Support
I commend the Education Committee on its report. A number of useful and entertaining points have been made in the de...
Date: 25 October 2006
Debate on Report of the Inquiry into Freight Transport in Scotland
The inquiry into freight transport in Scotland...
Date: 14 September 2006
Debate on Higher Education
Today's SNP-sponsored debate allows us to reflect in nostalgic fashion on the way things were: a world in which ...
Date: 13 September 2006
The Adoption of Children (Scotland) Bill - Stage 1 Debate
In winding up this debate for the Conservative party, I make it clear that the views that I will express are my own ...
Date: 07 September 2006
Debate on Schools
Yesterday, as a number of members reminded us, the First Minister declared his intention for ...
Date: 22 June 2006
Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Bill - Stage 3 Debate
This bill was the first bill I saw through from start to finish as a member of the Local Government a...
Date: 09 June 2006
Speech Given at the S3 Awards Ceremony
One of the best parts of my job as a Member of the Scottish Parliament is the opportunity that it gives me to visit Primary and Secondary Schools in the Edinburgh Pentlands cons...
Date: 01 June 2006
Debate on Education
I will highlight the important contributions to the debate on education that Lord Sutherland and Baroness Warnock have made in recent months, which...
Date: 24 May 2006
Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill – Stage 1 Debate
It is interesting to consider the background to the bill and in particular the explosive growth in personal insolvency and the use o...
Date: 17 May 2006
Planning (Scotland) Bill - Stage 1 Debate
I begin by focusing on business improvement districts, which were considered by the Local Government and Transport Committee, of which I am a member. There are many partnerships in...
Date: 10 May 2006
Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill - Stage 3 Debate
No amount of tinkering with the bill today can disguise the fact that it is an unwanted and unnecessary piece of legislation that is motivated by malice and designed to destroy a s...
Date: 29 March 2006
Edinburgh Tram Line 1 Bill - Final Stage Debate
It is highly unsatisfactory that, as events have turned out, the Parliament has ended up considering two separate bills for tramlines 1 and 2, especially given that the two lines w...
Date: 22 March 2006
Edinburgh Tram Line 2 Bill - Final Stage Debate
Following the rejection of the City of Edinburgh Council's proposals for congestion charging in last year's referendum—a wholly welcome development and outcome for which only the C...
Date: 22 February 2006
Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill - Stage 1 Debate
I will start with a quotation: "When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change."
Those are the words of Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland, which wer...
Date: 26 January 2006
The Future of Energy Policy
I am sure that members will agree that our motion on the future energy policy is framed in the most reasonable terms. In his opening speech, my colleague Alex Johnstone invited mem...
Date: 12 December 2005
Steiner Education - Members' Debate
I begin by congratulating Mike Pringle on securing the debate, which provides welcome recognition of the contribution of Steiner schools to the education of children and young peop...
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