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Date: 04 March 2010
Debate on Property Factoring Services
Although my former profession - that of the solicitor - has been very heavily regulated by this Parliament in respon...
Date: 03 March 2010
Speech to COSLA Conference, St Andrews
Caring for Older People - David McLetchie MSP...
Date: 25 February 2010
Debate on the Curriculum for Excellence
I commend the Liberal Democrats on bringing this matter to the Parliament for debate in their business time. As many...
Date: 12 February 2010
Scotland on Sunday Lecture
I am grateful to Scotland on Sunday ...
Date: 10 February 2010
Control of Dogs (Scotland) Bill
When that political Rottweiler, Alex Neil, was promoted to the post of Minister for Housing and Communities, to lead...
Date: 20 January 2010
Stage 1 Debate Budget (Scotland) (No. 4) Bill 2010
Earlier this week, I attended one of the City of Edinburgh Council...
Date: 14 January 2010
Debate on Attendance Allowance DLA (Winding up Speech)
We should start by acknowledging that a Green Paper is, first and foremost, a consultation document issued by a Gove...
Date: 17 December 2009
Home Owner & Debtor Protection (Scotland) Bill – Stage 1 Debate (Opening Speech)
Before we look at the specific provisions in the bill, it will be instructive to consider its origins. The rising ti...
Date: 17 December 2009
Home Owner & Debtor Protection (Scotland) Bill – Stage 1 Debate (Winding Up Speech)
Today's interesting debate was kicked off by Alex Neil, full of his usual pugnacious bonhomie. He made some vali...
Date: 09 December 2009
Debate on Further Powers for the Scottish Parliament
Understatement is a characteristic not normally associated with the Scottish National Party and its leader. On the c...
Date: 03 December 2009
Debate on Education
I congratulate Michael Russell on his appointment as Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning and I was...
Date: 26 November 2009
Debate on Stage 1 Criminal Justice & Licensing Bill
As my colleague John Lamont has already indicated, there is much in the bill to criticise and I will not waste the o...
Date: 25 November 2009
Debate on Legislative Consent Motion – UK Child Poverty Bill
I bow to no one in my disdain for the so-called historic concordat and the white-flag capitulation by COSLA to the S...
Date: 12 November 2009
Members' Debate - Citizens Advice Scotland - "Drowning in Debt"
I welcome tonight's debate on a serious and important topic affecting people in ...
Date: 01 October 2009
Debate on Equal Pay in Local Government
The Finance Committee report of 2006 into Equal Pay is instructive because John Swinney, the Cabinet Secretary for F...
Date: 24 September 2009
Debate on Tobacco and Primary Medical Services Bill
The most powerful and effective trade union in Britain today is not Unite, Unison, the Communication Workers Union, ...
Date: 23 September 2009
Holyrood Conference Speech - Tobacco & Primary Medical Services Bill
There are voices that want Parliaments to legislate for and regulate every conceivable circumstance ...
Date: 03 September 2009
Debate on the Scottish Government's Programme for 2009/10
At the heart of the Government's programme lies a massive irrelevance. The biggest challenge that ...
Date: 02 September 2009
Debate on the release of Al Megrahi
When Tony Blair was Prime Minister, he was asked by a journalist what part his faith played in the decisions that he...
Date: 25 June 2009
Debate on Report of the Calman Commission
The report of the Calman commission has been written by unionists, for unionists, and has been faithful to the remit...
Date: 17 June 2009
Stage 3 Debate - Scottish Local Government (Elections) Bill
In the stage 1 debate on the Scottish Local Government (Elections) Bill, I spoke about the background to the proposal to decouple the elections and...
Date: 11 June 2009
Debate on "Scotland needs a General Election"
I thank Labour members for turning out in such force this morning to support their leader, Iain Gray, even if, in th...
Date: 14 May 2009
Stage 1 Debate on The Scottish Local Government (Elections) Bill
"I told you so," is often a rather smug and self-serving comment that is neither endearing nor charitable....
Date: 29 April 2009
Debate on Housing
Not only does this debate mark the arrival of Mr Neil as our new Minister for Housing and Communities, it comes on t...
Date: 18 March 2009
Stage 1 Debate Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) (Scotland) Bill
Like other members, I congratulate Patrick Harvie on bringing the bill to the stage 1 debate after a long campaign b...
Date: 05 March 2009
Debate on Scottish Government Failures
Normally, the failures and broken promises of an incoming Government are to be condemned or regretted by Opposition ...
Date: 05 March 2009
Debate on National Planning Framework 2
This is an important debate, although the motion is framed in neutral terms. It simply draws attention to the report...
Date: 26 February 2009
Stage 3 Debate – Disabled Persons Parking Places (Scotland) Bill
It is a poor reflection on our society that legislation to deal with the problem of the abuse of parking bays should...
Date: 12 February 2009
Debate on Housing
I welcome today's debate on housing and the measured terms in which the Labour motion is framed. I also welcome ...
Date: 11 February 2009
Debate on Local Government Finance Order 2009
This debate is consequential on Parliament's approval of the budget last week. The Labour Party voted for the bu...
Date: 04 February 2009
Budget (Scotland) (No 3) Bill: Stage 2 Debate
It is indeed another week, another budget, following the collapse of the stout parties that are now settling for som...
Date: 28 January 2009
Budget Debate Stage 3
In considering the Government's budget proposals, three key points should be borne in mind. First, Scotland is a...
Date: 22 January 2009
Debate on Council of Economic Advisors Annual Report
We should welcome the report of the Council of Economic Advisers, which makes 22 recommendations to the Government. ...
Date: 07 January 2009
Debate on National Qualifications
We have had a number of debates on education over the past few months, which have focused principally on the histori...
Date: 11 December 2008
Debate on Local Government Finance Settlement 2009/10
In preparing for this debate, I looked back at my speech in the equivalent debate in December of last year. I did so...
Date: 04 December 2008
Debate on Local Government Taxation
This is a Parliament of minorities and, since the welcome demise of the Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition, it is a P...
Date: 03 December 2008
Debate on South Edinburgh Suburban Railway
I congratulate Gavin Brown on securing his member's business debate - this first - on the South sub, which he ha...
Date: 27 November 2008
Debate on Free School Meals
This issue is inextricably linked to the so-called historic concordat between the Scottish Government and local auth...
Date: 26 November 2008
Stage 1 Debate on Disabled Parking Bill
I commend Jackie Baillie for her sterling efforts to introduce the bill in the Parliament and for addressing an issu...
Date: 12 November 2008
Debate on Scottish Economy
The financial crisis and economic recession have been manna from heaven for the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. He wan...
Date: 30 October 2008
Debate on HBOS
I welcome the fact that the Liberal Democrats have allocated part of their business time today to a debate on the fu...
Date: 29 October 2008
Debate on British Irish Council
As we all know, the British-Irish Council is part of the architecture of the peace process that we hope has brought ...
Date: 09 October 2008
Local Government Committee Report Debate on Scotland's Elections 2007
Much rhetorical hot air has been expended on the debacle of the elections to the Scottish Parliament and ...
Date: 02 October 2008
Debate on Local Income Tax
Today's motion is about bringing transparency to a subject on which the issues are often as ...
Date: 11 September 2008
Debate on Teacher Numbers
Today we are debating manpower planning in the teaching profession but, of course, we have had similar problems with...
Date: 05 June 2008
Debate on the Scottish Futures Trust
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin has been a question for theological debate since medieval times. The ...
Date: 29 May 2008
Debate on Moving Scotland Forward
In this new session of Parliament, government by ministerial statement has become a substitute for government by leg...
Date: 15 May 2008
Debate on Free Personal Care
I will focus my remarks on the issue of the legality of charges for assistance with meal preparation, which is highl...
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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