Today I spoke in the Local government and regeneration committee debate on there 8th report in to the Flexibility and autonomy of local government. I stated that while I welcome the report I believe that this report should mark the start of a much wider debate in to the future shape of local government and I set out my intention to continue to push for […]
This week I spoke in the debate which proceeded the First Ministers statement on the Scottish Independence Referendum result and set out my belief that we must unite and work together to tackle the real issues that my constituents and people across Scotland discussed on the door step every day of the independence campaign. I […]
This week in the Scottish Governments debate on Scotland’s future I set out a vision for Scotland which put fairness and social Justice first. A vision which is about listening to the needs of our people and responding to them with effective policy to bring about real change. My vision is a Labour vision based […]
This week I spoke in the Scottish Government debate on welfare reform and made the argument that we need to have a clear strategy aimed at tackling poverty and tackling the causes of poverty. I believe we must be more ambitious than simply arguing for improvements in welfare benefits; we must strive to give every […]
This week I spoke in the members debate on Gaza about why I believe action must be taken to end the killing of innocent men, women and children now. I also believe that we must make sure that no weapons manufactured in the UK are being exported to Israel and that the United Nations must […]
Today I again made it clear that we must have a radical policy on housing and a clear plan to build 10,000 houses a year over the next 5 years in order to tackle Scotland housing crisis. I spoke in support of the Housing Scotland Bill with the clear caveat that although I support the […]
Today, I again, asked the Scottish Government to take responsibility for the maintenance backlog which has developed across Scotland’s school estate. I made it clear to the Scottish Government that given the extreme pressure local government budgets face, the financial settlements given must be re-evaluated. If this dose not happen I believe that Scotland’s local […]
Today I set out my vision for how we can strengthen Local government and make it more responsive, reflective and meaningful to voters. It is my belief that people are put off by politicians but are enthused by issues; especially local issues which mean so much to people. I have outlined what I believe are […]
During Today’s committee Proceedings SNP committee members acted in a discourteous and un-parliamentary manner towards expert witnesses. The committee convener failed to bring members to order despite repeated calls for her to do so by opposition members. Professor Adam Tomkins has officially complained, due to the way in which he was treated. Professor Adam Tomkins […]
The Report from the European and External Relations Committee on the Scottish Governments proposals for an independent Scotland: membership of the European Union. I spoke in the debate on the report brought forward from the above committee. Below is what I said in the introduction to the debate and in the concluding comments. The whole […]