Chamber and committees

No—I will make some progress.

The loss of trust goes all the way back to the mishandling of the financial crash, when the payment of bankers’ bonuses was more important than the ability of many to pay their household bills. It was exacerbated further by the Westminster expenses scandal, when some of Labour’s own went to prison and others were allowed to pay back what they had wrongly claimed—including thousands of pounds that were paid back by the current Labour Secretary of State for Scotland, Douglas Alexander.

Since he arrived on the scene, the only thing that Mr Sarwar has excelled at is the erosion of trust from the electorate. Just a few days ago, Ipsos polling revealed that trust in Mr Sarwar has plummeted, with only the Tory and Reform leaders at even lower levels of favourability. John Swinney was the only leader with a positive rating.

Nothing in the debate—

Nothing in the debate today acknowledges or explains why there is a lack of trust in the integrity of Mr Sarwar and the Labour Party. As has already been said, is he one of the least trusted leaders in Scotland because of cosying up to Peter Mandelson—who was the best friend of Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted paedophile—at a time when everyone knew that Peter Mandelson had maintained contact with Epstein? We will not forget the big smiles in the picture of Sarwar and Mandelson and the quotation that

“It was great to catch up with my old friend”.

Scottish Labour appeared to maintain its murky relationship with Mandelson more widely than that—Douglas Alexander apparently credited him for getting Douglas Alexander back into Parliament and then had undeclared meetings at his behest. There are suggestions that Mandelson was allowed to hand pick Scottish Labour Westminster election candidates.

Or is the lack of trust due to the shady influence of Labour Together on the Scottish Labour Party, with Scottish candidates taking thousands of pounds in cash from it? Only one Scottish Labour MP signed the early day motion that called for an independent inquiry into Labour Together and, as far as I am aware, not one Labour MP has handed any money back. As the party’s Scottish leader, will Mr Sarwar instruct his MPs to hand the money back, and will he back the calls for an independent investigation? Will he open the books to reveal how much cash Scottish Labour took from Labour Together? On that point, I am sympathetic to the Greens’ amendment.

As one of my constituents said,

“I don’t trust a single word Sarwar and the Labour Party say.”

It will be no surprise when I reveal that my constituent is one of the women against state pension inequality—the WASPI women—who were promised compensation, then betrayed. We do not forget, either, that Labour campaign leaflet with the fabricated quotation that Mr Sarwar could not explain and which he had to apologise for.

All those things are likely to have caused the lack of trust that the electorate showed in Labour. In particular, they show the spectacular lack of awareness—[Interruption.]

—and the arrogant denial in the motion. [Interruption.] I am sorry—I am being heckled by Mr Sarwar.

I condemn Peter Murrell for what he did. It is right that he is in prison. The police investigation did its job and a criminal has been convicted. More generally, I am up for meaningful consideration of how we try to resolve and restore trust in politics. However, anyone who is being honest knows that that is not what the Labour motion is about.

16:48

This is my first speech since I was re-elected by my constituents in Clydebank, Milngavie and Bearsden north. I am extremely humbled to have again received the trust of the electorate. It is a trust placed in me that I have never taken for granted and never will, and I thank them for sending me back to our national Parliament to represent them. I work hard in recognition of that trust, motivated especially by the fact that I represent the constituency where I was born and raised and still live.

Deputy Presiding Officer, I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election to the role, and I wish you well in it.

Turning now to the debate, I will say something that I do not think I have ever said before—I think that the Labour Party is correct. Yes, we should debate public trust in Scottish politics and in politics in general. We need to, because we are kidding ourselves if we do not accept that trust in politicians is at a very low level. It is absolutely correct that we address that in debate and in our actions as politicians.

To do that justice, we need the widest possible discussion, not one framed in the narrow partisan terms that are being presented to us today by the Labour Party. As someone recently said,

“This is above party politics—it’s a matter of trust and integrity in public life.”

Unfortunately, that was Mr Sarwar. I can only say that that was just a soundbite, which did not really mean much. Instead of the approach that is needed to achieve any meaningful discourse, we have a motion that is steeped in political opportunism and dripping with hypocrisy.

I am going to make progress. I will not take an intervention—I have already taken one and I am mindful that I have a lot to say.

When the member gets his own party scrutiny in order, I will probably take him seriously but, at the moment, I do not. It is the same tired attacks and opportunism that resulted in Labour’s disastrous election result. The commentator Gerry Hassan has said that Labour’s vote share is

“the lowest in the party’s history”.

Even Paul Hutcheon has said that Labour is “fighting for survival”. It is absolutely desperate. Labour’s result gives us a clue as to who is contributing most to the factors that have led to the diminution in trust from the electorate. Trust has been on the wane under Labour for some time.

I recently met one of my constituents to discuss her concerns about underage vaping. We both agree that vapes should be stored like cigarettes, with no colourful marking or flavours available, to make them much less appealing. I am aware of the cross-governmental work on the issue. Will the minister give a progress update on that and touch on what more can be done to ensure that vapes are not available to those who are underage?

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to curb vaping among young people. (S7O-00010)

I welcome you to your role, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I congratulate the cabinet secretary on her new appointment.

The vast majority of Scotland’s pupils are hardworking and well behaved, but we must acknowledge concerns about the antisocial behaviour that occurs in our schools. How will introducing phone-free classrooms contribute to efforts to promote positive relationships and behaviour, supported by the relationships and behaviour in schools national action plan?

I, Marie Alexandra McNair, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God.