Chamber and committees

Keir Starmer cut the winter fuel payment for Scottish pensioners, and now Andy Burnham wants to cut their pensions. John Swinney agrees with me that that is wrong, but our party knows where savings can and should be made, and that is in state benefits, which are out of control across the United Kingdom, but especially here in Scotland. Hard-working Scots face massive tax rises to fill a multibillion-pound black hole in the Scottish National Party’s finances. Will John Swinney cut benefits or will he raise taxes?

It certainly woke the First Minister up.

If John Swinney will not cut benefits, he will have to raise taxes. It really is that simple.

For the second time today, I find myself agreeing with an SNP politician. John Swinney’s social justice secretary recently said that addressing poverty is

“best done not through increases to social security spending”—[Official Report, Social Justice, Housing and Local Government Committee, 16 September 2026; c 11.]

but through skills and employment. John Swinney talks about a system of dignity, fairness and respect, but the SNP Government’s light-touch approach traps people on benefits.

A whistleblower who spent two decades advising people on benefits has told me about rampant abuse within the system. She was ordered to act for those who admitted that their claims were a lie, and she saw colleagues coaching applicants to cheat the system. We have taxpayers funding advice on how to steal money from taxpayers. Why does John Swinney think that his light-touch approach is acceptable in any way?

I appreciate Mr Middleton taking my intervention, and I appreciate, too, his candour in respect of his position on oil and gas. How many of his colleagues share his view?

The Scottish National Party manifesto promised a review of the Lord Advocate’s dual role five years ago. The then Lord Advocate went on to back SNP plans to scrap jury trials, effectively decriminalise possession of heroin and crack cocaine and tip off John Swinney about Nicola Sturgeon’s criminal husband. We really do not need another SNP review, so why will John Swinney not just end the Lord Advocate’s dual role now?

Fact check number 1: the First Minister was shamed into backing Barclays. Fact check number 2: Glasgow drug deaths are up. The SNP’s failed approach traps addicts in a life of misery, sending thousands to an early grave by peddling the lie that inherently dangerous drugs can be taken safely.

Asked yesterday whether she was doing a good job, the SNP minister for drugs policy said that it was an impossible question to answer, but we know the answer—she is not. Maree Todd blocked our Right to Addiction Recovery (Scotland) Bill and now, pathetically, blames Westminster for the SNP’s fatal culpability. Does John Swinney accept that the SNP’s failed approach and its refusal to back our bill will cost even more lives?

What a great shame that the First Minister could not bring himself to back Barclays and the 5,000-plus jobs that it provides for the people of Scotland.

Yet again, Scotland has the worst drug death rate in Europe, with 1,133 lives tragically cut short and 1,133 bereaved families. The Scottish National Party’s multimillion-pound drug consumption unit opened in Glasgow at the start of last year. John Swinney says that there is significant evidence that it is saving lives, but the evidence shows that Glasgow drug deaths have actually gone up in that time.

Nearby residents must live with the discarded needles and the drug crime. Despite that, another unit is planned for Edinburgh. Why will John Swinney not listen to and respect the evidence, stop the drug consumption units and, instead, spend that money on rehab?

I offer my congratulations to Michael Marra on his election as leader of Scottish Labour.

Some people might mock this Government debate and say that they are conning their supporters. Some people might engage in silly stunts. However, we know that the SNP is deadly serious, because John Swinney and the SNP truly only care about one thing, and that is breaking up Britain. Of course, John Swinney does not like anything that is British apart from his British Airways business class flights.

As a proud Scot, I despair at what they are doing, and what they would like to do, to our country. Mired in scandal, they are masters of misinformation who are sowing petty grievance and division, running public services into the ground and hammering taxpayers to bankroll state benefits—and they would knowingly make Scotland poorer and weaker by dismantling the United Kingdom. In today’s volatile world, that is no longer just a bad idea; it is deeply dangerous and irresponsible. John Swinney is even in cahoots with Sinn Féin, ignoring its justification of Irish Republican Army mass murder.

The SNP says that Scotland should decide. We did decide. More than 2 million Scots said no—and thank goodness for that. You cannot agree to a once-in-a-generation referendum and then have a never-ending hissy fit over the result. Get over it. Move on.

It is certainly not 12 years.

Scotland has a Government that is more interested in grievance than in governing. Today, we should be talking about so many of the critical issues that the people of Scotland face: high taxes and benefits, NHS waiting lists, rising crime, drug deaths, transport chaos and declining school standards. My colleagues will have much more to say on all of that.

I move amendment S7M-01264.4, to leave out from “is” to end and insert:

“voted decisively to remain within the UK; believes that Scotland's future is best served by a government focused on the priorities of the people of Scotland, including reducing taxes, bolstering economic growth and delivering value for money in public services.”

15:44

I, too, express my condolences and those of my party to the family of Cathie Craigie.

John Swinney’s new friends in Sinn Féin have never denounced Irish Republican Army terrorism. They still justify the massacre of innocent men, women and children, including Scottish soldiers. Mr Swinney shamefully told IRA victims and their grieving families to “move on”, but the same politician has never accepted the decisive result of Scotland’s independence referendum, and John Swinney is now working with Sinn Féin to break up our country. Why should those maimed or bereaved by the IRA move on when the Scottish National Party refuses to move on?

We know that John Swinney has denounced terrorism, but has he asked his Sinn Féin friends to denounce terrorism? We just heard, yet again, that John Swinney only cares about one thing: making Scotland poorer and weaker by leaving the United Kingdom. He and his party have never respected the outcome of the independence referendum, and Scotland is paying a heavy price for the SNP’s obsession—a broken national health service, failing schools, victims betrayed by the justice system, record high taxes and funding out-of-control state benefits. The people of Scotland want the Government to focus on the issues that matter to them—those issues, not independence—so why is his constitutional obsession more important than fixing Scotland’s broken public services?