Chamber and committees

Magdalene Robertson was Packer’s first known victim. She was raped as a teenager, yet she was ignored and misled by the criminal justice system. Then there are Packer’s dozens of other victims. None was believed and some are no longer alive to see that justice is done. Will the cabinet secretary give an undertaking that every victim’s voice will be heard?

There is no denying that the past decade has been exceptionally challenging for the energy sector because of the downturn in oil and gas, the Covid-19 pandemic, Putin’s war in Ukraine and the global energy crisis—not forgetting the massive supply chain disruption that was caused by the conflict. Many companies throughout the supply chain in Scotland have battled to stay afloat, and livelihoods have been lost.

Just as there was an upswing in the industry, more uncertainty struck. The North Sea became a bargaining chip in the disastrous Bute house agreement, with Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater castigating the industry and the thousands of people in my region who rely on it for work. Patrick Harvie ludicrously proclaimed that only those on the hard right support oil and gas extraction.

The SNP’s draft energy strategy includes a presumption against new exploration for oil and gas. It does not want Cambo, Jackdaw or, as we have seen and as is being reinforced today, Rosebank. It does not care about the UK’s energy security, workers in the north-east or the environmental impact of importing fossil fuels.

The Scottish Conservatives recognise the importance of a fair, careful and well-managed move to renewables. We know that we need an energy supply that is more secure and more sustainable. The north-east, with its unrivalled technical knowledge and know-how, is perfectly placed to become a world leader on net zero. However, propped up by the Scottish Greens, the SNP wants to turn off the taps and go for the fastest possible just transition. It is a cliff edge, plain and simple.

The moment that Nicola Sturgeon signed on the dotted line with the Scottish Greens, she betrayed the north-east, because the SNP-Green Government values virtue signalling over 90,000 highly skilled jobs.

I give way to Gillian Martin.

I agree with Gillian Martin on the importance of investment, and it is true that it is a declining basin. I worked in the energy sector for decades, and we both understand that. However, it needs to be a managed and programmed proper transition, not a rushed and forced transition, which is what the SNP Government wants us to have.

A rushed, premature transition serves no one, nor does it serve Scotland’s economy. Offshore Energies UK has warned that the region will be £6 billion a year poorer by 2030 as a result of such a transition. I think that that matters to Gillian Martin’s constituents as well.

Humza Yousaf, who announced last year that Scotland would stop being the oil and gas capital of Europe, has suddenly decided that he is the saviour of North Sea workers. There must be a general election on the horizon. What an insult to the intelligence of the thousands of people who rely on the North Sea for their livelihoods.

The SNP can pivot all that it wants, but the north-east has not forgotten the depth of the betrayal that was perpetrated by Nicola Sturgeon. I see Labour members laughing, but Daniel Johnson did not mention oil and gas even once in his speech—

I thought that I was in a different debate.

The Scottish Conservatives will stand up for our oil and gas industry. We support new oil and gas licences. We will not abandon the industry or the workers who rely on its continued survival, and we will not allow the industry to shut down.

On Monday, up to half of the north-east’s ambulance fleet—18 ambulances—were stuck outside Aberdeen royal infirmary. A paramedic told The Press and Journal that they are unable to help people who are most in need because they are repeatedly tied up. The situation is now so bad that earlier this month a shop worker in Dyce who was covered in blood after being attacked and left almost unconscious by robbers had to be driven to hospital by her employer because the ambulance service was too busy. What immediate action will the Scottish Government take to address the on-going crisis across the north-east?

The social care sector is deeply concerned that the bill is becoming a battleground. We cannot lose sight of those people who require care, nor of those people who work so hard to provide it. Ramming legislation through on a wing and a prayer will serve no one, especially the taxpayer, who keeps picking up the SNP’s legal bills when it eventually and inevitably goes wrong.

For those reasons, the Scottish Conservatives cannot vote for the general principles of the bill at decision time, and I urge other members to do the same.

The social care sector is deeply concerned that the bill is becoming a battleground. We cannot lose—

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am pleased that Michelle Thomson said that that was a correct quote.

From the Royal College of Nursing to Unison, and many more besides—[Interruption.]

I have been a carer myself. No one should underestimate the importance of our social care system for the physical, social and emotional wellbeing of society. However, as we have repeatedly heard this afternoon, social care is at breaking point under this SNP Government, and vulnerable people are on a precipice.

As Jeremy Balfour rightly says, social care cannot wait for a national care service; it is too important. In 12 years, one in four people will be over the age of 65, which means that more people living with complex health and care needs will be accessing a system that is already in crisis. From staffing levels to care home closures, there simply is not the capacity to meet growing demand.

Of course, reform is needed. The system cannot sustain itself like this, and there is consensus this afternoon around that point. However, how that change will be achieved is a separate and, clearly, contentious question. The Feeley review put forward a new approach. The Scottish Conservatives supported many of the report’s recommendations, but we do not agree with the top-down concept of centralising social care. We want to see urgent investment in the sector, to preserve local democratic accountability through a local care service and to avoid any unnecessary structural reforms.

In ordinary circumstances, it would simply be a matter of divergence of policy between political parties, but these are not ordinary circumstances—far from it. The stage 1 deadline for the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill has changed four times since the legislation was first introduced in June 2022. The implementation date has been kicked down the road by three years, from 2026 to 2029. Spiralling costs show that the Government is making it up as it goes along—with figures of £2.2 billion and, today, £345 million, not to mention the millions spent on the army of civil servants who are trying to keep the proposals afloat.

How can you cost something if you really do not know what that something is? The goalposts keep changing. As my colleague Liz Smith highlighted, no fewer than four parliamentary committees roundly criticised the first iteration of the framework bill. They pointed to serious issues about the lack of consultation and detail in the bill and significant concerns in relation to the costings. They said that the process set out in the bill is insufficient to allow for appropriate parliamentary scrutiny and that it

“risks setting a dangerous precedent, undermining the role of the parliament.”

Ruth Maguire today called it a “can be”. SNP MSP Michelle Thomson said in a meeting of the Finance and Public Administration Committee that she had “no confidence whatever” in the level of detail found in the NCS bill financial memorandum. SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson said that introducing the plans was

“a sledgehammer to crack a nut”

and

“a monumental risk”—[Official Report, Finance and Public Administration Committee, 25 October 2022; c 24.]

That is hardly a ringing endorsement from the SNP back benches—[Interruption.]