Seòmar agus comataidhean

I say with respect to the member that she had better check how the money is allocated to Scotland.

Labour’s shadow health secretary has admitted that, when it comes to NHS funding, Westminster is damaging Scotland’s NHS because of the Westminster austerity that we have suffered for 14 years. Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has indicated that the Labour Party, if it is elected to office, will not increase income tax, national insurance, corporation tax or VAT, and that it has accepted very strict borrowing limits within very strict fiscal and tax rules, and squeezed spending budgets. Does Labour have several money trees?

The Labour health spokesperson also said that the party wants

“the NHS to form partnerships with the private sector that goes beyond just hospitals”,

having previously admitted that he will be

“holding the door wide open”

to private interests in the NHS. To me, that is privatisation.

Private healthcare investors have also stated that the Labour Party would

“kick-start private sector investment much more proactively than the Tories were able to do.”

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I seek your guidance. Two members—Humza Yousaf and me—have been mentioned by Tess White in a rather disparaging manner. Is not it incumbent on her to let us intervene and respond?

Will the member take an intervention?

I asked the member whether she was challenging the quotes, which have been used in the Labour Party’s election campaigning. She did not challenge them, so I adhere to them.

In Labour-run Wales, when the draft budget was published, the Minister for Finance, Rebecca Evans, said:

“After 13 years of austerity, a botched Brexit deal, and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, this is the toughest financial situation Wales has faced since the start of devolution. Our funding settlement, which comes largely from the UK government, is not enough to reflect the extreme pressures Wales faces.”

What is true for Wales is true for Scotland.

On top of that, Scotland is still living with the bruising legacy of Labour’s private finance initiative, which has landed us with a bill of £30 billion. That was handed down to taxpayers by Labour, which built in Scotland using a “build now, pay later” scheme. The SNP Government had to buy out, for example, the contract levying car parking charges at the Royal infirmary of Edinburgh because of the PFI contract.

Until we are independent and have control of all our resources, the stark truth is that the Westminster Government might change from Tory blue to a lighter Labour shade of blue, but that will be the only change.

In conclusion, I will again quote Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, who is now one of my favourite people. He said:

“all roads lead back to Westminster”

and

“The NHS is in crisis and all decisions that are taken in Westminster don’t just affect England – but Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.”

That should be borne in mind when Labour’s proclamations of change mean Labour’s creeping NHS privatisation plans, with a predictable reduction in Scotland’s NHS budget. We will not even be able to firefight, let alone do preventative medicine and treatment, because no reform can cope with that.

[Made a request to intervene.]

I thank Carol Mochan for that new title, “the member at the back”—I am quite happy with it.

Carol Mochan is a good socialist, like me. Does she have concerns about the noises coming from Wes Streeting and Rachel Reeves with regard to public services and, in particular, privatisation steps in the English NHS, which will impact on Scotland?

I will take the member. Is she challenging those quotes?

I want to be terribly friendly to you, but I will correct you. There are Scottish National Party members who are concerned about the restrictions on log-burning stoves—we signed your motion, and we are here today.

I am a wee bit peeved that the SNP is being accused of being anti-rural. Many of my colleagues have spoken up for rural communities for generations, and I have done so for 25 years. I just had to get that off my chest.

I congratulate the member on securing the debate in the chamber, and I was pleased to sign the motion for debate. As the minister will be aware, I raised my concerns about the limitations and restrictions on log-burning stoves for new builds, as that would impact many households and, indeed, businesses in my rural constituency. We are not talking about the fashion for wood-burning stoves in the city, but the fact that, for centuries, people in rural Scotland have warmed their homes with a ready and inexpensive—sometimes free—supply of logs.

When I lived in Minnigaff near Newton Stewart, I would, during the summer, have a trailer deliver a supply of logs that we could stack and dry for the winter. We had no mains access to gas and, after many a storm, the electricity supply would cut out. Candles were easily located and, not for the first time, I had to cook on the open log-burning fire. That remains the case in many rural areas in my constituency.

Some of these details are historic, but I will refer to them anyway. I raised my concerns at First Minister’s question time on 25 April, when I said:

“There is a well-established business in West Linton that supplies log-burning stoves and accessories. I am very concerned that, after 30 years, the business may very well be under threat. I understand that clean, eco-designed wood-burning stoves that use locally supplied wood can be used in conjunction with other renewable energy heating options, and that that position is supported by a Government study that was done a few years ago. Will the First Minister ask the appropriate cabinet secretary to revisit that study, as the issue may affect other small rural businesses?”

The then First Minister, Humza Yousaf, replied:

“I will ensure that we continue to keep those regulations under review. I say to Christine Grahame that there are appropriate exemptions in place and we take account of unique circumstances, particularly in rural and island Scotland.”—[Official Report, 25 April 2024; c 25.]

I followed that up on 22 May during portfolio questions, when I asked the Scottish Government:

“what discussions it has had and will have with rural communities, such as residents and businesses in the Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale constituency, regarding the restrictions on the installation of wood-burning stoves.”

The Minister for Climate Action, Gillian Martin, replied:

“The new-build heat standard currently applies only to new buildings and certain conversions. Wood-burning stoves can still be installed to provide emergency heating where justified”.

One of my concerns with that response is the use of the word “emergency”. The minister went on to say:

“I am new in this post. We are urgently reviewing the position in light of those concerns and ensuring that we work with and communicate with all concerned parties, including businesses, as we do so. I believe that I have already said that I would go to Ms Grahame’s constituency to speak to one such business.”—[Official Report, 22 May 2024; c 6.]

I had forgotten the minister’s invitation, which is typical of me. However, she has agreed to come. She then said the following:

“Christine Grahame makes a good point about sustainable supply of fuels for these forms of heating. I assure her that I take very seriously the concerns that she and many others have raised. I am happy to reiterate the commitment to urgently review our position”—

which she is doing—

“which was made in the letter of 16 May.”—[Official Report, 22 May 2024; c 7.]

She also accepted my second invitation to come to the constituency.

I should say that the first invitation was to Dryden Aqua—I do not want the minister to get confused, as that was about recycling glass—and the second, which still stands, was to visit The Fire Side shop in West Linton. I know that that invitation is in the post to the minister.

I want to add a third invitation—I am very good at invitations—to Baddinsgill farm, which is near West Linton and also trades as Treeline Woodlands. It sells bagged logs, kiln-dried hardwood and what it calls “wee wonky wood” for log burners. That is local wood that is burned locally and which, simply by being local, reduces emissions. We could tackle those issues at the same time.

It is important that we work with rural communities, domestic communities and business communities, because we all want to play our part in reducing emissions, but we have to do it together through a nuanced and flexible approach.

I find this very difficult. Because the Scottish Government amendment specifically references a referral to the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body, I, as an elected member of that body, identify a real or perceived conflict of interest, and will therefore recuse myself and will abstain on the amendment. If the motion is amended, I will abstain on that, too.