Seòmar agus comataidhean

Five years ago, the SNP promised recovery and failed. Is it not the case that the next five years must be about Scotland recovering from John Swinney and the failing SNP?

I will start by not only supporting the motion in the First Minister’s name but echoing all his comments.

Presiding Officer, I thank you for your dedication over the past five years and for your dedication over 15 years to your constituents and to the great people of Scotland.

To the Deputy Presiding Officers, I say thank you for how you have managed our sessions fairly and tried to manage each and every one of us fairly, particularly when we have attempted to misbehave. Annabelle Ewing, I wish you all the very best in your retirement. Liam McArthur, I wish you all the very best in the election.

I also pay tribute to all MSPs, across the parties, who are either pursuing new challenges or planning to enjoy what I hope will be long and happy retirements. To those who are retiring, I say that every retired politician I meet always looks 10 years younger.

I say a particular thank you to my colleagues Sarah Boyack, Rhoda Grant, Richard Leonard, Alex Rowley and Mercedes Villalba, who are stepping down from the Parliament. Each and every one of you has made a significant contribution to the Parliament and to public life in Scotland. You have represented the very best of the Scottish Labour Party and, more importantly, the very best of Scotland.

One of our retirees, Rhoda Grant, is from the Parliament’s original intake in 1999. Sarah Boyack served in Donald Dewar’s first ever Cabinet. Alex Rowley is a former deputy leader of Scottish Labour, as well as a former general secretary. Richard Leonard was one of my predecessors as party leader from 2017 to 2021. My thanks go to all of them and to the many members from other parties who are stepping down.

One third of MSPs are moving on. Although that means that there are too many to mention individually, I thank each and every one of them for their invaluable public service. Among the most notable departures are two former First Ministers; the current Deputy First Minister; other cabinet secretaries; and, of course, the former leader of the Conservatives, whom I know many people will look forward to continuing to encourage enthusiastically from the football stands.

I pay tribute to my fellow Glasgow MSPs. In particular, I pay tribute to Nicola Sturgeon, who served as the Parliament’s first-ever female First Minister for almost a decade. I am sure that both of us are relieved that we will no longer be sparring partners in the south side of Glasgow, as we have been for almost 30 years. I also pay tribute to her successor, Humza Yousaf, who led the way by becoming the first—I hope that he will not be the last—First Minister from an ethnic minority background. I am sure that both of them are looking forward to new challenges, but they must also be looking forward to being free of the personal burden that I know high office places on them as individuals and on their wider families. I am sure that their families are looking forward to having a lot more of their time and, of course, their headspace.

My thanks go to the Parliament’s chief executive and all the parliamentary staff who have looked after us so well during the past five years. Whenever I am in this place, I make a point of speaking to as many of the people who are responsible for the smooth running of the Parliament as I can. To those working in reception, security, maintenance and catering, and all their other colleagues, thank you for your immense efforts. Most of all, enjoy the six-week break from each and every one of us.

My thanks again to you, Presiding Officer. I hope that you enjoy spending those extra hours with Alan and your daughter.

When we all return after the election on 7 May, there will be lots of work to do, and I hope that we will do it by representing the very best of Scotland.

16:37

What Scots will hear from that is that John Swinney thinks that 10,000 homeless children is a measure of the Government’s success, rather than a measure of its failure.

I started my public service as a national health service dentist, and fixing our NHS is personal to me. The SNP promised an NHS recovery but failed. At the election in 2021, 549,000 Scots were on an NHS waiting list. The figure is now 786,000. In 2021, around 1,200 Scots were waiting more than two years for treatment. Today, that figure is—shamefully—almost 6,400.

The SNP has had 20 years in power. If it knew how to fix the problems in our NHS, our schools and more, it would have done it by now. That is why Scotland needs change and a new Government that will fix the SNP’s mess, get the basics right and build a better future for our country, Scotland.

TheParliament is supposed to be about the lived experiences of Scots. Five years ago, Scots elected a Scottish Government on a clear promise to make this a Covid recovery Parliament. Let us not forget that John Swinney was the Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery. But we did not get recovery, did we? Instead, the SNP Government lost its way and took Scotland backwards. On almost every measure, things are now worse than they were five years ago. Waiting times are worse, homelessness numbers are worse, crime is up, police officer numbers are down and educational attainment is poorer. In 2021, John Swinney was the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and promised that we would have 3,500 extra teachers. Instead, we have 810 fewer teachers compared with 2021. John Swinney and the SNP have failed. After 20 years, more of the same will not cut it, will it?

I just read out the facts in the record of failure. Let us not forget that John Swinney was the education secretary who marked down working-class kids during the pandemic. When he did that, he told teachers that he did not trust their judgment and young people that he did not believe in their ability.

However, it is not just in the classrooms that he is failing our young people. The number of homeless children in 2021 was 7,500. Today, the figure stands at more than 10,000—there are 10,000 children without a home to call their own on the SNP’s watch. There are starker and more serious failures, too. The number of Scots who are sleeping rough on our streets has increased by 66 per cent since 2021, and almost 5,000 of our fellow Scots have lost their lives since 2021 to a drug deaths crisis that the SNP said was a national emergency. Will John Swinney be honest and accept that that is not a record of success but a record of failure that he should be apologising for?

I will start by not only supporting the motion in the First Minister’s name but echoing all his comments.

Presiding Officer, I thank you for your dedication over the past five years and for your dedication over 15 years to your constituents and to the great people of Scotland.

To the Deputy Presiding Officers, I say thank you for how you have managed our sessions fairly and tried to manage each and every one of us fairly, particularly when we have attempted to misbehave. Annabelle Ewing, I wish you all the very best in your retirement. Liam McArthur, I wish you all the very best in the election.

I also pay tribute to all MSPs, across the parties, who are either pursuing new challenges or planning to enjoy what I hope will be long and happy retirements. To those who are retiring, I say that every retired politician I meet always looks 10 years younger.

I say a particular thank you to my colleagues Sarah Boyack, Rhoda Grant, Richard Leonard, Alex Rowley and Mercedes Villalba, who are stepping down from the Parliament. Each and every one of you has made a significant contribution to the Parliament and to public life in Scotland. You have represented the very best of the Scottish Labour Party and, more importantly, the very best of Scotland.

One of our retirees, Rhoda Grant, is from the Parliament’s original intake in 1999. Sarah Boyack served in Donald Dewar’s first ever Cabinet. Alex Rowley is a former deputy leader of Scottish Labour, as well as a former general secretary. Richard Leonard was one of my predecessors as party leader from 2017 to 2021. My thanks go to all of them and to the many members from other parties who are stepping down.

One third of MSPs are moving on. Although that means that there are too many to mention individually, I thank each and every one of them for their invaluable public service. Among the most notable departures are two former First Ministers; the current Deputy First Minister; other cabinet secretaries; and, of course, the former leader of the Conservatives, whom I know many people will look forward to continuing to encourage enthusiastically from the football stands.

I pay tribute to my fellow Glasgow MSPs. In particular, I pay tribute to Nicola Sturgeon, who served as the Parliament’s first-ever female First Minister for almost a decade. I am sure that both of us are relieved that we will no longer be sparring partners in the south side of Glasgow, as we have been for almost 30 years. I also pay tribute to her successor, Humza Yousaf, who led the way by becoming the first—I hope that he will not be the last—First Minister from an ethnic minority background. I am sure that both of them are looking forward to new challenges, but they must also be looking forward to being free of the personal burden that I know high office places on them as individuals and on their wider families. I am sure that their families are looking forward to having a lot more of their time and, of course, their headspace.

My thanks go to the Parliament’s chief executive and all the parliamentary staff who have looked after us so well during the past five years. Whenever I am in this place, I make a point of speaking to as many of the people who are responsible for the smooth running of the Parliament as I can. To those working in reception, security, maintenance and catering, and all their other colleagues, thank you for your immense efforts. Most of all, enjoy the six-week break from each and every one of us.

My thanks again to you, Presiding Officer. I hope that you enjoy spending those extra hours with Alan and your daughter.

When we all return after the election on 7 May, there will be lots of work to do, and I hope that we will do it by representing the very best of Scotland.

16:37

I will start by not only supporting the motion in the First Minister’s name but echoing all his comments.

Presiding Officer, I thank you for your dedication over the past five years and for your dedication over 15 years to your constituents and to the great people of Scotland.

To the Deputy Presiding Officers, I say thank you for how you have managed our sessions fairly and tried to manage each and every one of us fairly, particularly when we have attempted to misbehave. Annabelle Ewing, I wish you all the very best in your retirement. Liam McArthur, I wish you all the very best in the election.

I also pay tribute to all MSPs, across the parties, who are either pursuing new challenges or planning to enjoy what I hope will be long and happy retirements. To those who are retiring, I say that every retired politician I meet always looks 10 years younger.

I say a particular thank you to my colleagues Sarah Boyack, Rhoda Grant, Richard Leonard, Alex Rowley and Mercedes Villalba, who are stepping down from the Parliament. Each and every one of you has made a significant contribution to the Parliament and to public life in Scotland. You have represented the very best of the Scottish Labour Party and, more importantly, the very best of Scotland.

One of our retirees, Rhoda Grant, is from the Parliament’s original intake in 1999. Sarah Boyack served in Donald Dewar’s first ever Cabinet. Alex Rowley is a former deputy leader of Scottish Labour, as well as a former general secretary. Richard Leonard was one of my predecessors as party leader from 2017 to 2021. My thanks go to all of them and to the many members from other parties who are stepping down.

One third of MSPs are moving on. Although that means that there are too many to mention individually, I thank each and every one of them for their invaluable public service. Among the most notable departures are two former First Ministers; the current Deputy First Minister; other cabinet secretaries; and, of course, the former leader of the Conservatives, whom I know many people will look forward to continuing to encourage enthusiastically from the football stands.

I pay tribute to my fellow Glasgow MSPs. In particular, I pay tribute to Nicola Sturgeon, who served as the Parliament’s first-ever female First Minister for almost a decade. I am sure that both of us are relieved that we will no longer be sparring partners in the south side of Glasgow, as we have been for almost 30 years. I also pay tribute to her successor, Humza Yousaf, who led the way by becoming the first—I hope that he will not be the last—First Minister from an ethnic minority background. I am sure that both of them are looking forward to new challenges, but they must also be looking forward to being free of the personal burden that I know high office places on them as individuals and on their wider families. I am sure that their families are looking forward to having a lot more of their time and, of course, their headspace.

My thanks go to the Parliament’s chief executive and all the parliamentary staff who have looked after us so well during the past five years. Whenever I am in this place, I make a point of speaking to as many of the people who are responsible for the smooth running of the Parliament as I can. To those working in reception, security, maintenance and catering, and all their other colleagues, thank you for your immense efforts. Most of all, enjoy the six-week break from each and every one of us.

My thanks again to you, Presiding Officer. I hope that you enjoy spending those extra hours with Alan and your daughter.

When we all return after the election on 7 May, there will be lots of work to do, and I hope that we will do it by representing the very best of Scotland.

16:37

I will start by not only supporting the motion in the First Minister’s name but echoing all his comments.

Presiding Officer, I thank you for your dedication over the past five years and for your dedication over 15 years to your constituents and to the great people of Scotland.

To the Deputy Presiding Officers, I say thank you for how you have managed our sessions fairly and tried to manage each and every one of us fairly, particularly when we have attempted to misbehave. Annabelle Ewing, I wish you all the very best in your retirement. Liam McArthur, I wish you all the very best in the election.

I also pay tribute to all MSPs, across the parties, who are either pursuing new challenges or planning to enjoy what I hope will be long and happy retirements. To those who are retiring, I say that every retired politician I meet always looks 10 years younger.

I say a particular thank you to my colleagues Sarah Boyack, Rhoda Grant, Richard Leonard, Alex Rowley and Mercedes Villalba, who are stepping down from the Parliament. Each and every one of you has made a significant contribution to the Parliament and to public life in Scotland. You have represented the very best of the Scottish Labour Party and, more importantly, the very best of Scotland.

One of our retirees, Rhoda Grant, is from the Parliament’s original intake in 1999. Sarah Boyack served in Donald Dewar’s first ever Cabinet. Alex Rowley is a former deputy leader of Scottish Labour, as well as a former general secretary. Richard Leonard was one of my predecessors as party leader from 2017 to 2021. My thanks go to all of them and to the many members from other parties who are stepping down.

One third of MSPs are moving on. Although that means that there are too many to mention individually, I thank each and every one of them for their invaluable public service. Among the most notable departures are two former First Ministers; the current Deputy First Minister; other cabinet secretaries; and, of course, the former leader of the Conservatives, whom I know many people will look forward to continuing to encourage enthusiastically from the football stands.

I pay tribute to my fellow Glasgow MSPs. In particular, I pay tribute to Nicola Sturgeon, who served as the Parliament’s first-ever female First Minister for almost a decade. I am sure that both of us are relieved that we will no longer be sparring partners in the south side of Glasgow, as we have been for almost 30 years. I also pay tribute to her successor, Humza Yousaf, who led the way by becoming the first—I hope that he will not be the last—First Minister from an ethnic minority background. I am sure that both of them are looking forward to new challenges, but they must also be looking forward to being free of the personal burden that I know high office places on them as individuals and on their wider families. I am sure that their families are looking forward to having a lot more of their time and, of course, their headspace.

My thanks go to the Parliament’s chief executive and all the parliamentary staff who have looked after us so well during the past five years. Whenever I am in this place, I make a point of speaking to as many of the people who are responsible for the smooth running of the Parliament as I can. To those working in reception, security, maintenance and catering, and all their other colleagues, thank you for your immense efforts. Most of all, enjoy the six-week break from each and every one of us.

My thanks again to you, Presiding Officer. I hope that you enjoy spending those extra hours with Alan and your daughter.

When we all return after the election on 7 May, there will be lots of work to do, and I hope that we will do it by representing the very best of Scotland.

16:37

I will start by not only supporting the motion in the First Minister’s name but echoing all his comments.

Presiding Officer, I thank you for your dedication over the past five years and for your dedication over 15 years to your constituents and to the great people of Scotland.

To the Deputy Presiding Officers, I say thank you for how you have managed our sessions fairly and tried to manage each and every one of us fairly, particularly when we have attempted to misbehave. Annabelle Ewing, I wish you all the very best in your retirement. Liam McArthur, I wish you all the very best in the election.

I also pay tribute to all MSPs, across the parties, who are either pursuing new challenges or planning to enjoy what I hope will be long and happy retirements. To those who are retiring, I say that every retired politician I meet always looks 10 years younger.

I say a particular thank you to my colleagues Sarah Boyack, Rhoda Grant, Richard Leonard, Alex Rowley and Mercedes Villalba, who are stepping down from the Parliament. Each and every one of you has made a significant contribution to the Parliament and to public life in Scotland. You have represented the very best of the Scottish Labour Party and, more importantly, the very best of Scotland.

One of our retirees, Rhoda Grant, is from the Parliament’s original intake in 1999. Sarah Boyack served in Donald Dewar’s first ever Cabinet. Alex Rowley is a former deputy leader of Scottish Labour, as well as a former general secretary. Richard Leonard was one of my predecessors as party leader from 2017 to 2021. My thanks go to all of them and to the many members from other parties who are stepping down.

One third of MSPs are moving on. Although that means that there are too many to mention individually, I thank each and every one of them for their invaluable public service. Among the most notable departures are two former First Ministers; the current Deputy First Minister; other cabinet secretaries; and, of course, the former leader of the Conservatives, whom I know many people will look forward to continuing to encourage enthusiastically from the football stands.

I pay tribute to my fellow Glasgow MSPs. In particular, I pay tribute to Nicola Sturgeon, who served as the Parliament’s first-ever female First Minister for almost a decade. I am sure that both of us are relieved that we will no longer be sparring partners in the south side of Glasgow, as we have been for almost 30 years. I also pay tribute to her successor, Humza Yousaf, who led the way by becoming the first—I hope that he will not be the last—First Minister from an ethnic minority background. I am sure that both of them are looking forward to new challenges, but they must also be looking forward to being free of the personal burden that I know high office places on them as individuals and on their wider families. I am sure that their families are looking forward to having a lot more of their time and, of course, their headspace.

My thanks go to the Parliament’s chief executive and all the parliamentary staff who have looked after us so well during the past five years. Whenever I am in this place, I make a point of speaking to as many of the people who are responsible for the smooth running of the Parliament as I can. To those working in reception, security, maintenance and catering, and all their other colleagues, thank you for your immense efforts. Most of all, enjoy the six-week break from each and every one of us.

My thanks again to you, Presiding Officer. I hope that you enjoy spending those extra hours with Alan and your daughter.

When we all return after the election on 7 May, there will be lots of work to do, and I hope that we will do it by representing the very best of Scotland.

16:37

More than a decade ago, the Scottish National Party Government opened a hospital—[Interruption.]