Meeting of the Parliament 16 June 2015
You are very kind, Presiding Officer. Thank you for your generous allocation of time.
This has been a short, sharp debate on what is, as we have all heard, a non-controversial, simple and sensible bill. I commend all members who have spoken in the debate for their imagination and ingenuity in making their saying that the bill is a good thing last for at least six or seven minutes. We perhaps all needed to become a poor man’s Stewart Stevenson, who would have undoubtedly invented or discovered a grandfather who was harbour master of Aberdeen Harbour in 1905 but—alas!—we did not.
Perhaps I should provide quickly some feedback on the debate. The minister talked about a number of the bill’s aspects, particularly the often cited issue around privatisation. I thought that Alex Johnstone looked very crestfallen at the mention of the lack of privatisation, but he also stole my line about Mary Fee’s trip down memory lane when she made her point about Aberdeen Harbour. I have a bizarre image of Vikings having to pay a levy to Aberdeen Harbour following their regular raids in Aberdeen, but perhaps that has already happened.
We also heard from Jim Eadie. I, too, emphasise his very poor puns, but he also made some serious points in discussing the ICI Committee’s support for the general principles of the bill. He made a good point about the ONS reclassification; let us all hope that, following the passing of the bill, the ONS will consider reclassification so that our larger ports can become public corporations.
We heard about Aberdeen Harbour, which many members of the ICI Committee visited, including me. It was my first visit to Aberdeen Harbour and I was extremely impressed by the professionalism of the organisation. We also had a tour round the proposed harbour at Nigg, which will be a tremendous asset for the north-east.