Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 22 December 2021
It probably does not need to be stated, but I am a committed monarchist and, God willing, I wish to see Her Majesty reign over the United Kingdom for many years to come. After what is set to be another dark winter, the platinum jubilee celebrations offer a ray of light at the end of the tunnel and will, I hope, be an opportunity for all our communities to once again come together and rejoice in all that is good about our country. I say that because I do not want anything that follows to be seen as disrespectful to the royal family, who have been such great supporters of causes across Dumfriesshire. Nor would I wish anything that I say to reflect negatively on the significant efforts of Mark Jardine, who, through the People’s Project, has done so much for the town of Dumfries.
However, in my view, none of the above is a good enough reason to squander the main selling point of Dumfries, as a market town and the hub of our rural community. We cannot and should not simply invent cities just to tick boxes. I also question why, in a large rural region, Dumfries was the automatic candidate. We have already heard that size of population is not a factor, so why should the candidate not be the royal city of Sanquhar? Langholm, the muckle toon, could have become the muckle city.