Meeting of the Parliament 21 December 2023
—yet Mike Russell has continuously made disparaging comments in the media about people in public life, describing a well-respected female MP as having a tantrum and an MSP as being arrogant. Those are shocking words from someone who is supposed to build relationships. In other comments, Mr Russell has described political opponents as enemies and Conservative MPs as traitors and hard right. This is the person who will be speaking on behalf of the Scottish Land Commission—a person who has used degrading language towards women in public and who has called people who do not agree with his politics enemies—and yet we are supposed to believe that he will now build relationships and engage with stakeholders. What an absolute joke.
This badly judged appointment will not build bridges but will sow division and be bad for our rural sector. The SNP is politicising the commissioner’s role at a time when the Scottish Land Commission will play a vital role in feeding in to the land reform process. It is the equivalent of the SNP marking its own homework, and it should be resisted. It is a “jobs for the boys” approach, and the fact that the SNP and its Green lapdogs are simply going to vote this through to keep their cabal together as the last gasp before the Christmas recess is simply shocking. The SNP is making bad decisions that will harm the future of our rural sector.
In a week that saw the worst budget for Scottish businesses and for our rural economy, Scotland’s rural community deserves better than this. This Parliament deserves better than this. The appointment simply reeks of nepotism. We all deserve transparency and clarity from the Scottish Government and its ministers. [Interruption.]