Meeting of the Parliament 08 October 2025
It gives me great pleasure to stand up this evening to congratulate the Scottish Government on leading the way in bowel cancer screening across the United Kingdom. I take this opportunity to thank the more than 67 members of this Parliament who have supported the motion. That support and the fact that I am able to stand here as an Opposition member to congratulate the Government show a strength in politics that we should all be proud of.
This session of Parliament is probably different from a lot of previous ones, in that three MSPs have had a cancer diagnosis during it. I was delighted when I saw Ruth Maguire back in here earlier this month, but, along with other members of this Parliament, I was devastated when I learned that Christina McKelvie was not to come back.
One in two of us will get a cancer diagnosis during our lifetime. That is perhaps a good thing, if the diagnosis is for a cancer that can be treated. Every year, 4,000 Scots get a diagnosis of bowel cancer. That diagnosis often comes from doing what I have euphemistically called the poo test. People are sent a test kit every two years when they are over 50, and it is a very easy test to do. Actually, if anyone wants to do it earlier, they can get the test online. I checked to see how much that would cost and found that the cheapest test—which is double the sensitivity of the Scottish Government-approved test—costs only £20. Therefore, if any person in Scotland has any of the symptoms, such as blood in their poo, stomach pains, weight loss or a change in bowel habits, or a lump in their stomach, they should, of course, try to see their doctor, but, if they cannot, they should buy an online test, because it can indicate a need to see their doctor at the earliest opportunity.