Meeting of the Parliament 04 June 2026 [Draft]
I rise not to oppose the formation of committees but to challenge the Government over its latest attempt to undermine fair scrutiny of the decisions that it takes.
The Scottish National Party has chosen to nominate one of its own as convener of the finance committee and to take on the position of deputy convener. That contrasts with the previous session of the Parliament, in which an MSP from an Opposition party took on the role of deputy. With a huge focus during this parliamentary session set to be on the Government’s finances, it is sadly predictable that the secretive SNP Government has grabbed those two vital positions. MSPs are rightly concerned about a £5 billion budget black hole, so would it not have been better for the SNP to allow Opposition politicians to lead the scrutiny of the Government’s finances? Has John Swinney learned no lessons from the SNP’s financial scandal about the importance of transparency and independent audit and about the separation of powers? He clearly has not. The SNP has learned no lessons.
Who might emerge in those two key roles? In the previous session, the Presiding Officer was the convener of the predecessor committee. He showed grit, determination and independence of mind from the SNP, but is the SNP about to propose a pair of party patsies to rubber-stamp its budget in the Parliament? Will it be the eagle-eyed Colin Beattie or will Kirsten Oswald be swapped from her ministerial brief? Those two MSPs apparently failed to spot £400,000 being stolen from under their noses.
People will not be surprised that SNP ministers are trying to hijack the finance committee, but it flies in the face of one of the fundamental principles of the Parliament—that the committee system should be independent of Government and doggedly hold it to account.
The Scottish Conservatives are in line to secure the convenership of the Social Justice, Housing and Local Government Committee, which will oversee 41 per cent of the Government’s expenditure. We will use our presence on that committee to properly scrutinise the Scottish Government and its bloated SNP benefits bill.
MSPs from all parties in the chamber were elected to the Parliament to question the Government and safeguard their constituents’ interests and the taxes that they pay. However, the SNP’s power grab on the finance committee is akin to putting Dracula in charge of a blood bank. Therefore, I urge all MSPs, regardless of their party, to use the committee system that the Parliament will agree today to hold the Government to account properly. Ministers might be frightened of transparency and routinely seek to avoid scrutiny, so they might not like that, but it is what we are paid to do on behalf of our constituents.
Although we will not stand in the way of the formation of committees, the Scottish Conservatives are putting down a very strong marker before ministers. People have had enough of their secrecy. It is time to open the books.