Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 23 June 2026 [Draft]
23 Jun 2026 · S7 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Climate Change
Let me begin with a simple but important distinction. Global warming is real and a problem, but it is not an emergency. That distinction matters, because it shapes how we respond. Make no mistake: our current policies are failing. They are disproportionate and unilateral, are causing the closure of industries and are driving huge energy bills while having zero effect on global emissions. In Scotland, most obviously, such policies have driven the closures of the Grangemouth refinery and the Mossmorran plant, and they are causing huge damage to our North Sea oil and gas industry.
The distinction also matters because emotive terms such as “emergency” and “crisis” are simply not supported by the science.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Katy Clark)
Lab
The next item of business is a debate on motion S7M-00434, in the name of Gillian Martin, on meeting the challenge of climate change. I will give members on ...
The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs (Gillian Martin)
SNP
I am pleased to open this afternoon’s debate on meeting the challenges of climate change. Despite the majority of people in Scotland recognising that climate...
Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?
Gillian Martin
SNP
Yes.
Claire Baker
Lab
I am happy to confirm that the amendment refers to carbon budgeting and the changes that we have made to the five-year targets.
Gillian Martin
SNP
I thank Claire Baker for that confirmation—it is very helpful, because I wanted to support the content of the amendment, but there was just an issue with wor...
Finlay Carson (Galloway and West Dumfries) (Con)
Con
Unfortunately, this sounds like the usual broken record, with the Scottish Government cherry-picking statistics. If everything is so good, why has the Climat...
Gillian Martin
SNP
I would be happy to give Finlay Carson that molecular detail after this debate. I am not cherry-picking particular aspects but instead going through some of ...
Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)
Green
Will the minister take an intervention?
Gillian Martin
SNP
I will in a second.Those projects also help to reduce future spending on issues such as flooding and wildfires, and to build long-term resilience to climate ...
Mark Ruskell
Green
I am enjoying much of what the cabinet secretary is laying out in her speech. However, she has not mentioned the industrial decline in Scotland and the need ...
Gillian Martin
SNP
I do not believe that we are leaving it to corporates. We are using our funding to leverage an investment from companies to make that money work harder. The ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Katy Clark)
Lab
I call Claire Baker to speak to and move amendment S7M-00434.2.15:51
Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
We need to be clear that climate change is an emergency that affects communities across the world and increasingly here in Scotland. We are seeing more extre...
Gillian Martin
SNP
Does the member agree, however, that the issue is not just for Government, and that there has to be a determination, in a coalition of the willing in Parliam...
Claire Baker
Lab
I agree with that to an extent, but Government has the levers and is there to provide leadership and the drive to make things happen. As I have made clear, c...
Gillian Martin
SNP
I make this intervention in the spirit of wanting to work together. One of the issues has been the UK Government’s decision to tax EV drivers per mile. Does ...
Claire Baker
Lab
My understanding is that a consultation on that decision has just closed. Some of the pressure comes from the costs that we have put on rural transport and o...
The Minister for Agriculture, Marine and the Islands (Jim Fairlie)
SNP
Does Claire Baker accept that the Scottish Government and this Parliament have made the necessary injections of cash into agriculture by ensuring that we con...
Finlay Carson
Con
You cut the budget.
Jim Fairlie
SNP
—and continue to have a ring fenced fund for cattle production in this country while, in England, the policies introduced by the Tories and continued by the ...
Claire Baker
Lab
I do not agree with that analysis, which does not recognise the reality that farmers are dealing with. When I met NFU Scotland this week, it called for clari...
Jim Fairlie
SNP
It has clarity.
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Katy Clark)
Lab
Members must not interrupt.
Claire Baker
Lab
We agree with maintaining livestock numbers—although the numbers have come down because of market forces—but the funding framework must support the transform...
Jim Fairlie
SNP
I assume that Claire Baker is comfortable with the fact that, down in England, a payment under the basic payment scheme used to be worth £40,000 but its repl...
Claire Baker
Lab
I have made it clear that farming and agriculture are important sectors, as the highest emissions in Scotland come from agriculture, transport, housing and b...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Katy Clark)
Lab
You should be winding up, so I recommend that you do not take any more interventions and that you move to your closing remarks.
Claire Baker
Lab
I was going to say something about tree planting. The cabinet secretary’s announcement on climate forests is welcome, but we could do more in that area.We kn...
Duncan Massey (North East Scotland) (Reform)
Reform
Let me begin with a simple but important distinction. Global warming is real and a problem, but it is not an emergency. That distinction matters, because it ...