Hansard

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

25 Mar 2026

First Minister’s Question Time

Last October, the Chinese renewables company Ming Yang announced an investment of £1,500 million in my constituency, which would initially create 1,500 direct jobs and lead to 4,000 jobs in phase 3. Rumours now suggest that Mr Miliband of the United Kingdom Government is about...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

24 Mar 2026

Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Does the member agree not only that Mr Ross is an outstanding and fearless parliamentarian—as we must all agree, whatever our views—but that he has, as I know, been prepared to work across parties in order to try to achieve things for Scotland? Is that not an example for us fo...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

24 Mar 2026

Visitor Levy (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill

I congratulate the minister on having the gumption to do something that does not happen a great deal by introducing the bill with an expedited procedure. I think that it was me who, in speaking to a business motion—from memory, it was on 18 December—suggested that that procedu...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

24 Mar 2026

Visitor Levy (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill

I congratulate the minister at least for introducing the bill, but would it not have been better, rather than having two options, if there was simply one option—a flat rate? Does the additional option not really amount to a bit of a capitulation to the Convention of Scottish L...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

18 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Roads in Lothian (Local Government Funding)

Thank you very much indeed for that advice, Presiding Officer.Whether in Lothian, where the backlog is £69 million, in Highland, where it is £233 million, or anywhere else, particularly in rural Scotland, roads and bridges are being closed because of safety issues. In my patch...

Fergus Ewing Ind Chamber

25 Feb 2026

Budget (Scotland) (No 5) Bill: Stage 3

Does Mr Marra agree that the Scottish Government is so muddle-headed in its thinking, particularly in failing to account for businesses closing as a result of high tax burdens, that it may end up receiving even less money than it would have received if it had granted the postp...

Fergus Ewing Ind Chamber

25 Feb 2026

Budget (Scotland) (No 5) Bill: Stage 3

Will the member take an intervention?

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

25 Feb 2026

Budget (Scotland) (No 5) Bill: Stage 3

For two years, the Nairn bypass has been ready to go into the procurement stage for its completion. However, it will not go into procurement until 2029. Given that the capital budget is the highest ever—£7,600 million—can the cabinet secretary understand that people in Nairn a...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

25 Feb 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Tourism Industry

Yesterday, at a rural leadership meeting, we heard from a hotelier on the west coast. They are doing extremely well, with bookings all year round, but after the increase in business rates, hardly anything is left by way of profit, and it is barely worth continuing. Businesses ...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:Even the petitioner, in his submission of 10 February, has referred to the lack of a guarantee that concerns about digital evidence will be“examined, addressed, or learned from”.He has gone beyond merely requesting authentication; he has asked for a more comprehensive set of ...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:The whole issue of digital evidence is one where the legal system has fallen behind technological advancement. The petition’s ask is that digital material should be capable of being independently authenticated. It is an eminently sensible and, I would have thought, necessary ...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:I agree—the petition should be closed. There has been quite a swift response to the petition, in comparison with others, which is to be welcomed.The response was that Food Standards Scotland will discuss options for packaging-based consumer protection measures, which is reser...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:I concur with what the convener and Mr Torrance said. I find the bureaucratic approach almost comical in its absurd complexity. There has been a complete failure to exercise any discretion in favour of people who plainly merit it, even when, as Rhoda Grant points out, extensi...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:It is very hard to prise SEPA people from their offices. Most of the work is done on the desktop. When you ask them to please come and meet a constituent and see the site, more often than not there is either a refusal or a truculent agreement. It is a plain lack of leadership...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:I think that SEPA produces maps at such a precautionary level of risk that the whole of Scotland might as well be shown as a flood risk, apart from perhaps Ben Nevis, where the affordable housing opportunities are somewhat limited.Developing the houses in my constituency took...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:I do not want to be left out of this particular party. In my constituency, I have had nothing but woe in dealing with SEPA. When there was an attempt to establish a development of more than 20 affordable homes on a site that is on higher ground than existing housing that has ...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:I agree with that. I note that the petition was lodged in October 2022, so it is three and a quarter years old. That has been ample time for the Scottish Government, as the main body concerned, to hold an independent inquiry and for an independent national whistleblowing offi...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:There has been substantial progress, although I remain disappointed that NHS Grampian has not engaged more actively with the committee. The petitioner has made that view known quite frequently and fairly.

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:Why not?

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:In conclusion, the petition has been successful in many ways in achieving clarity, where previously there had been a lack of consideration, rather than a lack of clarity, by the Parliament and the Government.I do not think that, in our closing the petition, it is a defeat, bu...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:—and that the shroud of mystery surrounding the death of his son will linger for ever.Obviously, the petitioner’s desire is for there to have been a proper, thorough inquiry and investigation into the situation, conducted by an independent judicial authority in Scotland. It n...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:I can see that the circumstances are tragic for the petitioner—

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

:I would not bet a penny against it either.For all those reasons, I think that closing the petition is not a defeat—it is a victory for the family, because they have achieved great things. I hope that they can understand that, with a couple of weeks to go, we are not practical...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Committee

25 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

I think that the family, ably assisted by Jackie Baillie and others throughout, have done a great thing in the circumstances, which are absolutely tragic in respect of their daughter. The health secretary met the family and provided a written submission as recently as 6 Februa...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

24 Feb 2026

Topical Question Time · ScotWind (Audit Scotland Investigation)

When anyone sells anything at an auction, the purpose, surely, is to get the best price. That is the point of an auction. Why did the Crown Estate set a cap at all? Why did it set it at £10,000 per square kilometre of the seabed? Why did it then increase that cap by 900 per ce...

Fergus Ewing Ind Chamber

18 Feb 2026

Moray FLOW-Park

The minister has said that early consultation is essential. Given that that has not happened, and that the consultation began a year and a half after £2 million of public money was offered—apparently without the minister’s approval or involvement—will the minister now seek an ...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

18 Feb 2026

Moray FLOW-Park

Of the many reasons that we owe a debt of gratitude to the Roman civilisation, one is that it bequeathed to us the principles of natural justice. One such principle is audi alteram partem: one must listen to both sides of the case.When I, like other members, was inundated with...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

18 Feb 2026

Urgent Questions

The Lord Advocate has emphasised repeatedly that not only did she recuse herself from any involvement in the decision-making process in this particular case but she issued the minute in her name only because that was the fact and the indictment was settled. However, does she n...

Fergus Ewing Ind Chamber

11 Feb 2026

Business Motion

I accept the argument that Mr Dey has produced—that we wait until February 2026—but I cannot see why, after February 2026, there should not be a ministerial statement. The minister appeared to rule that out, although perhaps I misinterpreted that.

Fergus Ewing Ind Chamber

11 Feb 2026

Business Motion

Indeed. I will cut to the chase, Presiding Officer. I appreciate—and I have communicated this to the Minister for Parliamentary Business—that there is not enough time for a bill. There would need to be massive consultation on the bill anyway, and I recognise that, but the issu...

Fergus Ewing Ind Chamber

11 Feb 2026

Business Motion

I will take an intervention in one minute when I finish this point.However, section 170 was written not as a work of fiction by Joseph Heller but as a provision by the United Kingdom legislature in 1995. To proceed with his malicious prosecution action, Mr Hirst would have had...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

11 Feb 2026

Business Motion

I wish to raise a matter of some considerable importance. I have given notice and a draft copy of my speech to the Presiding Officer, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs and the Minister for Parliamentary Business.I should say that I have been a solicitor for 45...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

11 Feb 2026

New Petitions

I am. I do not think that we can do justice to the numerous issues that Nora Fry raises. She gives a long and interesting account of particular problems that have arisen, all of which have the ring of truth about them—I say that as an MSP who represents a rural area as well as...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

11 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

Yes. In many cases, there is an interim order for residence and contact, and in many cases, that interim order is eventually confirmed. You could say that the issue of custody—or residence, as it is now called, I believe—is not hanging and unresolved in every case by any means...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

11 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

I had the opportunity to study the petitioner’s response to the minister’s submission of 1 February. He makes several highly relevant points, some of which I had not previously considered, despite the fact that I spent a couple of decades involved in that kind of work fairly r...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

11 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

I think that there is no other alternative, given that we are nearly at the end of this session of Parliament.I used to be involved in legal practice in such areas, so I know that it is extremely sensitive, and that it is very difficult to make generalised judgments because ev...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

11 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

Exactly.

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

11 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

I think that I have already made my points about the petition. Given that we have only two meetings to go, I think that there is no option but to close the petition under rule 15.7 of standing orders, on the basis that the Scottish Government has continued to publish strategie...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

11 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

We do not have any option but to close the petition, so I concur with the recommendation. We heard compelling evidence from Edward Mountain, who has particular knowledge on the issue, and I think that it is common knowledge that water has been in scarce supply in many parts of...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

11 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

I join you, convener, in expressing concern about the large number of applications in this area along with a lack of guidance and lack of an energy policy. We have no idea what the Scottish Government thinks is the role—if any—of battery energy storage. There is a mini-Klondik...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

11 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

I concur with Mr Golden’s recommendation and analysis. Mr Shaw has done a service by raising the issue, because it is extremely important. As he said in his initial submission back in June 2024, there has been a “tsunami of interest” in pump storage schemes—a plethora of schem...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

11 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

Yes, that is correct. I do not want to hark back to archaeology, but, when I was energy minister, we used voluntary powers to ensure that communities could obtain a stake in ownership, not just an annual cheque. We did that through the renewable energy investment fund, which l...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Committee

11 Feb 2026

Continued Petitions

I concur with Mr Torrance’s proposal. As far as I can glean, the issue is important to a great many people, particularly in the Highlands, the south of Scotland and the north-east. I know from attending a convention of community councils on 12 August last year that feelings ar...

Fergus Ewing Ind Chamber

04 Feb 2026

Hospitality

Oh.The Government should also estimate the difference between the tax take if the revaluation goes ahead and the tax take if we reverted to the 2023 revaluation rates. That information should be made public.This has nothing to do with Brexit. It is nobody else’s fault. This is...

Fergus Ewing Ind Chamber

04 Feb 2026

Hospitality

I hope that I will get the time back.

Fergus Ewing Ind Chamber

04 Feb 2026

Hospitality

I have two minutes. Interruption. I have two minutes, for goodness’ sake. The minister can answer during his time later.

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

04 Feb 2026

Hospitality

Let me cut straight to the chase. The revaluation must be postponed. Moreover, the Minister for Public Finance has been given detailed briefings from experts such as Fiona Campbell about how it could be postponed. It could be disapplied for specific sectors, or we could revert...

Fergus Ewing Ind Chamber

04 Feb 2026

Hospitality

Does Mr Fraser agree that the immediate solution is to do what Northern Ireland announced on 29 January that it would do, which is to postpone the revaluation?

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

04 Feb 2026

Hospitality

Will the member give way?

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

04 Feb 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Local Government Finance Settlements (Rurality)

I have a constituent farmer, Neil Gordon, in Balnaan, who relies on the use of Balnaan bridge to carry out his work. The bridge has recently been closed because of safety concerns in relation to work that requires to be done. As a result, after doing a day’s work, he has to un...

Fergus Ewing Ind Chamber

03 Feb 2026

Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I have very little time, and I want to say a couple more things before I close.Alone in the history of this institution, Ash Regan resigned on a point of principle. She gave up her job, her title, her salary, the ministerial car—all those things—because she believed in women a...

Fergus Ewing Ind Chamber

03 Feb 2026

Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I am sorry, but I do not have much time to take interventions.One of the points made by the convener of the committee was that it would be difficult to enforce. Well, rape is difficult to prove. Should we not have the crime of rape because it is difficult to prove? What a path...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

03 Feb 2026

Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

In the 26 years since the Parliament was reconvened, I have attended every debate that substantially—not entirely—involves a fundamental moral question.In those previous debates, generally, the reputation of the Parliament has been enhanced. The debates have been largely court...

Fergus Ewing Ind Chamber

03 Feb 2026

Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

If that is the case and if section 6, which is on the right to support, is supported by the Liberal Democrats—this is not my view, but a possible outcome is that part of the bill being the only part left—surely, logically, the Lib Dems should support the bill in order to allow...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind) Ind Chamber

03 Feb 2026

Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Will the member take an intervention?

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

28 Jan 2026

Continued Petitions

Hold it open.

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

28 Jan 2026

Continued Petitions

Yes.

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

28 Jan 2026

Continued Petitions

The Scottish Government’s first argument, that a policy of automatic exclusion would not be lawful because it would need to consider every case, is fair enough. I have no doubt that that is true, and it is almost certainly true legally. However, the reframing of the aim could ...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

28 Jan 2026

Continued Petitions

There is a case for doing that, but it is up to the whole committee.If I were the petitioner and in the circumstances that have been described, which I have alluded to briefly, I would be very unhappy with COSLA’s response. Indeed, by highlighting the United Nations approach a...

Fergus Ewing Ind Committee

28 Jan 2026

Continued Petitions

Again, in view of the limited time that is available to us in the session—substantially because of that—we should close the petition under rule 15.7 of standing orders. The Scottish Government’s position is that it would not be lawful to employ a policy of automatic exclusion ...