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Every contribution to the Official Report — chamber and committee — searchable in one place. Pulled from data.parliament.scot, indexed for full-text search, linked through to every MSP.

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Showing 60 of 2,354,908 contributions. Latest 30 days: 0. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 25 Mar 2026.
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD) LD Chamber
22 Mar 2011
Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Bill
I am glad to open for the Liberal Democrats in the last justice debate, the last stage 3 debate and the last substantive debate of the parliamentary session. As with many justice debates, the bill raises substantial issues around the interface between personal liberty, public ...
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD) LD Chamber
22 Mar 2011
Forced Marriage etc (Protection and Jurisdiction) (Scotland) Bill
I was going to make that point to the minister.
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD) LD Chamber
17 Mar 2011
Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3
I very strongly support Pauline McNeill’s amendment 1. I understand the point about section 17, but I do not feel that it deals with the issue in a satisfactory way. There is no great dispute about the fact that the problem is significant and affects a number of tenemental pro...
Robert Brown LD Chamber
17 Mar 2011
Bus Services Regulation
Will the minister clarify the extent of the Scottish Government’s financial input to the underground modernisation in Glasgow?
Robert Brown LD Chamber
17 Mar 2011
Bus Services Regulation
Perhaps the minister should read the policy. We have certainly said that there is a need to consider whether people such as me are entitled—as Stewart Stevenson is—to a bus pass, and whether that is the best use of the bus pass. Nobody is suggesting the abandonment of the sche...
Robert Brown LD Chamber
17 Mar 2011
Bus Services Regulation
No, I am trying to put the issue into context and to explain the deficiency at the heart of the member’s proposition.I will say a little more about Glasgow. We lack an adequate city centre network to enable people to get around the city centre, from Argyle Street to Sauchiehal...
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD) LD Chamber
17 Mar 2011
Bus Services Regulation
I am grateful to Charlie Gordon for focusing on bus travel in the last party debate before the election. However, as I said in an intervention, there is a contradiction at the heart of his argument, in that he criticises market failure but seems to propose market monopoly as t...
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD) LD Chamber
17 Mar 2011
Bus Services Regulation
I am intrigued by Charlie Gordon’s direction of travel. He complains about market failure, but he seems to be suggesting that he is looking for market monopoly on a regulated basis. Am I wrong about that?
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD) LD Chamber
16 Mar 2011
Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill
The bill addresses a serious matter to which the Parliament has devoted quite a bit of attention over the years since 1999 and which calls for serious politicians. Rhoda Grant has shown herself to be very much a serious and committed politician in bringing the bill to finality...
Robert Brown LD Chamber
16 Mar 2011
Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3
The minister said earlier that the wording covered not necessarily sexual relationships but perhaps emotional relationships. I am at somewhat of a loss to understand where the cut-off point is between a boyfriend/girlfriend situation and a situation in one of those wider categ...
Robert Brown LD Chamber
16 Mar 2011
Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3
Would the amendment, therefore, cover relationships between brother and sister or parent and child as well as the other categories that the committee was careful to avoid?
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD) LD Chamber
16 Mar 2011
Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3
I agree with much of what Bill Aitken said. It seems to me that proposed new subsection (2)(d) in particular has distinct difficulties. First, despite Rhoda Grant’s explanation, the phrase “intimate personal relationship” is not in fact defined in the bill and therefore it is ...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
I note that the instrument provides for an increase of 3.6 per cent in fees to shorthand writers. Given that there have been reductions across the board in legal fees and so on, it is not entirely clear to me why fees in this area are going up. I do not propose to make an issu...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
Yes. I have no further comments on the issue.
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
Before we take a vote, on a point of order, I ask for clarity from the clerks about the possibility of bringing back an instrument without provisions on stipendiary magistrate fees. As I understand it, that could be done—the only difference being that it could not be annulled ...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
I support James Kelly’s motion. The issue gave me considerable difficulty, and I wanted to be clear that I was acting not purely from a Glasgow perspective but with a wider view in mind. I pay tribute to the efforts of the Scottish Government and the Law Society to resolve a d...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
I will make a helpful suggestion on other savings. One of the issues that the Government has taken into account is the ratio of early guilty pleas in the stipendiary court. I am told that part of the reason for that ratio is difficulty in relation to access to the fiscals in t...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
Sorry, what is the problem? I do not quite follow that. It seems that cases are clearly marked up by the procurator fiscal’s department. What is the problem with that being translated?
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
With respect, we were also told that that did not affect the categorisation of the case for legal aid, so it is irrelevant for the regulations.
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
I struggle to get a view of what sort of cases go to the stipendiary court. We had good evidence earlier on from the Law Society and the GBA, but I am troubled by the statement under the fourth policy objective in the Executive note that is attached to the regulations, which s...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
I suggest that stealing a pot of yoghurt and a jar of honey would not in any jurisdiction of Scotland be regarded as the most serious of the criminal cases that come before the court.
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
On the type of case we are talking about, one of the solicitors involved has sent me an example of a case that went before the sheriff court in Ayr. Obviously that was not a Glasgow case. It involved the stealing of a pot of yoghurt and a jar of honey. It appears that in some ...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
So, the only distinction that the Law Society is relying on is that certain of the more serious cases do not get marked for going to the stipendiary magistrate court because of Crown Office policy, but they nevertheless go to the sheriff court in Glasgow. All the stip cases ar...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
Everyone is agreed on that. Thereafter, we would go higher up the scale. If Glasgow’s procurator fiscal’s statement is correct, those cases that are marked for the stipendiary magistrate court in Glasgow would go before the sheriff court in other jurisdictions. That means that...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
I want to examine that a bit further. The key issue is the clarity of what the courts actually do. As I understand it, cases are brought as either custody cases or cited cases. In either event, in Glasgow at the lowest level, they will be marked as JP cases, if appropriate, an...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
Regardless of anything else, stip court and sheriff court appearances are dealt with on the same basis, so that for those who appear in the stip court there will be an immediate loss of £125 in the block. That means that there will be a disproportionate loss to mainly Glasgow ...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
I want to be clear about the position here, and I have two issues to bring up. The first relates to the change from the current position. I want to ask the Law Society if I have it right that the current block fee for the stipendiary magistrate court appearance is £515. That w...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
I am grateful, cabinet secretary, for your emphasis on flexibility, which is important, but I am trying to get to the principle that underlies the changes. Can you elaborate on that? In Glasgow, where there is no lack of competition among solicitors, are there plans to expand ...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Subordinate Legislation
My question is not so much on the regulations per se as on the operation of the system. Cabinet secretary, you are probably aware that one of the Glasgow Bar Association’s agitations has been about the way in which the duty scheme has operated with regard to weekends. For the ...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010
I am really asking whether you think that the 2010 act—which we passed with such haste, despite four months of possible preparation time—deals satisfactorily and fully with the question of waiving rights, or whether the challenges that are coming forward already will pose a pr...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010
That is not what I asked. I asked whether you thought that we were now immune from successful challenge on the particular issue of the waiving of rights—which I think was provided for in the Lord Advocate’s guidelines to a degree and in the legislation—given the significance o...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010
I have one other question on the 2010 act and the Lord Advocate’s guidelines. Michelle Macleod said that there had been one challenge to the Lord Advocate’s guidelines in relation to whether there was a legal right, but a number of other cases involved the waiving of rights. W...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010
I merely observe that it is difficult to see how the views of the Scottish Human Rights Commission could have been taken on board if it was not consulted.May I ask a further—
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010
I am sorry, but we are talking about the biggest single human rights issue that has come before the Parliament or challenged the Government. The Parliament set up the Scottish Human Rights Commission to be a repository of advice on such substantive matters. Why on earth did yo...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010
I am sorry to interrupt, but the senior human rights commissioner said that the Scottish Human Rights Commission was not consulted prior to the bill being introduced. Is that not the case? Are you challenging that?
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010
Fair enough. Okay.I go back to the 2010 act and the timescales. The bill was introduced within hours of the judgment, rather than days or weeks. The Scottish Human Rights Commission, which is the statutory body that was set up by the Parliament to give advice and to have a sta...
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010
We have just heard from ACPOS that, since the 2010 act came into force, only a quarter of 1 per cent of cases have required the use of a period beyond six hours. Interruption. Is that not what we heard? I thought that I heard that when I came in.
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010
I am sorry to interrupt you, cabinet secretary, but I seek clarity on the practical difficulties. The 2010 act did not sort out the business of accommodation. What problem could not continue to have been dealt with under the Lord Advocate’s guidelines, at least for a period?
Robert Brown LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010
You will forgive me for saying so, cabinet secretary, but that does not add anything. Will you give a practical example of the sort of situation that was causing difficulty?
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD) LD Committee
15 Mar 2011
Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010
I am struggling a little to follow the nature of the practicalities, cabinet secretary. What practical difficulties could have arisen had you not introduced the bill? I assume that the essence of the matter was whether, in practice, a suspect person under detention had the rig...
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Scotland Bill
Has Mr Stevenson read the letter from the Law Society of Scotland, who should know a little bit about this matter? It takes the opposite view, because of the technical difficulties of the current situation.
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Scotland Bill
Does Tricia Marwick accept that that is not quite what the committee recommended? It said that there should be a framework for the devolution of corporation tax, if it was to be considered for other parts of the UK, with rules around it that recognised the race-to-the-bottom i...
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Scotland Bill
Given that the member described the income tax proposals as “dangerous”, I am somewhat surprised that the issue does not feature in the Government amendment and that it does not propose to strike them from the bill, or something.
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Scotland Bill
Those claims have been destroyed as the nonsense that they always were. Starkly, on pages 75 and 76, the report lays out for all to see the essence of the SNP’s misrepresentation—its very own dodgy dossier. The official SNP Government document of January 2011 and the misleadin...
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Scotland Bill
The overhyped claims of the historical inevitability of the fairy dust of independence creating economic growth—
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Scotland Bill
There is no plan for any aspect for it.
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Scotland Bill
I will come to that, but it is the movement in the SNP position that I am talking about at the moment.Members may recall, as I certainly do, that the First Minister mocked the Calman process, as he did the constitutional convention, and yet it is the Calman process that has th...
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Scotland Bill
Yes, I will.
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Scotland Bill
If the member does not mind, I will make some progress first.The committee report is bold in arguing that the significant borrowing powers that are being provided for should be based on transparent principles and that, after the current financial pressures ease, they might imp...
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Scotland Bill
I respect Margo MacDonald’s views on these matters, which are shared by others, but she must accept that other legitimate and, perhaps, more “normal” arrangements are to be found in other constitutional jurisdictions.There is a developing framework around the potential for the...
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD) LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Scotland Bill
This is probably the last major debate of the session. It is highly appropriate that it should be on the Scotland Bill and the committee report on it. Ultimately, it is about the place of the Parliament and of Scotland within the evolving constitutional framework of the United...
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD) LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Scotland Bill
I was intrigued by what the minister said about supporting the bill, with reservations. That is not quite what she said at the beginning, when she damned the income tax proposals and said that they were totally unworkable. Has she changed her view on those?
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD) LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
First Minister’s Question Time · Old Firm Summit
Does the First Minister agree that the overwhelmingly searing image of the recent events was the sight of the manager of Celtic and the assistant manager of Rangers squaring up to each other, following a number of on-field incidents involving players and staff? Does the First ...
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Local Services
The problem behind the police force debate is that we have not had an analysis from the Government, nor have we had the basis of any figures. That is part of the difficulty.
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Local Services
Does Murdo Fraser accept that running through that is a decision about the best way to tackle an admitted problem? Does he not accept that the centralising way is not the way to deal with the issue, which is crying out for a local solution?
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Local Services
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Perhaps we could have some guidance on what on earth all this has to do with the motion that is before us.
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Local Services
Will the member give way?
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Local Services
Can Bob Doris shed any light on the question that I have asked before? When will the savings, so called, kick in? Will it be during the period of the current comprehensive spending review, for example?
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Local Services
Before Dave Thompson finishes, can he comment on ACPOS’s statement that there would be a loss of thousands of officers and support staff and on how that fits with his proposition that there will be improved services and so on?
Robert Brown LD Chamber
10 Mar 2011
Local Services
Will the member give way?
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Chamber

Meeting of the Parliament 10 March 2011

10 Mar 2011 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Scotland Bill
Brown, Robert LD Glasgow Watch on SPTV
I will come to that, but it is the movement in the SNP position that I am talking about at the moment.

Members may recall, as I certainly do, that the First Minister mocked the Calman process, as he did the constitutional convention, and yet it is the Calman process that has the vision and the philosophical and economic underpinning and framework. Indeed, we hear today the heavy sound of bandwagons being jumped on by the SNP. It is the First Minister and his Government who are diminished by their schoolboy puffs and exaggerations, by their sniping from the sidelines, and by the economic myths that seem to be inseparable from the independence argument, even if the efforts of the public relations people in the SNP are temporarily clothed in the garments and pretentiousness of government.

The report does one other thing: it cruelly exposes the inadequacies of the SNP position, its slogans and its far-fetched claims for the land of milk and honey that would come with independence. Independence is a damaging irrelevance for Scotland.

In the same item of business

The Presiding Officer (Alex Fergusson) NPA
The next item of business is a debate on motion S3M-8114, in the name of Iain Gray, on the Scotland Bill, which is United Kingdom legislation. I invite membe...
Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab) Lab
Today is important for the Scottish Parliament and all those who believe in devolution for Scotland. As the Scotland Bill Committee’s report makes clear, the...
The Minister for Culture and External Affairs (Fiona Hyslop) SNP
The Scottish Government has been extremely constructive not only with the bill committee but with the UK Government. We have made 30 different suggestions fo...
Pauline McNeill Lab
The member does not recognise that, but I will come to that. Until now, Fiona Hyslop has argued for independence or full fiscal autonomy to the death. Nothin...
The Minister for Parliamentary Business (Bruce Crawford) SNP
I do not think that you are very amusing at all, actually.
The Presiding Officer NPA
Order.
Pauline McNeill Lab
The Scotland Act 1998 was by any standard a landmark piece of legislation. It gave the Parliament very wide powers and, as the Calman commission showed, it g...
Tricia Marwick (Central Fife) (SNP) SNP
Will the member give way?
Pauline McNeill Lab
I will take a brief intervention.
Tricia Marwick SNP
I was struck by the member’s assertion that the Scottish Parliament would be responsible for levying almost a third of the money that it receives. That is si...
Pauline McNeill Lab
I have heard Tricia Marwick say that before, but the last time I heard her say it, she said that the figure was 15 per cent. I am reading from the committee’...
The Minister for Culture and External Affairs (Fiona Hyslop) SNP
This debate is a staging post in the Scotland Bill process, and the Scotland Bill is a staging post on the constitutional journey to achieve more powers and ...
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD) LD
I was intrigued by what the minister said about supporting the bill, with reservations. That is not quite what she said at the beginning, when she damned the...
Fiona Hyslop SNP
We still think that there are fundamental flaws in the income tax proposals, not least because we have no idea how the Treasury will adjust the block grant. ...
Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD) LD
Will the minister give way?
Fiona Hyslop SNP
I am moving on. The Scottish Government has provided the impetus for the current national debate on the way in which Scotland is governed. Our position is cl...
Fiona Hyslop SNP
However, we recognise that some, including Mr Purvis, have other sincerely held views. Hence our national conversation provided a detailed and ambitious visi...
Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con) Con
Just to make it absolutely clear, I say that the referendum that is proposed in the amendment is on the LCM powers as proposed in the motion. It is clear tha...
Fiona Hyslop SNP
The member might want to look closely at her amendment, because it talks about fiscal powers.The Government has taken the Scotland Bill on its merits. We sup...
Pauline McNeill Lab
Why did the Government choose 1999 as the basis of its calculations? Does the minister accept that, if the Calman proposals were in place now, Scotland would...
Fiona Hyslop SNP
As far as I remember, 1999 was the year in which the Scottish Parliament was established and devolution began. The projections that were provided to the comm...
Pauline McNeill Lab
Will the minister give way?
Fiona Hyslop SNP
I am moving on.It is important to point out that, although the bill seeks more powers for the Scottish ministers, it provides a net loss of powers to the Sco...
Jim Hume (South of Scotland) (LD) LD
Will the member give way?
Fiona Hyslop SNP
I am closing now.Throughout the process of constitutional debate that was initiated by the Government in the national conversation, we have been open to idea...
Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con) Con
Today’s debate is hugely important, and I fully recognise that, on the issue of the fiscal powers that should be available to Parliament, members will argue ...
Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD) LD
I am trying to find out whether this is an opening speech for the Conservative party or an opening speech for Margaret Mitchell—I am not quite sure.
Margaret Mitchell Con
This is an amendment speech. With his political experience, Mr Rumbles should know that.The Parliament has justifiably been proud that, since its inception, ...
Ian McKee (Lothians) (SNP) SNP
Will Margaret Mitchell take an intervention?
Margaret Mitchell Con
I am sorry—I am in my last minute.The only way to ensure that the Scottish Parliament genuinely seeks the views of and listens to the people whom it represen...