Meeting of the Parliament 05 June 2019
The Liberal Democrats fully support the South of Scotland Enterprise Bill, which is the kind of legislation that can really benefit the people of the south of Scotland. It is about supporting the environment and, at the same time, supporting inclusive and sustainable economic growth. It is about increasing the number of residents who are of working age, enhancing skills and capacities that are relevant to employment, encouraging business start-ups and entrepreneurship, and promoting improved transport services. However, most important, it is about supporting communities to help them meet the needs that they have identified.
I am particularly pleased that members of the committee worked well together to improve the bill—people who heard the exchanges on some of today’s amendments might not think so, but we did—as a result of engaging with people in the south of Scotland. In particular, the committee’s formal meeting in Dumfries and our meeting in Galashiels were excellent.
I want to put on record that the cabinet secretary Fergus Ewing has clearly and demonstrably worked hard to ensure that we get the bill right. He was willing to listen to the evidence, he responded extremely well to the committee’s stage 1 report—which, I have to say, has not always been my experience of ministerial responses to such reports—and he lodged very constructive amendments at stage 2. He has done the same thing today at stage 3. If I may say so—and I do not think that I am betraying any confidences here—his work with MSPs of all parties between each stage of the process has been welcome.
I reiterate that the bill should enable us to achieve real change in the south of Scotland. However, it is only a start. In fact, after working so long on it in committee, I have to say that I have mixed feelings about it. If I think that we have got it right, why do I have such feelings? Because I am an MSP from the north-east, and I would like a similar bill for my constituents. The cabinet secretary’s deputy, who is sitting beside him, is a north-east MSP, too, and I hope that the two of them are having a conversation about the issue right now and that they turn their heads towards the north-east in future. That would be a really first-class idea.