Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 02 September 2025
02 Sep 2025 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Scottish Government Priorities
I welcome the Scottish child payment, which we have continually supported. However, this Government is failing to challenge structural poverty, which I will come on to in a moment.
Let us take our public services. On John Swinney’s watch, our public services are in utter disarray. Almost 900,000 Scots are on NHS waiting lists and more than 100,000 Scots are waiting more than a year for treatment. The number of cancer deaths is rising. A and E waits remain dangerously long, and former routine services such as dentistry and hip and knee replacements are slowly being privatised due to the failure of the SNP to provide the level of services that people need. The health secretary is saying, from a sedentary position,“No, they’re not.” However, every single week, Scottish families are forced to empty their savings or remortgage their homes to pay for medical treatment, and the responsibility for that lies with John Swinney and the SNP Government.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Annabelle Ewing)
SNP
The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-18671, in the name of John Swinney, on priorities for Scotland. 15:10
The First Minister (John Swinney)
SNP
We gather today at the start of the fifth and final year of the sixth session of Scotland’s national Parliament—a Parliament that is more than a quarter of a...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
I am sure that everyone across the chamber supports our hard-working NHS staff. However, does the First Minister recognise that his words will come as cold c...
The First Minister
SNP
Let me address those particular issues. In our programme for government, we promised 150,000 extra appointments and procedures, but we now expect to exceed t...
Rachael Hamilton (Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con)
Con
I totally believe that John Swinney is just making up what he has been saying. There are 900,000 people on waiting lists, which is one in six people in Scotl...
The First Minister
SNP
I am very happy to reinforce the point that I made a moment ago about the extra capacity that means that, right now, in-patient waiting lists are falling in ...
Pam Duncan-Glancy (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
Will the First Minister set out to members how many newly qualified teachers are unemployed this year as a result of the Government’s failure to match supply...
The First Minister
SNP
What has helped in relation to the recruitment of teachers has been the pupil equity funding that we put into the budget and the increased levels of local go...
Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (Ind)
Ind
While Norway forges ahead, our oil and gas industry is dying before our very eyes. Will the First Minister at last support it, or will he, like a modern-day ...
The First Minister
SNP
The voices that speak to me from the oil and gas sector tell me that the cost regime that is applied by the taxation levels of the United Kingdom Government—...
Craig Hoy (South Scotland) (Con)
Con
Will the First Minister accept an intervention?
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
The First Minister is concluding.
The First Minister
SNP
I need to bring my remarks to a close. We need a Parliament with the power to create an immigration policy that works for the people of Scotland. We move ...
Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con)
Con
In just over eight months’ time, this parliamentary session will come to an end. Over the past four years, Parliament’s achievements have been too few and it...
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government (Shona Robison)
SNP
Does Russell Findlay think that this line of argument keeps both his MSPs and the population voting for him, given that he is at record low levels at the mom...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Always speak through the chair.
Russell Findlay
Con
Let us talk about this Parliament and what it can do—or, rather, what it is not doing because of this Government. It does not look at the interests of those ...
The First Minister
SNP
Let me give Mr Findlay a flavour of some of the practical things that the Government is doing to help people with the cost of living challenges that they fac...
Russell Findlay
Con
That was a bit of a long intervention. I am very glad that the First Minister listened to the Scottish Conservatives last December when they called for the e...
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care (Neil Gray)
SNP
Mistakes such as backing Liz Truss.
Russell Findlay
Con
We are really not the only ones, Neil Gray, who should be doing that.
Neil Gray
SNP
I did not back Liz Truss.
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Cabinet secretary, please desist.
Russell Findlay
Con
He is very noisy when he is sat down—he has a big mouth when he is sat down. The only way that any of us will win back public trust and earn the right to re...
Fergus Ewing
Ind
Made a request to intervene.
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Mr Findlay is bringing his remarks to a close.
Russell Findlay
Con
We will focus on efficient spending, champion self-reliance, demand freedom for people to aspire and to succeed, and bring forward common-sense solutions to ...
Anas Sarwar (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
I welcome all members back to the chamber for the new session. It may be a new session, but, for this knackered SNP Government, it is the same old script and...
The First Minister
SNP
In my speech, I quoted the statistic that if Scotland had the same level of child poverty as the rest of the United Kingdom, 90,000 more children would be li...
Anas Sarwar
Lab
I welcome the Scottish child payment, which we have continually supported. However, this Government is failing to challenge structural poverty, which I will ...