Meeting of the Parliament 22 January 2026 [Draft]
I am being told that I have gone too far already.
Daniel Johnson started off by warning us about the danger of going down rabbit holes, and then Martin Whitfield got up and took us to medieval England—that was a rabbit hole, if I have ever heard one. He continued down that rabbit hole when he got a second chance to speak, which is remarkable.
I remember having to stand up in the Parliament to announce that
“I am not a potato”.—[Official Report, 8 November 2022; c 79.]
That might be the only thing that anyone will remember about my time in the Scottish Parliament—I do not know. However, I never thought that I would see the day when a member would get up and say, “I’m an international cybercriminal,” but that is what Murdo Fraser announced this afternoon. Given that that will appear in the Official Report, I think that that can probably be used as court evidence—in case anyone is listening. [Interruption.] “Guilty, guilty—I’m an international cybercriminal,” he says.
In all seriousness, I support the general principles of the bill, and I do so having been directly involved as a committee member in most, although not all, of the stage 1 committee scrutiny sessions.
This is a complex and highly specialised area, and it is probably obvious to all my colleagues—it is certainly obvious to me—that I am not an expert in digital assets. When Martin Whitfield announced that there is a growing understanding of blockchain, I confess that I shrank a little in my seat. I do not have a growing understanding of blockchain, but I am open to tutorials. If anyone is willing to sit down and take me through the dummy’s guide to blockchain—