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Hansard

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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2,354,908

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1999–2026

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Official Report

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Showing 60 of 2,354,908 contributions. Latest 30 days: 0. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 25 Mar 2026.

Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Motion of Thanks

Thank you, Presiding Officers, in the plural. Unlike at First Minister’s question time today, all you will hear from me just now are warm words in a soothing tone.I begin by thanking you, Presiding Officer, and your colleagues Annabelle Ewing and Liam McArthur. Your job is dif...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Scottish Government (Record)

John Swinney will again go into an election with independence as his number 1 priority. He says arrogantly that he will win a majority. He says that that will give him a green light for another referendum. People are sick and tired of that damaging and divisive obsession. They...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Scottish Government (Record)

The SNP members come to life when I talk about independence, but they sat in silence when I read out the list of SNP sleaze and failure. Silence—Interruption.

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Scottish Government (Record)

Dearie me—all that spin from John Swinney. As we have just heard, John Swinney will always defend SNP sleaze. He will always put up taxes to spend more money on benefits. He will never take responsibility for his long list of failures.But for John Swinney, none of that really ...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Scottish Government (Record)

That credit rating is founded entirely on the fact that Scotland is a proud part of the United Kingdom.I turn now to SNP incompetence. I ask you to bear with me, Presiding Officer. It would take all day to properly address this useless Government’s dismal record—in fact, it wo...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Scottish Government (Record)

This jaded career politician has become accustomed and immune to SNP dishonesty, incompetence and sleaze. His party has trashed the reputation of this Parliament, and it is the people of Scotland who suffer.John Swinney has made Scotland the highest-taxed part of the United Ki...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Scottish Government (Record)

I have plenty more to come on the SNP’s greatest hits. John Swinney spends so much time on the moral high ground that it is a miracle that the man does not suffer from altitude sickness. The truth is that this jaded career politician—Interruption.

1. Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Scottish Government (Record)

Some say that the Scottish National Party Government is incompetent. Some say that it is dishonest. Some say that it is sleazy. I say that it is all three.John Swinney has been at the heart of this incompetent, dishonest and sleazy SNP Government for almost two decades. He def...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Income Tax

Here is an idea for John Swinney: how about he tries to answer the questions that are put to him?The Scottish benefits agency, which was created by the SNP, also published shocking new data this week. It revealed that almost 500,000 people—that is, half a million Scots—now rec...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Income Tax

—but that she“will not be voting for the party at the forthcoming election for a number of reasons, not least their inability to control the escalating number of benefits claims.”Why can John Swinney not see what everyone else can see? His light-touch benefits system is comple...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Income Tax

However, he is completely out of step with the people of Scotland. Two thirds of people in Scotland believe that spending on benefits is too high. It is now at £7 billion, and it is heading towards £10 billion.This is what I heard from a general practitioner in Perthshire with...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Income Tax

John Swinney can parrot selective statistics all day long—Interruption.

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Income Tax

I do not think that John Swinney is listening. People are saving 77p per week. John Swinney will not admit that he is forcing taxpayers to fund the SNP’s sky-high and soaring benefits bill. The IFS found that the average Scottish household is more than £500 worse off than thos...

1. Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Income Tax

Hard-working Scots are being hammered by the Scottish National Party Government. A new report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has delivered a damning verdict on the SNP’s income tax system. It says that Scots now pay £1.8 billion more because of SNP tax bands. A Scottish w...

Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill

I, too, fear that the bill cannot prevent coercion. We cannot legislate for human nature and human fallibility. Having changed my mind, and having decided to vote against assisted dying tonight, I wonder whether the member agrees that, if any member at this late stage is still...

Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Inclusive Parliament Review

Last night, I read the Parliament’s report on the review conducted about dignity in the workplace. While doing so, I thought back to my time working in newspapers. Workplace cultures were very different to what is typical today, as I am sure many of us can testify. The world o...

Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I would have voted yes.

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Glasgow Union Street Fire

The First Minister could not even be bothered going to the hustings. He did not even bother sending a minister or an MSP.Let me tell members about another shocking example of John Swinney’s disgraceful, high-handed approach to business. I contacted him directly about Katie Lon...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Glasgow Union Street Fire

John Swinney mentions the budget response, but that is a sticking plaster. Businesses are bleeding out and Scottish hospitality is being hit hard, with pubs already closing at a rate of one a week. However, John Swinney does not want to know. Last month, I invited him to discu...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Glasgow Union Street Fire

I am not sure whether that answer will inspire huge confidence. There seems to be a lack of urgency around the matter, because many businesses that have been impacted by the Glasgow fire already face massive, imminent rises to their rates bills. Across Scotland, those bills wi...

1. Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Glasgow Union Street Fire

The inferno that ripped through my home city of Glasgow was devastating. Only the bravery and professionalism of 250 firefighters stopped the flames from engulfing Central station. There are many serious questions about the dodgy vape shop where the fire started, but the immed...

Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Dunblane Shootings (30th Anniversary)

There is a photo of the primary 1 class at Dunblane primary school in 1996, and it is a picture of pure childhood innocence. It features teacher Gwen Mayor beaming with pride and cheeky wee smiles on the faces of her young pupils.On 13 March, 1996, they were visited by evil. A...

Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Brian Whittle talked about the international evidence on coercion, or lack thereof, which is what the debate is about.Let us look closer to home, because, in my past life as a journalist, I did not need to look too far to see examples of trusted legal professionals targeting a...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Social Security Scotland Investigations

The party of gravy-bus grifters and camper-van capers mugs its own members and robs the taxpayers of Scotland. It has built a benefits system that shouts, “Free money here!” It is a charter for chancers.Every other party backs the SNP’s out-of-control benefits spending, but th...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Social Security Scotland Investigations

I remember the old John Swinney, who preached about being respectful in here. The mask has again slipped and he has gone back to the angry John Swinney who resorts to silly smears. He still does not get it. Interruption.

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Social Security Scotland Investigations

Here is a reality check for John Swinney. Last year, my party revealed that Social Security Scotland had referred just 29 cases of potential fraud to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. On the basis of the level of fraud across the United Kingdom, that number shoul...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Social Security Scotland Investigations

Anyone who is daft enough to trust the SNP with their cash needs to give their head a wobble.However, I am more interested in taxpayers’ money. That case illustrates so much that is wrong with the SNP’s benefits system. Thanks to The Scotsman newspaper, we know that Sally Dona...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Social Security Scotland Investigations

John Swinney’s star candidate used a crowdfunder to raise more than £1,200 for her campaign. Interruption.

1. Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Social Security Scotland Investigations

John Swinney personally backed Sally Donald to become a new Scottish National Party member of the Scottish Parliament. At her glitzy campaign fundraiser, he gushed about her in glowing terms. Mr Swinney was at the top table, smiling. He was by her side. That was just 12 days a...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Social Security (Cost)

This entire place is in a state of denial. The SNP, the Greens, the Lib Dems, Labour and Reform think that they can keep spending more money and giving more benefits while expecting Scottish workers and businesses to keep paying for it. We cannot—we just cannot.The Scottish Co...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Social Security (Cost)

The First Minister is doing what he always does—resorting to nonsense smears—because he is in a state of complete and utter denial. Interruption.

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Social Security (Cost)

No one is asked to pay more tax—they are forced to pay more tax. This Government should get people off benefits and into work, because that is how we improve people’s lives. Instead, the SNP hammers workers and businesses to pay for its expensive benefits.It is going to get ev...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Social Security (Cost)

John Swinney has just said that his benefits spending is fair and affordable. It is neither. Hard-working Scots who are struggling with the cost of living are already forced to pay £1.8 billion more each year in SNP income tax. That is £1.8 billion more than they would pay if ...

1. Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Social Security (Cost)

We are blessed to live in a country that provides its people with the safety net of social security. Any one of us, or our loved ones, might need a helping hand at some point in our lives.However, we have a duty as politicians to remind ourselves that that is paid for by taxpa...

Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

War in Ukraine(Fourth Anniversary)

Four years of war—it is impossible for us to imagine. Four years of fear, misery and death. Four years of civilians listening for the sound of drones overhead, ordinary Ukrainians being trapped in a state of horror and hundreds of thousands of ordinary men being sent to the fr...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

Points of Order

Can you please tell me what methods or mechanisms are available to me, or to any other member, to compel the Lord Advocate to provide a full statement to this Parliament?

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

Points of Order

I am just doing so.This is about parliamentary scrutiny and Government accountability—Interruption.—so can you please tell me whether—

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

Points of Order

I understand, Presiding Officer. I am just attempting to put context around it.John Swinney failed to disclose that when I questioned him at First Minister’s question time last week. Instead, he resorted to the usual angry bluster and deflection. It seems that a two-tier syste...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

Points of Order

—and what Mr Swinney did with that information, which was kept secret from the public.I had the opportunity to ask only one question, which was limited to 45 seconds. Thirteen other members also asked brief questions, but the Lord Advocate’s lengthy responses mostly failed to ...

Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Points of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I seek your guidance in relation to parliamentary procedure. The Parliament is supposed to hold the Government to account. Last week, the Lord Advocate responded to an urgent question, which was about why the Lord Advocate tipped off Joh...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Lord Advocate (Information Sharing)

He was Nicola Sturgeon’s right-hand man and he got a heads-up about the criminal case involving her husband. The Lord Advocate’s actions were wrong and her excuses do not stack up. John Swinney says that he has confidence in the Lord Advocate, so will he therefore support our ...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Lord Advocate (Information Sharing)

After five years of inaction, it maybe will take this rotten episode to finally force the SNP to end the Lord Advocate’s dual role.This scandal is typical of an SNP Government that is obsessed with secrecy and spin, personified by the First Minister. If John Swinney really doe...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Lord Advocate (Information Sharing)

:The Oscar for best phony anger goes to John Swinney. What a desperate deflection—unbelievable. Interruption.

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Lord Advocate (Information Sharing)

It once again highlights the inherent conflict of interest with Scotland’s top prosecutor also being a member of the Scottish Government. John Swinney stood on a manifesto promise to address that. Five years later, nothing has changed. I wonder why. Does John Swinney now agree...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Lord Advocate (Information Sharing)

:Imagine boasting about getting an FOI answered on time—absolutely desperate.The First Minister did not answer the question, but it sounds like he did not share the information with his entire Cabinet, but he shared it with his spin doctor.The Lord Advocate should have known t...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Lord Advocate (Information Sharing)

If it really was about preventing any risk to the case, who else did John Swinney share that information with?

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Lord Advocate (Information Sharing)

The reason why John Swinney passed sensitive information from the Lord Advocate to his SNP spin doctor is obvious. It was because he knew that it gave him and his party a political advantage in an election year. Thanks to the Lord Advocate, John Swinney and the SNP knew the pr...

1. Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Lord Advocate (Information Sharing)

Before I start, I want to make it clear that I fully understand the law relating to live criminal proceedings. John Swinney should also understand the law, so I urge him not to hide behind it to avoid answering my questions, which have nothing to do with matters before the cou...

Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I have had a technical problem. I would have abstained.

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

Urgent Questions

Any remnants of that neutrality are in ruins. Is the Lord Advocate therefore considering her position?

Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

Urgent Questions

The Lord Advocate was appointed to the SNP Government by Nicola Sturgeon. The Lord Advocate then gave John Swinney information about a serious criminal case involving Nicola Sturgeon’s husband. She also gave Mr Swinney key details of court dates, to the SNP’s clear electoral a...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Justice System (Death of Keith Rollinson)

In attempting to decipher all that, it sounds as though the killer may well still have his free bus pass, despite killing a bus driver.Keith Rollinson’s tragic case highlights so much that is wrong with the SNP’s weak justice approach: laws that keeps some killers out of priso...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Justice System (Death of Keith Rollinson)

My description of the SNP’s sentencing guidelines was 100 per cent accurate. Keith Rollinson’s killer previously attacked another bus driver, yet, after that, he was still allowed to keep his free bus pass. Our party has been campaigning for years to deny free travel for those...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Justice System (Death of Keith Rollinson)

John Swinney cannot say it, so I will say it for him: a violent killer not spending a single night in prison and potentially being back home after two years is not justice. It is sickening, and it is an affront to Sue Rollinson and her family.The killer was given a shockingly ...

1. Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Justice System (Death of Keith Rollinson)

Sue Rollinson’s beloved husband of 33 years went out to work as a bus driver but never came home. Keith Rollinson was violently attacked by a teenage thug and died in hospital. As he lay dying, Sue and her daughters were told not to touch him. Sue told me:“We weren’t even allo...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Business Rates Relief

Labour politicians were barred from pubs across the United Kingdom after Rachel Reeves’s damaging budget. Now, one of Scotland’s leading businessmen is calling for SNP ministers to be locked out from their locals, too. Sir Tom Hunter has described the SNP Government’s rates sy...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Business Rates Relief

Scotland’s pubs are in the eye of a perfect storm from two anti-business Governments. Labour is hammering businesses with a crippling jobs tax in the form of national insurance increases, while the SNP fails to provide lifeline financial support through rates relief. Businesse...

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Business Rates Relief

That answer was all froth and no beer. Interruption.

Russell Findlay Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Business Rates Relief

He talks about the budget, but the Scottish Beer and Pub Association says that the SNP budget falls well short of what is needed for many pubs across Scotland.Pubs are closing in Scotland at the rate of one every single week. Almost 300 pubs have been forced to close their doo...

1. Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Business Rates Relief

Businesses across the United Kingdom receive important financial support from Government in the form of rates relief, but when that cash reaches the Scottish National Party Government, it spends it on other things such as its £0.5 billion ferries, its £7 billion benefits bill ...

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Chamber

Meeting of the Parliament 05 February 2026 [Draft]

05 Feb 2026 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

First Minister’s Question Time

Business Rates Relief

Johnstone, Alison NPA Lothian Watch on SPTV

Thank you!

In the same item of business

1. Russell Findlay (West Scotland) (Con) Con

Businesses across the United Kingdom receive important financial support from Government in the form of rates relief, but when that cash reaches the Scottish...

The First Minister (John Swinney) SNP

The Government, in its forthcoming budget, which will be discussed by Parliament over the next few weeks, is putting forward a package of reliefs worth an es...

Russell Findlay Con

He talks about the budget, but the Scottish Beer and Pub Association says that the SNP budget falls well short of what is needed for many pubs across Scotlan...

The First Minister SNP

That is not what the Government is doing. The Government is decreasing the basic, intermediate and higher property rates to deliver a broadly revenue-neutral...

Russell Findlay Con

That answer was all froth and no beer. Interruption.

The Presiding Officer (Alison Johnstone) NPA

Let us hear Mr Findlay.

Russell Findlay Con

Scotland’s pubs are in the eye of a perfect storm from two anti-business Governments. Labour is hammering businesses with a crippling jobs tax in the form of...

The First Minister SNP

I acknowledge the implications for business of the increase in employer national insurance contributions. I have made the point on multiple occasions in the ...

Russell Findlay Con

Labour politicians were barred from pubs across the United Kingdom after Rachel Reeves’s damaging budget. Now, one of Scotland’s leading businessmen is calli...

The First Minister SNP

I can think of nothing less appealing than having a pint with Russell Findlay. Laughter. I have a trip to the dentist that would be more preferable than goin...

The Presiding Officer NPA

The First Minister SNP

I am terribly sorry if that has been a wounding set of exchanges—I am typically generous in style in the Parliament, but I think that most of the Conservativ...