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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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2,354,908

Hansard contributions

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.

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

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

They don’t want you.

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

Climate Change Plan

The cabinet secretary pointed out in her statement that the SNP Government has increased the amount of electricity that is generated in Scotland from low-cost renewable sources and has put Scotland in a more energy-secure position. However, in order to meet the targets in the ...

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Question Time · Non-Government Bills Unit

I would like the corporate body to look at the matter very seriously, and I would like assurance that that will be done so that we can have an NGBU that works for members in the future.

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Question Time · Non-Government Bills Unit

I have no skin in this game, because I will not be returning to Parliament after the election. However, I feel—as other members have said that they felt during the session—that we have not been particularly well served by the non-Government bills unit. That is not because the ...

1. Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Question Time · Non-Government Bills Unit

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consider increasing the resources and staffing available to the non-Government bills unit. (S6O-05645)

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

Invasion of Ukraine

I thank Kenny Gibson for securing the debate. This is likely to be my last speech in this place.Last month marked four years since Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. What was originally dismissed by the Kremlin as a three-day march on Kyiv has instead become a historic ex...

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

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

We should recognise the fact that the United Nations has said that our suicide prevention strategy is world leading. I hope that members will not try to conflate the two issues but that seems to be what is happening. I want to ensure, as I am sure the cabinet secretary does, t...

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Measles Vaccinations

I thank the First Minister for that answer. Measles is a very serious illness, but it can be easily prevented. Vaccination is safe, effective and for everyone, at any age. It is part of the routine childhood immunisation programme, and we should all be encouraging parents and ...

6. Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Measles Vaccinations

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to promote vaccinations to combat measles, in light of reports of recent diagnoses in the NHS Grampian area. (S6F-04746)

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

Business Motions

I understand what Mr Balfour is saying, but the reality is quite simply that there is no ideal time for some of us who have to travel further distances. That is difficult as it is, and rearranging things again and again is not easy, either.I recognise that the issue presents P...

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

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

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I feel that you have given an explanation for your reasoning with regard to stage 1 of the bill, and the committee convener has given her view on what happened at stage 2. The Government has said right from the outset that it was neutral...

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and MV Glen Rosa (Hull 802)

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and MV Glen Rosa (Hull 802)

They will also be managed appropriately by the project managers.

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and MV Glen Rosa (Hull 802)

I do not want to put words in your mouth, but it seems that there will be a lot more understanding of the scope going forward. More will be spent on project management at the beginning in order to get things right and, based on what you said, there will be much more testing at...

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and MV Glen Rosa (Hull 802)

You previously said that management and understanding the scope are important, and you have now reiterated that point. On that point, I want to raise a specific issue. Earlier, you talked about coming across the propeller cavitation difficulty. You will come across difficultie...

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and MV Glen Rosa (Hull 802)

How will you ensure that all the lessons in project management, and everything that is done in that regard, lead to the right things being done in—please excuse the pun—on-board delivery?

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and MV Glen Rosa (Hull 802)

I imagine that you are equally open minded about those people garnering experience in order to apply project management techniques from outwith the marine industry.

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and MV Glen Rosa (Hull 802)

You are open minded on that front.

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and MV Glen Rosa (Hull 802)

I get the point about marine experience, and that is grand, but have you taken project management expertise from elsewhere? I am thinking about the oil and gas industry, for example, where there is a great knowledge of project management of extremely difficult projects and a l...

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and MV Glen Rosa (Hull 802)

Could you give an indication of what those people have done before and what their specialties were?

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and MV Glen Rosa (Hull 802)

It sounds as though you have built up a team of people that will, of course, add to costs but might well save a lot in the future because you will not have to deal with mistakes at a later date by doing things and having to rip them out and do them again. Have you brought into...

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and MV Glen Rosa (Hull 802)

You say that you have strengthened project management. What differences have you made in terms of project management and getting the right people?

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Committee

MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and MV Glen Rosa (Hull 802)

Mr Thomson, you said earlier that you know what your strengths are and that you are trying to deal with the weaknesses at the moment. Would it be fair to say that project management has been a weakness in the past?

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Draft Climate Change Plan

It is not up to the Scottish National Party, the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliament to give the go-ahead for Rosebank, Cambo or anywhere else; that is a matter for the UK Government. We have said that the impact on the environment and on energy security has to be c...

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Draft Climate Change Plan

Not just now, thank you.That does not mean that we cannot reduce the climate impact of using that natural gas. I give members project Acorn. We need to invest in that, no matter what some of the sceptics in the Parliament say. It is environmental barbarism to halt our producti...

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Draft Climate Change Plan

The UK Government is responsible. One of the main difficulties, and one of the reasons why we have the highest electricity prices in Europe, is the flawed situation where we tie electricity costs to the price of international gas. It is absolutely daft. The Tories should have ...

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

Draft Climate Change Plan

I welcome the draft climate change plan. However, what has not been said enough today is that, if we are to deliver the change that is required, we must have complete and utter co-operation from the UK Government, because that cannot be done with the powers of this Parliament ...

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Draft Climate Change Plan

I remind the member that it was a Conservative Government that introduced the energy profits levy, at a time when energy profits were extremely high because of the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine. Times have changed dramatically. That was supposed to be for the short term,...

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Draft Climate Change Plan

You are not being honest.

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

Draft Climate Change Plan

Mr Lumsden has highlighted the issue of cheaper electricity. In order to reach net zero, we need cheaper electricity, but we also need more electricity. That does not need to come from nuclear; it can come from renewables. However, we need a grid to deal with that increased am...

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time

The Labour Party betrayed workers, industry and our economy when it failed to scrap its tax on Scotland’s energy at the spring statement this week. Not only does that tax destroy jobs, it ruins investment in renewables and puts our energy security at risk at a time of escalati...

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

He deserves one!

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Committee

Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill (UK Parliament Legislation)

Good morning, cabinet secretary. There is quite a long timescale for the bill. Earlier, I was relating to committee members a question that I was asked by a schoolboy from Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen. He was asking about legislating for information technology, artifici...

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

Draft Climate Change Plan

:My point about the jigsaw was not entirely about oil and gas in the North Sea basin; it was about the overall picture, which has come up in my questions and in other folks’ questions. I recognise that you are only an advisory body and cannot do the entire thing, but on the po...

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

Draft Climate Change Plan

:I get all that. It is fair to say that all the members around this table have spoken to all or most of those bodies, and I get your point about your remit. However, when it comes to dealing with the public at large, you are the advisers on climate change and the ones who push...

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

Draft Climate Change Plan

:I am glad that we violently agree; we got there eventually.I will turn to another point that you covered earlier, which is about utilising the North Sea basin rather than importing resources. You talked about the counterfactuality of using domestic supply compared with import...

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

Draft Climate Change Plan

:In my constituency, it is the majority of folk, quite frankly. In energy-rich Aberdeen, we are the ones who are being screwed, which, unfortunately, has always been the case.It may well be that the Climate Change Committee does not have the remit to look at every aspect of ma...

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

Draft Climate Change Plan

:I am not one of those rare people—

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

Draft Climate Change Plan

:You pointed out earlier that Scotland is somewhat different because there are so many tenement properties. I live in one, so I am never going to have a heat pump. I am also never going to have solar panels, because nobody will agree to have them at this moment in time. And I ...

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

Draft Climate Change Plan

:Can I stop you there? You mentioned 2022. Because of what has happened over the past 72 or 96 hours, we are seeing that volatility again, with a rise in international gas prices, which our domestic electricity prices are pegged to. You are saying that there will be less volat...

Kevin Stewart SNP Committee

Draft Climate Change Plan

:I did not cut you off. Laughter.

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Committee

Draft Climate Change Plan

: Good morning. The witnesses have said this morning, and it is quite clear from the vision that the CCC has put out there, that a lot of these ambitions are based on electricity being cheaper. You said that earlier, Emma, and you said that a lot of the decisions around that i...

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · University of Aberdeen(Proposed Strike Action)

I share the First Minister’s keenness for all parties to get round the table to resolve the dispute, so that the impact on students in Aberdeen is minimised.Universities received a record sum of funding from the Scottish Government in the budget yesterday—a budget that, of cou...

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Business Motion

Will the member take an intervention?

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

Business Motion

Will the member take an intervention?

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Budget (Scotland) (No 5) Bill: Stage 3

—to sort this out once and for all?

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Budget (Scotland) (No 5) Bill: Stage 3

The member mentioned a real difficulty in the supply of certain drugs. A lot of that is down to Brexit and down to the UK Government and reserved policy. Will he join me in calling on the UK Government—

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

Budget (Scotland) (No 5) Bill: Stage 3

The budget is about delivering for the people of Scotland. That is what we have all been sent here to do. The budget will address their priorities of bringing down NHS waiting lists, supporting families, reducing child poverty and growing the economy. Quite remarkably, the bud...

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Points of Order

I seek your guidance, Presiding Officer. What do you think would be answers that are too comprehensive?

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

Points of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I seek your guidance on some of the issues that were raised just seconds ago. Mr Findlay said that the answers that the Lord Advocate gave last week were too comprehensive, and he said that the dump, as he described it, of 70 pages today...

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Scottish Parliament (Recall of Members) Bill

Will the member give way?

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Scottish Parliament (Recall of Members) Bill

Will the member give way?

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Scottish Parliament (Recall of Members) Bill

Will the member give way?

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Scottish Parliament (Recall of Members) Bill

Ms Webber must realise that, if her amendments had been agreed to this afternoon, they would have wrecked the bill completely and utterly and would have set back the next Parliament in doing this absolutely right. We have to ensure that human rights are dealt with as part of t...

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

Scottish Parliament (Recall of Members) Bill

I recognise the hard work that Graham Simpson has put in and the fact that he has been co-operative with other members. However, the lack of the Agnew review is a problem; there is a bit of cart before horse, which is troubling. As I have said previously, I have no skin in the...

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 3

You might. Interruption.

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 3

I thank the member in charge of the bill for giving way. Does he agree that it would be absolutely unbelievably stupid to see somebody removed from this place and replaced by someone else only for them to go through an appeal process that found them not guilty? Where would tha...

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 3

Will the member give way?

Kevin Stewart SNP Chamber

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 3

That review, which has not yet finished, puts us in a bit of a dilemma in relation to this entire bill today. One would have thought that it should have been completed and in place before we were legislating on this particular issue. Does the minister agree?

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP Chamber

Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill: Stage 3

Will the member give way?

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Committee

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee 03 March 2026 [Draft]

03 Mar 2026 · S6 · Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Item of business

Draft Climate Change Plan

Stewart, Kevin SNP Aberdeen Central Watch on SPTV

:I am glad that we violently agree; we got there eventually.I will turn to another point that you covered earlier, which is about utilising the North Sea basin rather than importing resources. You talked about the counterfactuality of using domestic supply compared with importing oil and gas, and you said that that is a complicated area. I do not disagree with you on that front. You offered to brief the committee further, which we would welcome. However, the difficulty is that briefing the committee will not get the message about your reasoning on the counterfactuality out to the public.You may say that this is not in your remit, but surely it would be wiser to utilise resource here, which is often less carbon intense, than to import liquefied natural gas from Qatar. With the current volatility, who knows whether that will even be possible in the future?Beyond that, what are you and others looking at regarding jobs? Utilising our own resource, rather than importing, would protect jobs here, rather than in Qatar, the United States or elsewhere.

In the same item of business

The Convener Con

Welcome back. The next agenda item is an evidence session with the Climate Change Committee on the Scottish Government’s draft climate change plan. The purpo...

Emma Pinchbeck (Climate Change Committee)

To start with the good news, we find that Scotland’s emissions decreased by more than 2.6 per cent between 2021 and 2023. Overall emissions have now more tha...

The Convener Con

Thank you. We will move to questions. Given that part of the questioning will definitely revolve around agriculture, I remind members of my entry in the regi...

Emma Pinchbeck

The committee will know that, because of delays to the CCP, we were delayed in being able to do the analysis behind producing our own response to the CCP and...

The Convener Con

My concern is that we will go into recess shortly and the final climate change plan is still to be laid. Unless I have got this entirely wrong, the whole pro...

Emma Pinchbeck

I certainly understand that it would be useful for you to have our report when you do your scrutiny. You will know this, but I put on the record that there i...

The Convener Con

The draft plan has been laid and the consultations have been summarised, and our report will be considered and debated by the Parliament on Thursday this wee...

Emma Pinchbeck

We will never do a public hearing if we have not finished our analysis. That precedent is long established in the work of the CCC. As a statutory body, we ca...

The Convener Con

Before we leave the subject, Emma, please clarify something so that I can understand. Did the Scottish Government, as your client, tell you to give us only a...

Emma Pinchbeck

We did not get an explicit instruction to come and speak to you publicly. There was discussion with officials about what we could do on both sides and it was...

The Convener Con

Are you telling me that Scottish Government officials said that a private briefing was the appropriate way to do it? I am sorry for pushing you on that, but ...

Emma Pinchbeck

I am the chief executive of the CCC and, in a conversation with the Scottish Government, we determined that a private briefing would be the appropriate thing...

The Convener Con

Thank you; that is helpful.Bob Doris wants to come in.

Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP) SNP

I will ask a question for clarity, in the hope that we can quickly move on to more substantive issues. I want to check that I am accurate in understanding th...

Emma Pinchbeck

Independence is a significant factor in evaluating choices such as this one about the appropriateness of not having a public evidence session on the basis of...

Bob Doris SNP

:That was helpful—thank you.

The Convener Con

Just to finish that point, before we move on to the next question: as the Government made clear, it is your client, and it therefore controlled that informat...

Mark Ruskell Green

:I want to turn to the climate change plan itself. You will probably have had a chance to glance at the report that we published last week, in which we highl...

Emma Pinchbeck

I will give a high-level answer, and then I will bring in Dr Emily Nurse, who I think would like to talk to you about indicators.In general, we think that th...

Dr Emily Nurse (Climate Change Committee)

Thank you very much for having me here today.There are a few more things to say at the higher level. First, the climate change plan is more of an overarching...

Mark Ruskell Green

:There are certainly a lot of hockey-stick-shaped graphs in the plan, by which I mean periods of slow growth followed by sudden shoot-ups in future carbon bu...

I will quickly say something about that, and then Emma Pinchbeck will come in. In our annual progress report, we look at that as best we possibly can. We loo...

Emma Pinchbeck

Thank you. I read the NZET Committee’s report on the CCP and noted that witnesses had suggested a sort of dashboard for indicators and that that is being tho...

Mark Ruskell Green

:Do you have the resources to do that? If there was stronger engagement between the Climate Change Committee and subject committees in this Parliament—perhap...

Emma Pinchbeck

It would. Bluntly, our devolved funding does not really cover the statutory outputs that we already deliver across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. We m...

Sarah Boyack Lab

:I will ask a couple of questions that follow on from quite a lot of what you have just been talking about. Our committee and the Climate Change Committee we...

Emma Pinchbeck

I will provide an overview and I will then hand over to Emily, because there are quite significant differences in how we think about costs, and it will be wo...

You have covered most of it, Emma. We were quite confused by how the analysis was done on the costing side. It is clear that some bits are missed out, and it...

Sarah Boyack Lab

:Thanks—that is useful. The challenge is going from very detailed information to actually communicating this stuff. You have talked about the invest-to-save ...

First, we need to have annual data. It makes sense to publish five-yearly carbon budgets because that is the legal target, but the pathway is indicative, rat...