Meeting of the Parliament 04 March 2026 [Draft]
Of course I recognise what Karen Adam says about the challenges. Any Government has to deal with shocks and other such issues, but we are reflecting on almost two decades of the SNP’s decision making in this space. We have to ask what the picture and position was on many of those issues pre-Covid. Similarly, in the health service, the Government sometimes desires to point to the pandemic as the root of all challenges, ills and issues, but the reality is that things were in a difficult situation prior to the pandemic.
As I said at the outset of the debate, we were promised a recovery from Covid in this session of Parliament—that was to be the relentless focus of this session. It was going to be the relentless focus of John Swinney, the man who now finds himself in the role of First Minister. However, we are nowhere near where we need to be in that recovery from Covid.
The debate has allowed us to reflect on what has gone before, but it also gives us an opportunity to put on record what needs to happen to move forward. For me, that is about giving confidence and support to teachers to allow them to teach, to maintain discipline and order in their classrooms, to drive up literacy and numeracy across the board and to deal with the significant challenges relating to additional support needs, not just in terms of funding but in terms of structure.
We will debate those issues in the days ahead in the coming election. However, it is clear to me that, after almost two decades of the SNP Government being in power, we need a new direction in Scotland.