Meeting of the Parliament 24 March 2026 [Draft]
I am pleased to speak in today’s important debate for many reasons. First, I want to acknowledge the legendary Christine Grahame and her passionate dedication to the cause of animal welfare. There are not many people we can call a legend, but I think that Christine qualifies. As this is my last speech in this place after 10 years, I want to thank Christine for being an incredible colleague who is full of wisdom and advice—even if you do not want it. She does not suffer fools gladly and, boy, don’t they know it. As chief whip for our party, I have to be honest and say that she has at times been a challenge, but you really cannot stay mad at Christine for long.
Presiding Officer, Christine is just one of the incredible and inspirational women that I have worked with since being elected in 2016. The other two that I want to mention are the much-missed Christina McKelvie and Jeane Freeman. What a privilege to have known and worked with those freedom fighters. They fought for equality, fairness and, of course, independence. What a legacy they leave. I know that they will always be in our hearts.
There is much more that I could say about my time here as an elected member, which has been so memorable. It has been an absolute privilege to represent the fantastic constituency of Strathkelvin and Bearsden and to work with my terrific constituency team.
I turn now to Christine’s important motion. I totally agree with her that animal cruelty sentencing does not reflect the serious nature of such offences. There should be specific sentencing guidelines covering these offences and better awareness of the available powers. This is 2026. Animal suffering should not be tolerated at any level. We are an animal-loving, compassionate nation, and I know that animals are sentient beings who are entirely dependent on the human kindness and care that we should always give them.
I have nothing but contempt for those who exploit animals for human entertainment or profit, be that puppy farming, greyhound racing—thankfully, since last week, that has been banned in Scotland—or any other form of exploitation. Christine has done a great job of highlighting all those issues and more in the cross-party group on animal welfare, which she has chaired for more than a decade. I am a member of the group—although, in truth, I have not been a very good attender.
To mark Christine’s amazing dedication to the cause of animal welfare, I am delighted to have been asked to present her with a gift from several animal charities, including Humane World for Animals, OneKind and the Scottish SPCA, to name but a few, and it will be my honour to do so after the debate. Parliament needs more dedicated, passionate elected members such as Christine Grahame, although I doubt that we will ever see her like again.