Hansard

I am grateful to Jamie Halcro Johnston for securing the debate. Given the breadth of the areas that are covered in the motion, any one of my colleagues could have been here to respond. However, I am delighted to have the opportunity to do so, because this SNP Government cares deeply about our rural and island communities. When they thrive, all of Scotland thrives.

There are a lot of items to cover.

I thank everyone across the chamber for their kind words to me. I am so glad that members expressed all of that on a day when my mum is up in the public gallery to hear it—as opposed to in half an hour’s time, when they will be throwing pelters at me again at question time. I wish to recognise my mum, Marianne, without whom I would not have entered politics. She is the most inspirational woman I know, and she sacrificed so much for me. She fostered a passion for debate and a drive for fairness and justice, and she really stoked a fire to campaign for Scottish independence. I thank her for that.

During this final speech, I am flanked by my closest friends and colleagues, without whom I could not have survived these sessions of Parliament: Jenny Gilruth, Jim Fairlie and, sitting behind me, Nicola Sturgeon.

There is so much that I want to cover and talk about today, but it is important to recognise the final contributions of some more colleagues. Oliver Mundell and I entered Parliament at the same time, in 2016. I still remember our first meeting; potentially, he does not. In that session, we were given opportunities to get to meet each other and break down political barriers. We served together on the Justice Committee initially, and, from that initial engagement to now, I have always enjoyed engaging with him. It has always been in good humour—normally outside the chamber rather than inside it, as members will probably have been able to judge today. Inside the chamber, we tend to profoundly disagree on a number of items.

We have just heard the final contribution from John Mason. Despite the fact that he represents a more urban constituency, I have always appreciated John’s interest in matters relating to my portfolio, which I know also matter greatly to him—none more so than the sheep of St Kilda. It was a sheer delight for me, as species champion for the kestrel, to respond to the debate that John Mason brought to Parliament just recently. It is safe to say that the species champion debate is the only debate that unites us right across the chamber. In all seriousness, John Mason has had many years as a councillor, MP and MSP, and it is important to mark that contribution. I wish him all the very best going forward.

It has been an immense pleasure to get to know and work with Beatrice Wishart during our time in Parliament. I have always appreciated her openness to engage with me. Through all the numerous pieces of legislation that we have worked on together, she has always been driven by doing what is best for the people of Shetland. From fisheries to fixed links and a whole host of issues in between, we have not always agreed, but I have always appreciated Beatrice’s ability to have difficult discussions in a constructive way. I wish her all the very best as she steps down from Parliament.

I also want to express good wishes to those who are not stepping back but hope to return in the next session of Parliament. It has been a privilege to work with you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and with Finlay Carson, Tim Eagle, Jamie Halcro Johnston and a number of other members across the chamber, not least Ariane Burgess, with whom we worked closely on a number of key pieces of legislation, always striving to do what is right.

Being Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands has been the privilege of my life. I have worked alongside many others to deliver real and lasting change for our rural and island communities and businesses. Of course, some of those challenges remain, but our rural and island communities and industries are rich with opportunity and this Government has been determined to unlock it.

Housing is a key issue that has been raised in the motion and throughout the debate. Just this morning, we heard more information about the announcement by the housing secretary, Màiri McAllan, of the £10 million that is being made available from 1 April through the Scottish emergency heating oil scheme, which will provide vital support to householders who are worried about the recent surges in the cost of heating oil and liquid petroleum gas. It is a key example of where we have gone over and above what is provided by the United Kingdom Government to deliver for our communities.

That is alongside the wider investment that we are making in housing. Our croft house grant scheme has invested more than £26.5 million to support more than 1,100 croft homes. We are going further still, with an announcement this year of a new rural and island housing grant scheme, with investment of up to £20 million. That is alongside £37 million for a rural and islands housing fund and £25 million in rural affordable housing for key workers.

Transport has quite rightly been mentioned in the debate. We have reduced the cost of travel and have improved connectivity. We have expanded concessionary travel, abolished peak rail fares and introduced a £2 bus fare cap pilot in the Highlands and Islands. The road equivalent tariff has reduced ferry fares significantly, and we cannot forget the significant investment in new ferries, which will improve lifeline links for our rural communities.

I will reflect on two key areas mentioned in the motion that are the lifeblood of our rural, coastal and island communities and that form the heart of my portfolio—agriculture and fisheries. We value our food producers in Scotland, which is why we invest more than £660 million every year in our farmers and crofters. That is the most generous support package anywhere in the UK. We are continuing to back our marine economy with more than £70 million through the marine fund Scotland since 2021 and the £16 million that was announced just last week.

However, that all pales in comparison with the funding that we should receive. The UK Governments, past and present, have short-changed our farmers, crofters and fishermen. They have frozen funding, removed ring fencing, removed multi-annual funding and Barnettised funding across those critical areas. That serves only to short-change our critical food producers.

I am proud of the work that we have done to support new entrants to our agriculture industry, including the 17 new opportunities that we provided on Forestry and Land Scotland land, the transformative projects that we are investing in through the islands programme, and the investment in our community-led local development. Just recently, we had the Tyne and Esk local action group in the Parliament talking about the return on investment that it sees from such development and about the important work that it does in our rural communities.

One of the parts of the job of which I have been most proud has been working with youth local action groups and the Young Islanders Network, which I launched in Orkney a number of years ago. Working with our incredible youth leaders has been inspirational and it ensures that our young people have a voice and take part in our decision making.

As the member who has the honour of making the final contribution in the final debate of this session of the Scottish Parliament, I want to say that it has been an absolute honour and the privilege of my life to serve the people of what I can now definitively say, without challenge, is the most scenic, culturally significant and generally the best constituency in Scotland—Angus North and Mearns:

“almost you’d cry for that, the beauty of it and the sweetness of the Scottish land and skies.”

Lewis Grassic Gibbon, the great author from the Mearns, summarised better than I ever could how I feel about my home region. From the coast to the glens, it really is the best of Scotland. I thank the people of Angus North and Mearns for putting their faith in me to represent them in the past two sessions of Parliament.

It has also been an honour beyond imagining to serve the people of Scotland as a member of the Scottish Government in what is the best portfolio in the Government. One of the great privileges of this role is who you get to meet and work with along the way, and the amazing people who keep you going in your job, too. It is fair to say that I have met some of the best of them, and I will mention some of the people who have made a real impression on me.

First, I had the experience of riding a combine with Andrew Moir, discussing the techniques that he is using on his farm, as well as agriculture policy. Last summer, along with Kenny Gibson, in his constituency, we visited David Carruth and his woolly pigs. Nothing quite warms your heart like driving along the road and having a troop of little piglets running towards you. Bryce Cunningham, of Mossgiel, is an organic dairy farmer in Elena Whitham’s constituency, and he is working tirelessly to improve our food system. Martin Kennedy, whose farm I have been fortunate enough to visit a number of times, is not just a former president of NFU Scotland; he is still working and continuing to drive innovation in the industry that he has worked tirelessly to represent.

There are also our amazing fishermen. Just last week, when I launched the marine fund Scotland, I met Sam Mason and Barry Brunton, fishermen who care about the environment, are innovating to avoid bycatch and are so passionate about what they do. That also brings me to Ian Wightman, whom I have met in Largs a couple of times. One thing that I love about our farmers and fishermen is that they are not backward in coming forward to say what they really think.

I must also mention some of the incredible women I have had the opportunity to work with and meet. Caroline Millar is a true force of nature who has driven the incredible growth of agritourism in Scotland. A chance meeting on a bus at the Royal Highland Show led to a farm visit with Cora Cooper to see at first hand how a commercial livestock business can work hand in hand with peatland and nature restoration. Nikki Yoxall and the incredible Denise Walton are at the forefront of nature-friendly farming.

From the incredible women in agriculture to the incredible women right here, in the Parliament, I have been fortunate to work with so many inspiring women. In my time as a junior minister, I worked with the formidable Jeane Freeman and Roseanna Cunningham. I also worked with my colleague and best friend, Jenny Gilruth, as well as Nicola Sturgeon, who took a chance on me by appointing me to the Cabinet.

I again put on the record my sincere thanks to all those who have supported me in my Government role: the civil servants, the officials, the special advisers—including Ian Muirhead and Kate Higgins—and my incredible private office staff and my unfailing constituency office staff, who have pretty much been with me from the start and without whom I could not do this job. I also thank the Parliament staff, who are so kind and who make working in this building such a joy.

Last but certainly not least, I thank my amazing family, whom I cannot wait to spend more time with, and my amazing husband, Baptiste. It takes the patience of a saint to be married to anyone in this job, but he has looked after me and I would be at a loss without him.

On a final, final note, on this beautiful spring day, I will end on a point of optimism. In spite of the challenges that we face and the times that we are in, I am full of hope and optimism for the future of our country. We have shown that we are delivering for communities across Scotland with the powers that we have. We have focused on the issues that matter: protecting funding for and investment in our farmers and crofters, investing in our rural and island areas, and taking action on land reform. However, we could do so much more with the powers of independence. Therefore, although I am stepping back from elected politics, I will continue to work tirelessly for Scotland’s independence and to deliver the fairer and more equal society that I know it will bring.