Hansard

Allow me to welcome you to your new place, Presiding Officer.

It is an incredible honour to rise to speak for the first time as the MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, my home town, in Scotland’s national Parliament.

Before I begin, I acknowledge my predecessor, Stephanie Callaghan, and I thank her and her office team for their service to the people of the constituency and indeed to the Parliament. I also thank every person who put their trust in me and the SNP at the recent election. Whether they voted for me, campaigned for me, challenged me on your doorstep or simply shared their frustrations or hope for a better future, I thank them.

Although I have the privilege of sitting here in this magnificent chamber, this seat does not belong to me; it belongs to the communities and the people I represent. From Viewpark to Whitehill, from Uddingston to Bothwell, from Bellshill to Mossend, from Holytown to Carfin and from Newarthill to New Stevenston, these are proud communities, shaped by hard work, determination and solidarity. For generations, we were the beating heart of industrial Scotland. These days, the pits are closed, the miners’ rows are gone and the steelworks, the brickworks and the Caterpillar factory no longer dominate the skyline, but the people remain, the families remain, and so, too, do the values that were so prevalent in those lost industries.

Those are the communities that helped build modern Scotland, from the invention of the Wilkie iron plough in Uddingston, which transformed agriculture across the world in the 1800s, to the achievements of two Nobel prize winners, Sir James Black of Uddingston and David MacMillan of Bellshill. Their contribution to our national story is immense.

From factory floors to the biggest stages in the world, our communities have never been short of talent, endeavour or success. Those values and that success are perhaps nowhere more abundant than in sporting circles. In a debate titled “summer of sport”, I can say with considerable confidence that Uddingston and Bellshill ranks alone as Scotland’s great sporting hotbed. My constituency has produced double Paralympian Michael Kerr, world champion boxer Lawrence Murphy, youth world boxing champion Michael McGurk and many more whose achievements continue to inspire through the generations. We have had European champion runners such as the Bellshill bullet, Tom McKean—who remembers him?—while footballing gods such as Sir Matt Busby, Billy McNeill, Jimmy Johnstone and John Robertson have all held aloft the European cup. Sporting greatness is indeed a forte of Uddingston and Bellshill.

During the election campaign, I spent many months on the doorsteps talking to voters about their priorities. I spoke to workers finishing long, gruelling shifts, pensioners worried about making ends meet, young people wondering what opportunities their future would hold, and shattered parents doing everything that they possibly could to stretch that pound a wee bit further. Although every conversation was different, there was one thing that I heard time and time again—that people felt disconnected from politics and from their politicians.

Too many people feel that decisions are made about them, not with them, and certainly not for them. That must change, and we must be that change, because when this Parliament works well, it improves people’s lives. For me, that is what representing Uddingston and Bellshill will always be about—being accessible, answering the call and helping people to navigate a system that, far too often, feels as though it is stacked against them. It is about standing up for those people who need a voice.

If we in this Parliament are serious about representing people, we must also be serious about listening to them and the democratic choices that they make, because democracy did not end in 2014. For many people—people like me—it simply began then. I cast my first-ever vote in the 2014 referendum at 33 years of age, and I have cast a vote in every election since.

People can support independence or they can oppose independence. In a democracy, both those positions are legitimate. What matters is that people continue to have a voice and that the democratic choices of the people of Scotland are respected. Those very people have just elected the biggest pro-independence Parliament ever. It is time that they were respected.

I am proud of the values that have shaped me and of the heritage that has made me, which were forged in the steel and the coal that powered these nations for generations. I am proud of where I come from and deeply honoured to represent its people in our national Parliament. As Scotland looks forward to a summer of sport and lifting the world cup, there will be moments when millions of us will come together for one cause—in hope and belief in our team, daring to dream about what might just be possible.

That spirit should not be confined to sport. The story of our communities has never been one of limitation; it has always been one of determination, resilience and hope. I believe in the potential of the people I represent, and I believe in the potential of Scotland, too. Every day that I have the privilege to sit here in this Parliament, I will seek to ensure that the people of Uddingston and Bellshill have a voice that is heard, a corner that is fought for and a future that is believed in.