Hansard

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Katy Clark) Lab

The next item of business is a Scottish Government debate on affordable bus fares. I call Stephen Flynn to speak to and move motion S7M-00367.15:07

The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport (Stephen Flynn) SNP

Presiding Officer, I—Interruption. Sorry, Presiding Officer—I forgot to put my card in. I am stuck in my ways from down the road, as I have not been used to ...

Willie Rennie (Fife North East) (LD) LD

Will the cabinet secretary give way?

Stephen Flynn SNP

On that note, I am happy to give way to Mr Rennie.

Willie Rennie LD

I do not disagree with what the cabinet secretary says. However, does he also recognise that people in my constituency and in many other constituencies compl...

Stephen Flynn SNP

I thank Mr Rennie for his intervention; I will come to address those points during my speech.To return to my speech, that is why, in the election just five s...

Daniel Johnson (Edinburgh Southern) (Lab) Lab

Made a request to intervene.

Stephen Flynn SNP

I can see that Mr Johnson is very keen to welcome that fact.

Daniel Johnson Lab

I invite the cabinet secretary to welcome the fact that it was the Scottish Labour-Lib Dem coalition Government that introduced the bus pass for the over-60s...

Stephen Flynn SNP

We are challenging each other now to welcome facts. I notice that he did not do so in respect of the young people’s bus pass. I see that he is now correcting...

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) Green

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?

Stephen Flynn SNP

Yes, of course I will take an intervention from Mr Harvie, who I would imagine is about to indicate his role during the course of the previous parliamentary ...

Patrick Harvie Green

The cabinet secretary has predicted correctly. Just to complete that conversation, I will say that I am sure that the cabinet secretary is proud—and he shoul...

Stephen Flynn SNP

I am not sure that we have ever willingly been pushed out of our comfort zone, let alone by Mr Harvie.We are proud of the commitment that we have made to Sco...

Craig Hoy (Dumfriesshire) (Con) Con

Made a request to intervene.

Stephen Flynn SNP

—which Mr Hoy seems to have a particular interest in.

Craig Hoy Con

I rise not in a spirit of self-congratulation, unlike the other members who have intervened so far. I have a question about young people beyond the cities. I...

Stephen Flynn SNP

Mr Hoy tries to drag me into a conversation in relation to the reliability and availability of buses, but he need not do that, because I understand and recog...

Patrick Harvie Green

I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for being so generous in taking interventions. Does he agree that one of the further steps that needs to be taken is t...

Stephen Flynn SNP

I understand Mr Harvie’s argument and I am more than willing to engage with him on that particular issue.However, I turn to a different pilot. Earlier this y...

Paul Sweeney (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab

For several years, my constituents have been frustrated that they are paying the most expensive bus fares in the United Kingdom when other parts of the UK ha...

Stephen Flynn SNP

I am not sure that I can go much quicker, having just been elected to this Parliament, than to give the commitment that I just made in relation to our party’...

Craig Hoy Con

Will Mr Flynn take an intervention?

Stephen Flynn SNP

I will make some progress, if that is okay—actually, I see that Craig Hoy is desperate to come in, so I will let him.

Craig Hoy Con

For clarification, is the cabinet secretary now proposing to extend the pilot scheme to the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport area? In light of the exper...

Stephen Flynn SNP

I feel as though I need to repeat myself: we just ran an election campaign with the commitment to extend the £2 bus fare cap to those areas front and centre....

Daniel Johnson Lab

That may be true, but why have no such partnerships been brought forward? Why did it take six years for the Government to publish guidelines on bus franchisi...

Stephen Flynn SNP

The SPT has come forward with such plans, as I am sure Mr Johnson is aware.Of those powers, franchising has perhaps been the subject of the greatest attentio...

Graham Simpson (Central Scot and Lothians West) (Reform) Reform

The cabinet secretary has been extremely generous with interventions. I want him to address the question on franchising. I know that the issue precedes him, ...

Stephen Flynn SNP

I will come to that point in just a second.It is that interest that led us to work on a cross-party basis during the current budget process and to commit up ...