Hansard

I am proud and honoured to have been elected to represent the north-east of Scotland, the area where I was born, grew up and still proudly call home. I am deeply grateful for the trust that voters have placed in me, and I thank everyone who supported me and helped me throughout my journey to get here—in particular, my wife, Melissa, and my parents.

I stand here as a proud Brocher, wi a wee bit of Belger, Cottoner, Quitie and Auld Deer thrown in for gweed measure. My election also means that there are now two former pupils of Fraserburgh academy serving in the Scottish Parliament—the other being Holly Bruce. To my knowledge, this is the first time in our school’s history that this has happened. I know that our school and our town will take great pride in that achievement, just as I do. Come awa the Burry! [Applause.]

I pay tribute to my colleague Douglas Lumsden MP, who worked tirelessly on behalf of the people of the north-east, first as a councillor, then as an MSP and now as an MP. His dedication to public service has been an example to many.

I stood for election to be a strong voice for the communities and industries that are the backbone of the north-east. Our fishing industry is woven into the identity of many coastal communities across the region. It would be remiss of me not to mention my late great-grandfather, Gilbert Buchan, known to folk at home as Seven and a half’s Gib, who was a fisherman, a local councillor and a founding member of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation. He remains a great inspiration to me and is one of the many reasons why I now stand in this chamber.

The fishing industry is one built on hard work, skills and generations of tradition, and I am proud to say that I have family members and close friends who still go out to sea and risk their lives on a regular basis to put food on our plates. Those who work in the sector deserve to know that their concerns will be heard and that their contribution to Scotland’s food security will be recognised, and I will do just that.

Our farmers and agricultural workers also play a vital role in the life of the north-east, but many face increasing pressures, from rising costs and labour shortages to uncertainty about future support. Farming is not just an industry; it is a way of life that sustains communities across our region.

The oil and gas industry has been a cornerstone of economic success in the north-east and across Scotland. However, in recent years, many workers and families have faced uncertainty as jobs have been lost and investment has declined. The impact of those changes has been felt throughout communities across the region, and the result in the Aberdeen South by-election last week shows that people are fed up with the attitude of the Scottish Government and the UK Labour Government towards the oil and gas sector.

For the past four-plus years, I have had the privilege of working for NHS Grampian while also representing Fraserburgh and District on Aberdeenshire Council. In both roles, I have seen at first hand what the gross underfunding of both organisations has done to local services in my area, and I am committed to keeping pressure on the SNP Government and fighting for a fair share of funding for the north-east of Scotland.

I want everyone across the north-east of Scotland, whether they voted for me or not, to know that I will work tirelessly on their behalf. I will be a strong voice for our communities, fight for the industries that strengthen and sustain our region and ensure that the people of the north-east are heard loud and clear in this Parliament.

Scotland’s prisons have deteriorated under the SNP, and capacity has been pushed to the limit. The early release schemes have been the SNP’s only answer to the overcrowding crisis, which it is responsible for. Victims deserve to have confidence that dangerous offenders will be held to account for their actions. In my region, Peterhead prison—HMP Grampian, as it now is—has had a long and significant place in Scotland’s justice system. The dedicated prison staff who work in challenging environments there, or in any other prison in Scotland, should not have to deal with overcrowding, but criminals must serve their sentences and not be released early to cover the failings of the Government. The Scottish Government must solve this issue in a way that reinstalls the confidence that has been lost in our justice system.

We must also recognise the damage that the SNP has done to public confidence through its mishandling of the transgender prisoner policy. The Isla Bryson case exposed serious failings and raised legitimate concerns about placing biological males in women’s prisons. Public safety, the dignity of female prisoners and the confidence of victims must always come before ideology.

The public expect violent criminals to serve their sentences in full. This is common sense, it protects our communities and it is a principle that I and the Scottish Conservatives will always defend.

I move amendment S7M-00469.5, to leave out from “acknowledges the underlying drivers” to end and insert:

“recognises that the current pressures on Scotland’s prison estate were repeatedly highlighted by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons and were described as ‘not unexpected’; notes that prison overcrowding did not emerge suddenly but follows years of warnings regarding prison capacity, rehabilitation, safety and prisoner welfare; rejects any suggestion that the current situation is unavoidable; notes with concern that more than a quarter of Scotland’s prison population is comprised of remand prisoners awaiting the conclusion of court proceedings; believes that persistent court backlogs and delays across the justice system are significant contributors to prison overcrowding and are preventing victims, witnesses and accused individuals from obtaining timely justice; notes that over 1,300 foreign national offenders are currently held within Scotland’s prison estate and believes that greater use should be made of appropriate repatriation arrangements; expresses alarm at the record number of deaths in custody, including a record number of suicides; recognises the impact that overcrowding is having on rehabilitation, purposeful activity and public protection; agrees that public safety, justice for victims and confidence in the rule of law must remain paramount; believes that Scottish Ministers must set out the reasons why repeated warnings regarding overcrowding, remand levels, deaths in custody and prison conditions were not acted upon sooner; further believes that achieving a sustainable prison population requires action to reduce court delays, address the high remand population, improve access to rehabilitation and offender programmes, increase the effective repatriation of foreign national offenders where appropriate, and provide sufficient prison capacity to meet operational demand, and believes that the long-term sustainability of Scotland’s prison population depends upon addressing the underlying causes of overcrowding rather than relying on the early release of prisoners as a substitute for effective management of the justice system.”

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