Hansard

I thank Clare Haughey for bringing the debate before Parliament. The closure of high street branches and all the changes that that means for people in our communities have been a feature of the past few years. Clare Haughey is an outstanding constituency MSP who always looks out for the vulnerable. I thank her for her kind comments and wish her the best with her petition and the best for her future.

I assure Parliament that the Scottish Government is concerned about the speed at which high street bank branches have been closing. We engage with the Financial Conduct Authority on all those issues; of course, many of the issues that we discuss are reserved to the UK Government. Scottish Government officials met the FCA in October to discuss access to cash on high streets in many of our communities in Scotland. The FCA has committed to undertaking a post-implementation review of its access-to-cash regime, and we will ensure that many of the issues that have been addressed in tonight’s debate are part of that review.

I also say to Clare Haughey that, as one of my last actions as minister, over the next 24 hours, I will write to the UK Government to bring to its attention her concerns and those raised by other members who are looking out for the interests of their constituents. The closure of high street bank branches and the changes that we see in how we access our money is just one of the many changes in society that are due to changing technology.

With the permission of Clare Haughey and the Parliament, I will use my remaining few minutes to reflect on my time in Parliament over the past 27 years.

When I delivered my first speech as a rookie MSP, as we all were then, my colleagues Shona Robison, Fiona Hyslop, Kenny Gibson and Christine Grahame were there. We met up the road from Holyrood in 1999 to reconvene our Parliament. Thinking of that, it is difficult for me to grasp that this is my last contribution to Parliament. Indeed, after 17 years in Government, I find myself at the end of a long but rewarding road. To have been returned at every election since then is a debt that I can never repay.

I pay tribute to my colleagues who are here for the debate and who are also standing down for their massive contributions. Christine Grahame, who spoke in the debate, has been a force of nature and has contributed so much to Parliament. Natalie Don-Innes, who is sitting by me, is also retiring from Parliament, as is Bill Kidd, who is sitting at the back. I wish them all the best for the future and I thank them for their contributions to Parliament.

I depart with profound gratitude. I am all too aware that thousands of our fellow citizens step forward to seek elected office. Not all of them make it on to the ballot paper, and even fewer are elected. Public service—in saying this, I know that I speak for many of us who are departing—is more than a career. It is an absolute privilege.

I owe a debt of gratitude to those who have supported me on my journey over the past 27 years and allowed me to hold a front-row seat for experiences from the birth of devolution to where we have got to today. I am sure that my colleagues have similar thoughts about what we have witnessed over so many years.

My heartfelt thanks must go first to my family: my wife, Fiona; my son, Angus, who is in Brisbane and is probably watching this speech at some ungodly hour; and my younger son, Fraser, who is about to turn 18 and is in the chamber’s gallery, seeing his dad speak for the first time in Parliament. Of course, he was not even born when I first entered the Government in 2007.

I also thank the people of Moray, who placed their trust in me and whom I have represented to the best of my ability for the last 20 of my 27 years in the Parliament. My constituency staff have been incredible—all of us in here know that they are the real engine; they are the people who do all the real work. I thank the current and three previous First Ministers, who entrusted me with the responsibility of being in Government; the Parliament staff and the civil service for their advice and support; and my private office staff. I thank my friends and colleagues—past and present—in my party group and on all sides of the chamber. We are often defined by division, but we all share the burden of public office and we have that in common.

Deputy Presiding Officer, I know that you are retiring at the election—I pay tribute to you for your service as PO and as MSP for your constituency over the years. When you leave, it will bring a particular clarity that comes with departure from this place. The partisan noise will begin to fade, and the fog of daily argument in which we all involve ourselves will also begin to evaporate.

We in this Parliament have spent nearly three decades building the foundations of a better country and navigating big events, such as the financial crash, Brexit, a global pandemic and the cost of living crisis. Now, we are witnessing a tide of populism across the world, in which people offer deceptively simple solutions to what are often complex problems. As a Parliament, we must look forward. Despite all those uncertainties, we have much cause for optimism. Our country is known for inventing the world; now we are shaping the future as well.

There are many points of light across our country. Science and technology are generating solutions to our big problems in our universities, colleges, laboratories, burgeoning tech hubs and all our companies. We have world-class life sciences; a growing space industry; deep tech and critical technologies; a great and growing financial sector; an abundance of energy resources; and—one of my favourites—an amazing tourism sector, underpinned by the world-class brand Scotland. Of course, I must mention the global icon that is Scotch whisky, which is always close to my heart and to my lips. I hope that the next Parliament will have a laser-like focus on generating wealth and revenues from all those strengths.

One thing is for certain: the next Parliament is going to experience profound change. More economic and societal change will be compressed into the next five years—certainly compared with the past 25 years and probably compared with our entire history. Artificial intelligence and all the other developments will change how we raise and spend taxes, how we buy things and what we buy. Everything will be impacted by the changes that are taking place before our eyes. Automation will displace labour and it will do other things as well. If we do not address some of those issues, we will end up importing tech and exporting profits, so there will be big challenges for the next Parliament to face.

I joined the Scottish National Party when I was at school, so my views on Scotland’s future are clear. We have no time to waste, because all democracies have a need for speed. If we do not act quickly in the next five years, we will fall behind as a country. There are massive opportunities, but we must grasp them and be agile in prioritising and deploying them to make our country a better place.

Across the parties, we all know what needs to be done. I hope that, in the future, we can build a consensus to make sure that that happens—with respect, grace, and good, robust arguments. If we do that better, perhaps we can set an example to other Parliaments in countries around the world.

I wish everyone who is retiring from this Parliament well; I wish the best of fortune to everyone who is standing again; and, to every new MSP who will have the honour of sitting on these benches, I urge them to relish every single moment. I can tell them from personal experience that the first 27 years will go by in a flash.

Finally, I say to the Parliament: farewell, and goodbye.