Holyrood, made browsable

Hansard

Every contribution to the Official Report — chamber and committee — searchable in one place. Pulled from data.parliament.scot, indexed for full-text search, linked through to every MSP.

129

Current MSPs

415

MSPs ever elected

13

Parties on record

2,354,908

Hansard contributions

1999–2026

Coverage span

Official Report

Search Hansard contributions

Showing 31 of 2,354,908 contributions. Latest 30 days: 0. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 25 Mar 2026.

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Scotland’s Future

I am sure that the First Minister will agree that, without the size, the strength and the credit rating history of the UK, a newly separate Scotland would not keep its AAA credit rating.However, let us move on to the currency. Following the First Minister’s long flirtation wit...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Secretary of State for Scotland (Meetings)

We end this parliamentary term in a familiar place, with the Scottish National Party blind to the very real risks involved in leaving the United Kingdom and with expert analysis that points out those risks. To take one example, this morning there was a new report from the S...

Ruth Davidson (Glasgow) (Con) Con Chamber

University of Glasgow

I, too, congratulate Sandra White on securing the debate. I start with the terrible admission that I am not a graduate of the University of Glasgow. Unfortunately, I did my degree 40 miles away in Edinburgh although, as a redeeming feature, I did half of a masters at Glasgow b...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Prime Minister (Engagements)

As the Scottish Trades Union Congress has revealed this week, eight of the 10 worst areas for rising long-term unemployment in the United Kingdom are here in Scotland. That news comes a week after figures revealed that the level of unemployment in Scotland is now higher than t...

Ruth Davidson (Glasgow) (Con) Con Chamber

Scotland’s Future

I congratulate the First Minister on the tone he has struck in this debate. If we are measuring followers, he might like to know that more people were in the gallery for education questions than there are for the debate on this historic motion.At some point in the next two and...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Secretary of State for Scotland (Meetings)

The First Minister likes to claim the credit when he thinks that something is better in Scotland than it is elsewhere in the United Kingdom, but will he step up to the mark when Scotland is falling behind? Families who have young children in England receive 20 per cent more fr...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Scotland’s Future

I want to make some progress. A cynic might say that the SNP, having promised the earth and failed to deliver for years, has only now rediscovered its commitment to free school meals because the coalition Government is delivering it. Today, we have a Westminster policy deliver...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Prime Minister (Meetings)

The First Minister does not understand that when David Nish tells people how independence would adversely affect his business, and when the Royal Bank of Scotland says that independence would hurt its credit rating, that is not a conspiracy. When BP says that independence woul...

Ruth Davidson (Glasgow) (Con) Con Chamber

Motion of Condolence

The shocking suddenness of Helen’s illness and loss has deprived Fife of one of its most dedicated servants in the chamber and of one of its most principled parliamentarians. Although we in this place are rightly talking about Helen’s contribution to politics and public life, ...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Secretary of State for Scotland (Meetings)

I am sure that the whole chamber is delighted to hear that Mo Farah will compete in the Commonwealth games in Glasgow. We want the world’s elite to compete in Scotland. Glasgow’s organising committee has worked hard to ensure that venues such as the SSE Hydro, the velodrome an...

Ruth Davidson (Glasgow) (Con) Con Chamber

Referendum Debate

I thank the First Minister for advance sight of his statement; I will add a few words of my own on his service in the chamber and in wider Scottish politics. I was eight years old when Alex Salmond was first elected a member of Parliament, and 11 when he first led his party, s...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Secretary of State for Scotland (Meetings)

As the First Minister well knows, Standard and Poor’s did not give an independent Scotland its highest credit rating: an economic assessment is only one of the measures that it uses. To say that it did is misrepresenting its views. It sounds to me from that answer as though t...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Prime Minister (Meetings)

I am sure that the First Minister will join me in welcoming the good news yesterday that showed that employment is up and unemployment is down and that earnings are outstripping inflation. That is a credit to both of Scotland’s Governments. It would, of course, be churlish o...

Ruth Davidson (Glasgow) (Con) Con Chamber

First Minister’s Statement (Response)

I add to those of my party my best wishes to the First Minister as he leaves office today. It is traditional at this point to add a few words about how enjoyable retirement is and how pleasant the golf course looks, but seeing that there seems to be absolutely no chance that A...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Prime Minister (Meetings)

The figures that the First Minister was looking for—the ones that answer the question that I asked—are as follows: her overall budget went up from last year to this by £661 million, and the sum that the Scottish Government chose to spend on policing in that same period went do...

Ruth Davidson (Edinburgh Central) (Con) Con Chamber

Programme for Government 2016-17

Thank you for remembering my name, Presiding Officer. I was a bit worried for a second. I also thank the First Minister for early sight of her statement today. Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting the Southside general practice in my constituency of Edinburgh Central. I ...

Ruth Davidson (Edinburgh Central) (Con) Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

First, let me say that I welcome this debate today, not because it is about an issue that is easy to discuss in public—something so appalling never is—but because it is only right that issues of difficulty and passion like this are debated in our Parliament here in Edinburgh. ...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

I am sorry, but I have a lot to get through and I will not be taking any interventions. Members: Oh!

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

I do not think that this issue should be subject to the knockabout that we see here in the chamber daily. Of course, there is a political judgment, which any Government has to take. Labour and the SNP would not seek to curtail the growth in spending as we would, and that is t...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

Inevitably, that means examining many budgets, including the welfare budget. It has meant, for example, removing child benefit from higher earners. The issue that we are debating today revolves around further decisions that have been taken by the UK Government to limit child t...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

In other words, parents of three or more children who are currently claiming tax credits will still continue to do so.

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

I accept that, for many MSPs, the change is far from welcome. These are difficult judgment calls. When, in 2015, the UK Government initially proposed cutting tax credits, I spoke out against it. I did not think that ministers had got the balance right. Those measures were scra...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

I agreed with her then, and I still do. The First Minister gave monetary examples, so let me put them in context. A one-parent family with two children where the parent works 16 hours a week on the minimum wage can claim monetary benefits of just under £19,000 a year. Added t...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

It adds that “women are not placed in the position of having to give details about the rape to DWP or HMRC officials”.

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

There is absolutely no requirement to report rape as a crime, to provide proof of rape or to provide proof of conviction. A woman writes her name and a third-party professional who is helping the mother is asked to set out the rest.

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

That third-party model already exists in the benefit system to support victims of domestic violence. Members: Give way—go on.

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

The third-party professionals— Members: Give way!

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

It is important that we do not wilfully misrepresent the process, causing fear and alarm. Let me outline the process to members again. The woman writes her name and a third-party professional who is helping her sets out the rest. The third-party model already exists in the ben...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

I refer again to the third-party model and the fact that it already exists in relation to domestic violence. It is the third-party model that is being used to fill out the pages of the form. Let me come back to the point that the First Minister raised in her speech about work...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

Child Tax Credit Cuts

However, I believe that there are many members of other parties who would wish away tax credits being restricted to the first two children, and I point them towards the legislative powers of this Parliament. For my part, I will continue to monitor how the policy works on the ...

Ruth Davidson Con Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Drug Deaths

The First Minister’s apology is welcome, but it does not answer my question about rehab beds. The answer is just five. Castle Craig could be saving more than 250 Scots a year—it has done it before—but instead, the number is five. Another rehab facility said that 60 per cent o...

← Back to list

Chamber

Meeting of the Parliament 31 May 2012

31 May 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Scotland’s Future

Davidson, Ruth Con Glasgow Watch on SPTV

I am sure that the First Minister will agree that, without the size, the strength and the credit rating history of the UK, a newly separate Scotland would not keep its AAA credit rating.

However, let us move on to the currency. Following the First Minister’s long flirtation with the euro, even he has been forced to admit that it would be a disaster for Scotland, so the solution is to keep sterling and to continue to have the Bank of England as the lender of last resort. If the Bank of England were to be the lender of last resort, what remained of the UK would need to oversee Scotland’s fiscal management. If an independent Scotland were to submit to such control over its monetary and fiscal policy, what kind of independence would that be? There would be more confusion, more risk and more needless uncertainty. That is not a future that I want for my country, because Scotland deserves better.

I love my country. My country is Scotland, and I bow to no one in my commitment to Scotland and the wellbeing of our people but, like most Scots, my pride in my country and my sense of patriotism are not threatened by the British component of my identity—far from it. Like the majority of Scots, I celebrate it and draw strength from it. Among the greatest strengths of the UK is the diversity of its cultures, which is reflected in Scotland. We have Asian Scots, French Scots, Italian Scots and German Scots, but the one thing that you cannot be in the SNP’s vision of the future is a British Scot.

This debate is about the future. It is about the future of my family and of everyone else’s family. Let us imagine for a moment that Scotland had not been a partner in the UK for the past 300 years, but that it now had the chance to join it. Through membership of the UK, Scotland would gain trading opportunities and access to international markets, as a result of which it would secure jobs and investment. It would gain the advantages of an integrated economy and the ability to weather the economic storms that have devastated small countries, and it would have the clout on the international stage that membership of the G8 offers, which would allow us to stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies as part of the most successful military alliance in the world. It would gain safety and security through having an integrated defence force, backed by special forces, and security services, such as MI5 and MI6, that are the envy of other nations—[Interruption.]

In the same item of business

The Deputy Presiding Officer (John Scott) Con

The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-03113, in the name of Alex Salmond, on Scotland’s future. I invite members who wish to speak in the debat...

The First Minister (Alex Salmond) SNP

I will abide by your strictures, Presiding Officer. I have just come back from launching Scotland’s climate justice fund with the former Irish President, Mar...

Willie Rennie (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD) LD

If the First Minister is giving the Parliament a choice and a decision today, why does he not trust the people of Scotland with a decision today?

The First Minister SNP

Willie Rennie is out of date. The Prime Minister, who leads his coalition partners, has said that he is “not fussed” about the date of the referendum. All th...

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab) Lab

Given what the coalition Government is now doing in Westminster, does the First Minister regret advising people in England to vote Liberal?

The First Minister SNP

Of all the people who have regrets about the Liberal Democrats, their thousands of erstwhile supporters will be up there rather more than me. Perhaps Johann ...

The First Minister SNP

I will give way to a member of a party that may or may not have 3,000 members left.

Ruth Davidson Con

Does the First Minister count among his number my deputy, all the political editors of Scotland and everyone else whose Twitter picture was harvested and use...

The First Minister SNP

No. We have managed to extract them all from the website. We have taken oot Donald Duck, Osama bin Laden and Johann Lamont. They have all been taken oot of t...

Hugh Henry (Renfrewshire South) (Lab) Lab

Will the member give way?

The First Minister SNP

No, thank you.Tommy Brennan—Interruption.

The Deputy Presiding Officer Con

The First Minister SNP

I have taken three interventions so far. I am not sure that the member’s intervention would be any better than the first three.Tommy Brennan, one of Scotland...

The Deputy Presiding Officer Con

The First Minister SNP

I do not know whether that laugh was for Tommy Brennan but, in my opinion, he did more for Scottish industry than any member on the Labour benches.Paul Lesli...

The Deputy Presiding Officer Con

Order. Thank you.15:08

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab) Lab

I never thought that the First Minister had self-esteem issues, but reading out the number of followers that he has on Twitter to prove how good he is is a w...

Margo MacDonald (Lothian) (Ind) Ind

Could we start as we mean to go on, with facts? Although Johann Lamont takes issue with Winnie Ewing’s statement that this is the Scottish Parliament continu...

The Deputy Presiding Officer Con

An esoteric point. Thank you very much.

Johann Lamont Lab

I was making a more important point, which is that this Parliament—a new, modern, thriving place where the people’s priorities are decided—is what we should ...

The Cabinet Secretary for Parliamentary Business and Government Strategy (Bruce Crawford) SNP

It was Johann Lamont who raised the issue at First Minister’s question time.

Johann Lamont Lab

I know that I raised it at First Minister’s question time. I did so because I was optimistic that I might get an answer. Evidently, I did not.

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) Green

Earlier today, at First Minister’s question time, Johann Lamont raised serious questions that are in need of serious answers. I wish that she would stick to ...

Johann Lamont Lab

I absolutely accept that, but I say to Patrick Harvie that, while we conduct that debate, we should also be getting on with the business of challenging the k...

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth (John Swinney) SNP

If Johann Lamont reflects on her speech in yesterday’s debate, in which she had the opportunity to provide constructive solutions or suggestions to deal with...

Johann Lamont Lab

That is simply not true. I suggest that Mr Swinney looks at what I said—Interruption.

The Deputy Presiding Officer Con

Johann Lamont Lab

We need a plan for business; we need to be working and talking to the banks; we need to stop cutting housing; and we need to invest in the further education ...

Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP) SNP

Will the member give way?

Johann Lamont Lab

I think that I have taken enough interventions for the moment.The nationalists judge their strength by their tools, not by the quality of what they can build...