Hansard

Richard Leonard Lab Chamber

10 May 2017

National Health Service Pay

Of course, the Tories want to stop trade unions having a political voice, too. Finally, I remind Parliament of the principles of the NHS as set out by Aneurin Bevan, who said: “Society becomes more wholesome, more serene, and spiritually healthier, if it knows that its citiz...

The Convener Lab Committee

15 Jun 2023

Section 23 report: “Early Learning and Childcare: Progress on delivery of the 1,140 hours expansion”

Before I ask my next question, I had better remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests. I want to ask about the living wage and fair work practices. You remind us that an ELC living wage and fair work implementation group has been established. You have a...

4. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

09 Nov 2023

General Question Time · Scottish Water (Industrial Action)

I remind members of my voluntary entry in the register of members’ interests regarding the GMB, Unite and Unison trade unions. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that notice of industrial action has been served on Scottish Water. (S6O-02707)

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

23 Nov 2023

Urgent Question · Petroineos (Closure of Refinery)

I remind members of my voluntary entry in the register of members’ interests. Does the cabinet secretary stand by his statement that the closure of the Petroineos oil refinery at Grangemouth is a commercial decision that will future proof the site, or does he agree with me tha...

3. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

08 Feb 2024

Portfolio Question Time · Public Transport (Modal Shift)

I remind members of my entry in the “Voluntary” section of the register of interests. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to encourage a modal shift to public transport. (S6O-03072)

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

22 Feb 2024

Grangemouth Oil Refinery

I remind members of my voluntary registration of trade union interests. The cabinet secretary tells us of meetings and correspondence. Well, what the workers at Grangemouth want is not talking shops but workshops. They want action and not words. Can the cabinet secretary tell...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

29 Feb 2024

First Minister’s Question Time · Rail Infrastructure Spending

I remind members of my voluntary entry in the register of interests. Members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers are rallying outside Parliament today against a £315 million cut to Scotland’s safety-critical rail infrastructure spending. They say, “R...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

28 Mar 2024

Public Transport (Fair Fares Review)

I remind members of my trade union affiliations that are in my voluntary register of interests. The cabinet secretary does not have her problems to seek: 150 job cuts at Network Rail over the past six months; just last week, the announcement of more than 40 more redundancies...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

30 Apr 2024

Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (50th Anniversary)

I thank Bill Kidd for bringing this important motion to Parliament, and I remind members of my own voluntary register of trade union interests. It was Michael Foot who steered the Health and Safety at Work etc Bill through Parliament back in 1974. Kenneth O Morgan, in his mag...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

01 May 2024

International Workers Memorial Day 2024

I thank Maggie Chapman for bringing forward this special debate, and I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. Freedom of association is a basic human right. Trade unions are not just about wages; they do have a political character. May day in Chicag...

2. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

16 May 2024

General Question Time · Grangemouth Refinery

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the owners of the Grangemouth refinery, its workers and trade unions regarding the future of the site. (S6O-03445)

Richard Leonard Lab Committee

15 May 2024

Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests, particularly my membership of Unite the union, in the register of members’ interests. The purpose of amendment 16 is to broaden the scope of those people in the industry who are covered by continuing professi...

4. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

30 May 2024

Portfolio Question Time · Employment Injury Assistance

I remind members of my voluntary entry in the register of members’ interests. To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates the first payment of employment injury assistance will be made. (S6O-03503)

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

06 Jun 2024

Rail Fares

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests, and I thank Mark Ruskell for bringing this important debate to the chamber. Let me start with some basic facts. This year, the Scottish Government has abandoned its 2030 climate change targets—that is a fact....

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

27 Jun 2024

Action Mesothelioma Day 2024

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. I thank Marie McNair for once again lodging this motion for debate this year. It has become something of a custom for her to do so, and something of a custom for this debate to take place every year as one of...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

18 Apr 2024

Scottish Employment Injuries Advisory Council Bill: Stage 1

I remind members of my trade union affiliations, which I have recorded as voluntary entries in the register of members’ interests. Let me begin with that, because the Scottish Trades Union Congress has been convening in Dundee just this week. As recently as yesterday morning,...

1. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

05 Sep 2024

Portfolio Question Time · National Transport Strategy

I remind members of my voluntary entry in the register of members’ interests. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to implement Scotland’s national transport strategy. (S6O-03669)

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

11 Sep 2024

Rail Fares

I remind members of my voluntary register of interests. Back in June, the last time that Parliament debated peak fares, the cabinet secretary accused me of having a “glass-half-empty analysis” and proceeded to give me a lecture on the savings that ScotRail passengers were mak...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

03 Oct 2024

Just Transition (Grangemouth Area and North-east and Moray)

I begin by reminding members of my voluntary register of interests, and I thank the committee for doing its job and inquiring into this most critical question of our times. Let me state right at the very outset that I do not believe, on the evidence that we have seen so far, ...

The Convener Lab Committee

03 Oct 2024

“Scotland’s colleges 2024”

At this point, I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. I have some questions that move us on from people who have left and who have been made redundant, to those who remain and their treatment. In your briefing, you highlight the outstanding pay di...

6. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

30 Oct 2024

Portfolio Question Time · Closure of Grangemouth Oil Refinery (Update)

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the potential closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery and any economic impact that this may have. (S6O-03850) I remind members of my voluntary declaration of my trade union interests.

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

30 Jan 2025

Engineering Skills Gap Analysis for Scotland

I remind members of my voluntary entry regarding trade union interests in the register of members’ interests. I begin by thanking Alex Rowley for not just leading this afternoon’s debate, but acting with such speed to get this report on the agenda of Parliament. It is a pity...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

18 Feb 2025

Topical Question Time · Scottish Water (Executive Bonuses)

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. Can we go back to the central question here? Does the minister agree with me that it is wrong that the bonuses of Scottish Water bosses have risen 10 times more than the pay rise that is now being offered to ...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

18 Feb 2025

Grangemouth

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. Be under no illusion—this is a close-and-import strategy, so a £25 million investment is welcome. However, from the more than £0.5 billion that is available from the ScotWind licensing round, a jobs fair and ...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

26 Feb 2025

Rail Fares

I remind members of my voluntary registration of trade union interests. Last month, the Accounts Commission teamed up with the Auditor General to publish a hard-hitting report on the Government’s wish to reduce car use in Scotland by 20 per cent by 2030. They gave evidence to...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

18 Mar 2025

Food and Drink Sector

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. I will start with those interests because, before being elected to the Parliament, I spent two decades representing workers in Scotland’s food and drink industry: the brewers of Duke Street, the night shift at...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

20 Mar 2025

Urgent Question · Project Willow

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. Many of project willow’s outcomes are set in the medium term and even the long term, but, as Keynes said, “In the long run, we are all dead.” Four hundred and thirty-five refinery workers face immediate re...

3. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

03 Apr 2025

General Question Time · ScotRail Ticket Office Staffing

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on staffing at ScotRail ticket offices. (S6O-04530)

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

03 Apr 2025

Project Willow

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. Yesterday afternoon, Unite the union was in Parliament, warning that, if the Grangemouth refinery is not repurposed, if it closes this year, the infrastructure will run down or disappear altogether, the worke...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

30 Apr 2025

Grangemouth (Cessation of Refining)

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. Given that Petroineos has stated that it will not take forward any of the nine proposals in project willow, what contact, if any, has Scottish Enterprise had with new, serious potential investors? If there ha...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

05 Jun 2025

First Minister’s Question Time · Scottish Water (Pay Negotiations)

I remind members of my voluntary register of interests. Scottish Water workers are on strike this week. On Tuesday night, Scottish Water’s chief executive turned up at pay talks with the trade unions for less than two minutes. If Scottish Water’s chief executive officer can s...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

19 Jun 2025

Action Mesothelioma Day 2025

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. I thank Marie McNair for bringing this motion to Parliament today. Once again, she is acting not as an unconsidered representative of her party but as a diligent and democratic representative of her constitue...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

19 Jun 2025

Alexander Dennis Ltd

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. The Deputy First Minister’s statement is more a defence of the Government’s position than it is a plan of action to save these facilities and to save these workers’ jobs. The fact is that the last two fact...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

20 Nov 2025

Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I remind members of my voluntary entry in the register of members’ interests. What the Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill could be about is direct action; new statutory powers—not just words but deeds. It could rekindle the radical tradition that dates all the way back...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

09 Dec 2025

Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Holdings Limited

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. I present this unanimous report to Parliament on behalf of the Public Audit Committee, and I thank all those who have contributed to it, not least the committee clerks and other parliamentary staff for the wo...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

11 Dec 2025

Grangemouth (Just Transition)

I remind members of my voluntary register of interests. I welcome today’s announcement of new jobs in Grangemouth. I have a long-held view that the fate of too much of our economy is concentrated in the hands of too few boardrooms in too many far-away places and that we are t...

Richard Leonard Lab Chamber

18 Jun 2024

Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. The Scottish Agricultural Wages Board sets the minimum rates of pay and other conditions of service for agricultural workers in Scotland. Those include a daily accommodation offset for workers for accommodati...

5. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

19 Mar 2026

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Question Time · Michael “Mick” McGahey Bust

I remind members of my voluntary entry in the register of members’ interests. To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will reinstate the bust of Michael “Mick” McGahey previously displayed in the garden lobby. (S6O-05643)

5. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

19 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Water Supply and Waste Water Treatment Services

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests. To ask the Scottish Government whether it is content with the governance, accountability and delivery of both Scotland’s water supply and waste water treatment services. (S6O-05676)

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

18 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Alexander Dennis Ltd (Support)

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests.Can I pay tribute to Kate Forbes, who, in my view, has been a breath of fresh air as an active and interventionist cabinet secretary for the economy.Yesterday, another vehicle manufacturer in central Scotland, ...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

04 Mar 2026

Ferries

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests.It never ceases to amaze me that something just as distinctively and as quintessentially Scottish as our islands and the ferry links to them, which are a social and economic necessity, have been treated so badl...

6. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

04 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · NHS Agenda for Change Staff (Working Week)

I remind the chamber of my voluntary entry of trade union interests. To ask the Scottish Government whether it is confident that the changes to the working week for national health service agenda for change staff will be fully implemented by 1 April 2026. (S6O-05592)

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

03 Mar 2026

Ferguson Marine

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests.We have said all along that we just want these workers to be given a fighting chance to win orders, so I certainly welcome today’s news.Back in October, the Deputy First Minister told me that, of the £14.2 mill...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

08 May 2024

Colleges (Support)

Yesterday afternoon, the Minister for Veterans and Further and Higher Education came along to Parliament to try to tell us that Government intervention in the long-running pay dispute in our colleges—which is about to escalate—would “fundamentally alter the nature of the volu...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

25 May 2016

Taking Scotland Forward

This is my maiden speech, so I begin by thanking the people of Central Scotland, who have put their faith in me and who kept their faith in my party in this month’s election. I also take this opportunity to pay tribute to the work of my predecessors, Siobhan McMahon and Margar...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

18 Jan 2017

Highlands and Islands Enterprise

The Highlands and Islands Development Board was created by politicians of vision. I am bound to ask the cabinet secretary where the political vision for the Highlands and Islands is in his mediocre phase 1 proposal. I do not say this lightly, but the proposal amounts to the re...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

09 Feb 2017

Scotland’s Social Enterprise Strategy 2016-26

I am delighted to open the debate for the Labour Party and to move the amendment in my name. Many of us in the labour movement have a special affinity for social enterprise in general and the co-operative movement in particular. The Co-operative Party, of which I am a member, ...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

24 Oct 2017

Helicopter Safety (North Sea)

I draw attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests—in particular, my membership of the Unite and GMB trade unions. I welcome those trade union members who are in the public gallery tonight; members are the lifeblood of the trade union movement. I remind Parlia...

Richard Leonard Lab Chamber

13 Dec 2017

Finance

In the Tory party press release in advance of today’s debate, Murdo Fraser is quoted as saying—and I must get this right—that “punishing and counter-productive taxes” should not be raised in tomorrow’s budget. Is he seriously suggesting that income tax is a “counter-productive...

Richard Leonard Lab Chamber

18 Jan 2018

First Minister’s Question Time · Care Homes

I thank the First Minister for the tone of that answer. I remind her that she told the chamber last March that she was “absolutely committed ... to protect the most vulnerable people and ensure that supported accommodation is put on a sustainable and secure financial footing....

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

26 Jun 2018

National Health Service 70th Birthday

As we celebrate and reflect on 70 years of the national health service in this debate, let us remind ourselves of the vision for a healthy nation that was first outlined in Labour’s 1945 manifesto. It read: “By good food and good homes, much avoidable ill-health can be preven...

2. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

20 Dec 2018

First Minister’s Question Time · Education

I associate my party with the remarks made by the First Minister about the Lockerbie tragedy. I recently visited the Dryfesdale cemetery and garden of remembrance to pay my respects and I found it a very moving experience. I turn to a question that I think is topical, because...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

12 Mar 2019

Fair Work

I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests. I commend the Scottish Government on its recent agreement with the three civil service unions. The agreement recognises the role of collective bargaining, and it offers a commitment to the living wage, to the ...

Richard Leonard Lab Chamber

14 Mar 2019

First Minister’s Question Time · Brexit

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I remind the chamber that last week, in this Parliament, all parties voted to reject no deal in all circumstances, with the sole exception of the Tories. What does it say about the Tories in here that every one of them, without exception, voted f...

Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

04 Jun 2019

Realising Scotland’s Potential

The Scottish Labour Party is always happy to take any opportunity to make our case for real and radical economic change, for more investment and less austerity, for more planning and less market, and for more democracy, because too much economic power rests in too few hands. ...

2. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

10 Oct 2019

First Minister’s Question Time · Transvaginal Mesh Implants (Removal)

I remind the First Minister that the mesh-injured women have suffered years of pain and injustices, so when she meets them, will she apologise to them? One woman who contacted us spoke of having six surgeries, including a hysterectomy. She states that the surgery was necessary...

2. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

05 Mar 2020

First Minister’s Question Time · Coronavirus

I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests, and in particular my membership of the GMB trade union. The first thoughts of us all are with those patients who have been diagnosed with coronavirus Covid-19. As infection outbreaks know no boundaries, the i...

2. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

28 Apr 2020

First Minister’s Question Time · Covid-19 (Health and Care Worker Deaths)

I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests. Today is international workers memorial day. Each year on this day, we gather to mourn those who have died at work, to remember the dead and to fight for the living. With so many key workers in Scotland fight...

Richard Leonard Lab Chamber

13 May 2020

First Minister’s Question Time · Covid-19 (Care Homes)

Irrespective of the international comparisons, we have just been told that 57 per cent of all Covid-19-related deaths in Scotland were in residential care homes for the elderly. I turn to the moving interview with care worker Andy Sturgeon that was broadcast on Channel 4 last...

2. Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

20 May 2020

First Minister’s Question Time · Care Homes (Covid-19 Testing)

I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests. I welcome the Government’s acceptance this week of the need to regularly test staff in Scotland’s care homes. We have been pressing for that since the beginning of the crisis. I also welcome the First Ministe...