Meeting of the Parliament 08 June 2016
Yes—thank you, Presiding Officer.
It is a great privilege not just to make this maiden speech but to do so as the first Conservative to represent the Dumfriesshire constituency in the Parliament. Perhaps strangely, I was both delighted and sorry to win what was Labour’s safest seat in Scotland. I was delighted for my party’s stalwarts, past and present, who kept going even in the darkest of days, but I was also sorry to bring to an end Elaine Murray’s 17 years of dedicated and attentive representation here at Holyrood for our area.
Of course, I owe much to a certain member of Parliament who, in his own way, has set the ultimate example of public service and whose reputation for community commitment and willingness to take on his own party in the pursuit of his constituents’ needs still define the politics of the communities that I now represent. While I would not be here without my dad, members will, I am sure, be relieved to know that I am talking about former Dumfriesshire MP Sir Hector Monro. Sir Hector was quite simply a giant among men, and I will never forget campaigning alongside him in the run-up to the Scottish Parliament elections in 1999—that is my earliest political memory. Invariably, days on the campaign trail involved touring the small villages of Dumfriesshire in his vintage Bentley and peeping the horn to announce our arrival in a village. Although, understandably, my red Ford Fiesta did not cause quite the same stir as I completed my tour of more than 70 communities ahead of the election, those memories came back to me.
I did not realise it at the time but, looking back now, I realise that I was witnessing the end of an era—a changing of the guard. Just a few short months later, I would sit in the public gallery and watch the opening ceremony of the new Scottish Parliament. Indeed, I can still hear the words of Donald Dewar echoing in my ears, and the iconic tones of Sheena Wellington still cause the hairs on the back of my neck to rise.
Why do I mention all that? It is because I want the Scottish Government to recognise that the new intake of MSPs represents an important moment in the life of this Parliament. I want to gently remind the Government that there is a new generation of Scots for whom the Scottish Parliament has always existed, for whom the battles of the past no longer define their politics and—most important—who will not forgive the Scottish Government for blaming others.
That is not to say that we should not give history its place. Ahead of today, I reflected a great deal on the many distinguished people from outside the field of politics who have proudly called Dumfriesshire their home and who have contributed so much to our nation. The list of individuals is as varied as they are gifted. It ranges from Thomas Telford, who literally helped to build our nation, to Lord Dowding, who helped to save it in the darkest days of world war two. The poets and literary greats range from Alexander Anderson to Thomas Carlyle and our beloved Robert Burns, and the list also ranges from missionaries such as Jane Haining, who paid for her beliefs with her life in Auschwitz, to the Rev Henry Duncan, whose visionary approach to banking allowed the ordinary man to save for the first time.
We are also duty bound to celebrate the present and to fix our sights firmly on the future, with more modern successes such as the Olympic gold medal-winning curlers from Lockerbie, the three-times Le Mans winner Allan McNish and—a favourite of Mrs Mundell’s—international superstar DJ Calvin Harris.
For me, our greatest asset in Dumfriesshire will always be our people and the sense of community that binds us together. We may have led the way from disco to defence and from engineering to banking, but Dumfriesshire is most of all, at its heart, a place of quiet determination, a corner of Scotland where community and family still matter far more than Government and a place where, for hundreds of years, across the generations, we have been self-reliant and resilient because we have had to be. Indeed, little has changed since the creation of this Parliament, partly because we have not shouted loud enough and in no small part because the Scottish Government refuses to listen. I hope that, across the next five years, we can do something about that and make a change together.
As I turn to the matter in hand, I say to all those on the SNP benches that there is no time quite like the present. Today’s debate perfectly captures a Government that is out of step with the people—a Government whose policy priorities have been lost in the cross-fire of the debate and whose determination to save face has seen legitimate criticism fall on deaf ears.
Even the most ardent supporter of the named person legislation must now recognise that the measure does not command the confidence of all parents and professionals in Scotland. I have never heard as much talk of compromise and consensus as I have heard in this place in the past month. We have a minority Government, and it is in that spirit that I ask the Deputy First Minister not to look to the left or to the right but to hit the pause button and look at the growing body of evidence that is in front of him.
Across the next five years I will, no doubt, stand up many times and criticise the Scottish Government for inaction, but today I end with a quieter and more considered request—that the cabinet secretary and his team consider the possibility that hasty action might do more harm than good in this case. [Applause.]