17/11/2011 Politics Scotland

A warm welcome from the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood. There is a

debate this morning on public sector pensions, a big row with

tactics with regard on that. Evidence been taken this afternoon

on the Scotland Bill, the issue of giving more powers to the Scottish

Parliament. The big one is the questions to the First Minister

which we will now cross to the Chamber to hear.

Some very noisy exchanges. Presiding officer, 215,000 Scots

are at unemployed. 100,000 young people are without work. How many

Scots have to find themselves on the dole before the First Minister

admits his Plan B is not working? The situation in Scotland is

extremely serious and the Government is working flat out to

generate the maximum number of jobs. Even Iain Gray would have to accept

that the position aggravated by the United Kingdom has not helped. Is

good Government is being successful because we have higher up -- higher

employment and lower economic inactivity than the rest of the UK.

That is an important aspect which indicates that some of the efforts

we are making are bearing fruit in bringing people back into

employment and generating employment for young people for.

215,000 now... Is this the limit of the SNP's ambition? Is this

success? To be not quite as terrible as the Tories? Even by

that very low bark, youth unemployment in Scotland is higher

than in the UK as a whole. George Osborne is cutting too fast and too

deep. Isn't the truth that Alex Salmond is cutting capital budgets

and public sector jobs even faster and even deeper than the Tories?

don't know where to start with Iain Gray, but let's examine his record.

In the period, and it was a brief period, in comparison with the

Labour Party's record in office when Scottish unemployment was

higher than that of the rest of the UK, Iain Gray mentioned it seven

times, virtually every First Minister's questions. Indeed, what

he said in his valedictory adresses Leader of the Opposition, because

he thought he was going into Government, he said, here is the

figure that matters. Alex Salmond inherited a Scotland with lower

unemployment than the rest of the country Antilles as Scotland with

higher unemployment than the rest of the country. That was the figure

that matter to him. Now, of course, when we find that thanks to the

efforts of the Scottish Government to mitigate the impact of

Westminster cutbacks, we find employment Scotland -- employment

in Scotland is higher than the rest of the UK, unemployment is lower,

all of a sudden, that doesn't matter any more. Of course it

matters. It is one of the figures that matters and in terms of

ambition, my ambition and the ambition of the SNP is to have this

country free to have resources to bring wealth and employment to our

people. You know, if any of these 215,000

unemployed people are listening, that will not sound like a Plan B

to them. That will sound like nothing but a lot of mince. And

that is what we have come to expect from this First Minister. But we

nastier and this, George Osborne cut capital budgets by 11% and Alex

Salmond cut them by 21%. George Osborne got rid of 3.8% of public-

sector jobs. Alex Salmond got rid of 4.1%. George Osborne cut college

its by 4%. Alex Salmond cut ours by 10%. If he cannot give those

hundred 1,000 young people a job, at least he can give them the truth.

Will he admit he is cutting faster and deeper than the Tories and that

is where unemployment is rising in Scotland? -- that is why

unemployment is rising. It is higher than it was last year,

employment, and unemployment is lower. Unemployment in the rest of

the UK is at its highest for 20 years. Let's dispense with this

nonsense about capital spending. I have heard it repeated so many

times by Labour Party specs people over the last few days and Iain

Gray should be aware of taking lines from Richard Baker. The

reason that capital investment is being cut in Scotland is it is

allocated on the Barnett formula. And the reason it is being cut its

-- harder in Scotland is because of the Barnett formula. Was there none

devolved department targeting slightly less capital spending

cutbacks than the devolved department, and before we blame the

Tory and Liberal coalition Government, they are proceeding on

exactly the capital plants that were laid out by Alistair Darling,

the Labour Chancellor. Alistair Darling, the man who was going to

cut deeper and tougher than Margaret Thatcher, who now says in

his memoirs, his plans were credible because they were not

tough enough. What are we doing about that cut back to capital

spending? We are shifting �750 million from resource to capital

spending. We have got a non-profit distribution programme which is

going to generate �2.5 billion in capital spending which is giving us

a total of capital spending unique in these islands, rising every year

to 2014-2015. It is a real action to help real people, not a Labour

Party which chooses to engage in collective amnesia by way of these

capital cuts came from. Westminster, Labour roar. -- Labour rule. I see

that over the last week, the First Minister has won a couple of awards.

It would be churlish of me... It would be churlish of me not to

congratulate him. But with unemployment standing at 100,004

JUN people, 215,004 people generally in Scotland, it there was

a complacent politician of the year award, he would run away with it.

He likes to talk about a mythical independence generation. Well, this

generation are on their own OK. 100,000 of them. Alex Salmond will

give them a rest bite saying it is starting, but he will not give them

a start. You will not give them a job. He will not give them an

opportunity, and he will not give them a future. I see that Alex

Salmond would like to be called Prime Minister in a separate

Scotland. Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know about

the priorities of his Government? Went is he going to stop thinking

about his next job and give our young people a first job so they

can start in life? Let's look at the track record of SNP ministers

working hard to generate employment in Scotland. At the Grid

international companies who in the last few months have decided to

locate the -- their operations here. There are lots of them. All of

these companies and the efforts of the SNP ministers and our officials

been gathering that investment to Scotland. What of the Labour Party

been doing? They are in careers with the Tories, trying to tour

Scotland down at every opportunity. -- they are in cahoots. The Labour

Party says their responsibility lies just what the Scottish

Government, despite the fact they know full well who the cutbacks are

coming from. Their own five-point plan for growth gives the game away.

Course, capital investment, which I have dealt with, but the other four

points which Labour has planned are all requests of the Westminster

Government. Why are Labour lobbying in opposition the Westminster

Government? Because they know that is where the economic power lies

over the Scottish economy and the Scottish people, at the present

moment. That is why the ambition of this party is to harness the

resources of Scotland and put them towards the Scottish people and

that is what Iain Gray will never be called First Minister. -- that

is why Iain Gray. Let him not dare say that I do not speak up for

100,000 unemployed young Scots. He does not speak up for them nor do

the supine backbenchers behind him. Let's look at their record. In the

last two years, the number of people unemployed is worse. The

unemployment was his worst. The Employment Rate is worse. The

economic activity rate is worse. That is their record. Not only

should they be ashamed of it, he should be here and tell us now what

he is going to do about it. I know we are changing to two years

because Iain Gray would have to acknowledge that unemployment is

down in Scotland over the last year and employment is up. Uniquely in

the United Kingdom. Labour is in power in the United Kingdom in one

place. In Wales. I am not going to criticise the Government of Wales

because they are under the same strictures of Westminster cutbacks

that we are at the present moment. If Labour had the answer to

economic problems and unemployment, why is unemployment in Wales higher

than it is in Scotland? Why his youth unemployment higher than it

is in Scotland? If Labour had the magic solutions, why haven't they

implemented them in the one place where there are still in

Government? Their failure in the Government in UK, the failure to

come forward with answers, their failure to realise that being in

cahoots with the Tories enshrined - - in try to discourage investment

in Scotland, these are why Labour failed in the election, and that

his wife this party are going to be extinct in this country. Does the

First Minister know when he will next meet the Secretary for

Scotland? No plans in any future. 48 hours ago, Transport Scotland

published its plans to wreck our railways. It plans for slower

trains, for fewer stations, more crowding, longer journeys and four

passengers up and down the country. This morning, we read of his

screeching U-turn and the SNP Government trying to run a mile

from their own consultation. Let's look at this document. Let's look

at the lovely pictures on the front of it up the SNP members. How can

anyone have the confidence to invest long-term in Scotland's

future when SNP ministers are talking our railways down? I think

the clue to the status of the document is on the front page. The

bit where it says a consultation. I am surprised at Ruth Davidson. If

example on page six, we are talking about sleeper services and laying

out the options, because that is what the document is meant to do,

it says the sleeper services could be reduced or have increased

financial support. Understandably, some have interpreted that as going

one way. It is a document of options from transport Scotland.

The ministerial view on railways will be published at the end of the

consultation. That will be at the beginning of March. That'll be the

view of the SNP ministers. Can I say to her, while I will listen to

the consultation and we think it is important to have this as part of

the process, you don't need a crystal ball to see the direction

of travel in Scotland's railways. That has been laid down. That is a

railway with new stations and expanding passenger numbers and

dramatic increases in the amount of track and availability of rail

services. That is the course the SNP ministers will continue to set

for Scotland's railways. is the point. It is a Government

consultation in the Government's words on their terms saying that

the quango did it and ran away. We want Scotland's role is fit for the

21st century and to attract long- term investment but there is a

cloud hanging over long-term investment right now. It is a cloud

that the Neil Brown document itself admits. Let's turn to page 21 which

tells us that we might only a -- might be able to get a short-term

deal for well is because investors could be worried about the

unanswered constitutional question. There we have it, presiding officer,

SNP ministers have come clean and that First Minister should come

clean right now. Failing to answer the constitutional question is

turning off long-term investment in I think what people will look at,

not just in the past few years but over the next few years, is the

contrast in rail services in Scotland which have been expanding,

and those in Scotland where fears have been expanding. -- fairs. --

fares. I am delighted that Ruth Davidson has taken the opportunity

to rather quietly repeat some of the nonsense that has come from her

colleagues in Westminster. The argument about investors being

deterred from Scotland. I have read out the substantial list of

companies investing in Scotland at the moment. I have also noted the

lobbying from Conservatives in the north-east of England who are

jealous of Scotland's success in job creation. I hope that Ruth

Davidson at some point will take the opportunity to distance herself

from her own party colleagues will stop I hope the Conservative Party

in this Parliament will stick up for Scotland and this associate

themselves from the views expressed by the Conservative Party in the

north-east of England. Can I prefer deep First Minister to the report

published today which recommends that the High Court should not be

able to refuse an affair will from Scottish cases as it can currently

do. There is a recommendation that there provision should be repealed.

Can I ask if he is of a mind to except that the recommendation?

have to consider the report in some detail before giving the

ministerial response. It is a deeply detailed document that has

over 400 pages of detailed assessment. It has potentially far-

reaching implications. Those who have had the opportunity to look at

the review will recognise in a range of the area is that it is

pointed out that decisions which have been made piecemeal by a

number of courts have serious implications in the criminal law of

Scotland. This report was designed to set forward options for this

Parliament to consider. The correct way to proceed is to consider the

review in detail and then if necessary, and I think it will be

appropriate, to bring forward the requisite changes to this

Parliament which are required. First Minister will be aware of the

circumstances surrounding the tragic death of my constituent

Alison Hulme in Gorleston in 2008. A fatal accident inquiry was

published yesterday. In light of the questions over Strathclyde Fire

And Rescue can he assure me there will be a comprehensive review of

the service which pits saving lives first and foremost? -- Poots saving

first and foremost? -- Poots saving first and foremost? -- Poots saving

lives. -- puts. We would all send our commiserations to her family.

The Institution of sheriffs is well recognised and respected. The

determination is that they make have to be accepted by all parties.

I do not think they should be second-guessed. I think what people

will be looking for is an indication of the action which must

now follow. This fatal accident inquiry raised important issues

surrounding operational procedures in Strathclyde Fire And Rescue.

Under section 34 ministers can request them to carry out their

inquiry into the manner of authorities carrying out their

functions. Due to be a serious nature of best I have asked a

comprehensive inquiry to be carried out. It will then be for ministers

to decide what direction, if any, should be made under the powers

provided. This is the most serious nature of action that can be made

by ministers under the legislation. I think the circumstances of the

case reflect it and the require it. I would add that there is nothing

in Sheriff Lesley's determination which lays bare a number of key

organisation and procedural points which are of great seriousness and

had tragic consequences in this case. There is nothing in the

sheriff's determination that the fire officers on site had anything

but determination to rescue this woman. The Bluelight services do

such a fantastic job in Scotland. To ask the First Minister what the

Scottish Government's position is on the EIS call for a ballot?

Scottish negotiating Committee for teachers is due to meet on 23rd

November. The EIS and Scottish Government will also be involved.

The suggestion of strike action in my view is premature. The First

Minister's colleague, the Cabinet secretary for education, has

repeatedly talked about the importance of high quality teaching.

Can I ask him how freezing the pay of teachers and cutting supply

teachers and now changing their conditions of employment and

improve the professionalism of teachers? The sacrifices that have

been made by the public sector have not just been made by teachers but

by all public sector workers. I do not want to go into the economics

of where that problem came from but I do think even the most able

Labour member with his head firmly in the sand could ignore at the

circumstances from which this has arisen. Nor do I think a review

which brings forward changes in procedures and working practices

could bring forward positions which are not capable of being discussed

and implemented. The basis of the review was to find procedures which

would improve the situation in our classrooms, for our professionals,

I bowed to no one in recognition of the professionalism of the teaching

profession. I think the attitude which has been struck up by the

United Kingdom Government on pensions has poisoned the

atmosphere. The integrity and value of our public services has to be

maintained. To ask the First Minister whether overseas companies

are continuing to invest in Scotland at this time? Yes, I read

out a substantial list of major overseas companies on Tuesday. I

will resist the overwhelming cry on the Conservative benches to read

about that list again. The Presiding Officer me intervene!

These investments will create more than 3,000 permanent and temporary

jobs in Scotland. I do hope that whatever use people have on a

variety of political issues, at least this Parliament can Unite in

welcoming the investment by Amazon and other great companies that

expects confidence in the future of Scotland. -- that express

confidence. Whenever he announces a significant new investment or D

creation of new jobs, or rather than welcomed them opposition MPs

set disdainfully with long faces. Does he agree that instead of

constantly scaremongering the opposition MPs should show

confidence in the Scottish workforce. Allison said they are

looking for a great people. As long as that continues we will be in

Scotland. -- Amazon said. Be member we wish to know that while the

success in these investments is not recognised on the opposition

benches it is recognised by the Tory party in the north-east of

Scotland. I mentioned earlier the senior Conservative in the North

East of England, she has been engaging in a range of activities

which are well documented including going to the Conservative

conference in Manchester in October to lobby the Chancellor about the

success and firepower of Scotland in attracting thousands of jobs.

There are two aspect to that. If north-east of England Tories can

recognise the success of attracting these major international companies

to Scotland, at least the Tories in this Parliament should try to

recognise the same thing. The danger is that this lady, after

lobbying the Chancellor, said "ministers have agreed to look at

this". What action have Westminster ministers got in mind to try to

dissuade major international companies? Was that the real reason

for the comments of the Chancellor last Sunday? Can I ask the First

Minister what measures are being taken to tackle female unemployment

given that they are disproportionately affected? Since

September unemployment decreased in Scotland by 14,000 even though it

increased elsewhere in the UK. 13,000 of that drop was in female

unemployment. We are taking a range of actions to ensure more women and

men get the jobs they need. In 2011 nearly 10,000 women began a Modern

apprenticeship. We end where we began with a discussion on

unemployment. The First Minister ordered the Chief Inspector of

accident and emergency services to look into the case of a woman who