19th September 2022: A Week in Parliament

Tributes to Her Majesty

 Whilst I was at Westminster when tributes were being paid I opted not to speak on this occasion. I didn't have any personal stories and when she last visited Kilmarnock it was the year of my birth, therefore, I did not have any personal living memories of a constituency visit to touch upon either. I believe any tributes being paid to Her Majesty should have had that personal touch. Some of the stories being told in Parliament were fantastic and personified her grace and dignity. May she rest in peace. 

 Indyref

 Sunday was the eighth anniversary of the historic independence referendum in Scotland which is quite incredible. So much has happened in that time which has changed the political landscape of the country drastically.

 In that time I have been elected as MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun and re-elected twice! The SNP has also been elected to govern the Scottish Parliament twice with a manifesto pledge of a second independence referendum.  Earlier this year, the First Minister proposed a date for an independence referendum for the 19th of October 2023. The issue will be heard at the supreme court and a decision will be made in the coming months.

 However, the Scottish Government has a clear mandate for this and they are committed to delivering this for the people of Scotland. It must be up to the people of Scotland – not a Westminster government they didn’t vote for – to decide how Scotland is governed. It is crucial that before this referendum the people of Scotland will have the information they need to make an informed choice about their future. The case for independence is a strong one, and we will present it openly, frankly and with confidence and ambition. The preparatory work in the Scottish Government for this is underway. We are repeatedly told by Westminster and unionist politicians that it is “not the time”, but when you see the mess the Tories have made with the pandemic and cost of living crisis, Scotland deserves better and I truly believe we can do things better.

 UK Government

We can see how out of touch the new UK Government is when they are making it a priority to lift the cap on bankers’ bonuses. The EU cap was there for a reason - to stop the reckless behaviour that caused the banking crash in 2008. It is illogical to reverse that. What makes the Tories think this will somehow create a job boost? It won't even reverse the jobs lost by many companies who relocated staff to the EU.

Another ridiculous plan is that they are not going to introduce the proposed increase in corporation tax. This was one proposal by the former chancellor I fully agreed with. When we need more tax income to support people in this cost of living crisis then taxing profits at a reasonable level is only fair. Indeed, many companies and organisations have told me they are comfortable with higher corporation tax levels and prefer that to hikes in other taxes or rates for example.

12th September 2022: A week in Parliament

Liz Truss

After sitting on their hands all summer, while real people and businesses needed assistance, we eventually saw Liz Truss take over from Boris Johnson to become the new Tory Leader and Prime Minister of the UK. I have concerns that Truss will be a weak leader, in that, she won’t be able to control the back benches of her own party. I also worry that she is too much of a free marketeer. She has co-authored a book (Britannia Unchained) with several Tory peers, including new Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, where she slates the work ethic of the British public. This is not a good premise for someone leading one of the most unequal countries in Europe and I fear under her premiership, the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. This is personified through her tax cut pledge which will save the highest earners £1,800 per year meanwhile low earners are set to save just £7.60 per year.

Cost of Living

Despite Parliament being on recess, my office has been inundated with enquiries regarding the current cost of living crisis.

It is something I have raised for some time in the Chamber but it is unsettling to see it eventually play out and the detrimental effects it is having on constituents and businesses (big and small) throughout Kilmarnock and Loudoun.

A few weeks ago I was joined by SNP Westminster Leader, Ian Blackford MP, as we visited Brownings the Bakers and Utopia Computers in the constituency and heard first-hand of the consequences for these businesses. I raised Brownings' case in the House back in March where their running costs were set to rise from £4,000 per week to a staggering £11,000 per week. Meanwhile, Utopia’s bills were set to skyrocket from £2,000 per year to £9,000.

Although it is somewhat welcome the energy price will be capped at £2,500, considering what it could have risen to, it is still completely unaffordable for many households. I intervened on her energy update as I raised the concern that at this moment in time there are 6.5 million fuel-poor households in the UK, with the cap now at £2,500, I asked how many more will be plunged into fuel poverty – needless to say, this could not be answered. The sad reality is that the numbers in fuel poverty have almost doubled in recent years and a staggering 7 million households will be deemed to be in fuel poverty this winter.

I will continue to fight this injustice and I advise any constituents struggling with fuel costs should get in touch with my office or speak to the energy advisors at East Ayrshire Citizens Advice Bureau.

Parliament Suspended

Due to the sad passing of Queen Elizabeth II, parliament was recalled to sit on Friday and Saturday. I was already back in the constituency when the news came through that Her Majesty had passed away, therefore, I had to travel back down to Westminster on Friday morning. Now as a result of the weekend sitting, parliament has been suspended for a period of 10-days to mourn the death of Her Majesty. During this time elected Members will be keeping a lower social media profile and parliamentary business will not go ahead. However, my office remains open for any constituency casework.

18th July 2022: A Week in Parliament

Financial Redress for Foetal Anticonvulsant Syndrome 

I have lodged an Early Day Motion calling on the UK Government to pay compensation to sufferers of Foetal Anticonvulsant Syndrome, caused by womb exposure to sodium valproate (a drug that affected babies in the womb). This was a key recommendation of an independent review set up by the UK Government, yet ignored to date by the UK Government. I have a constituent affected by this and it is high time she gets the redress she deserves. 

Labour 

They acknowledge the damage of Brexit but say they “will make Brexit work” while confirming they won’t join the single market or customs union, nor allow free movement of people. Therefore, they won’t be changing anything to somehow “make it work”. There will be the same customs checks issues and businesses are still going to be left not being able to fill vacancies, stopping them from growing and importantly means reduced tax takes for the Government creating a double whammy. They refuse to work with the SNP; say they will refuse a referendum and indeed a labour MP bragged about Scottish Labour punishing two councillors for not voting for the Tories to come into power in Edinburgh and preferring to continue working with the SNP. They say they will balance the books; keep complaining about Tory tax rises, thereby encouraging tax cuts and calling for billions to be spent on new nuclear. So, for every major policy decision, Keir Starmer’s Labour is no different to the Tories. It is pathetic. 

PSH/Renewable Energy 

At BEIS Committee I had asked the Secretary of State about support for pumped storage hydro. There are two schemes ready to be constructed in Scotland. All that is required is an agreement on a minimum electricity price for selling onto the grid. A price that will be way below the current sky-high wholesale prices. Eventually, the Secretary blurted that “It should be stressed that it is a very specific technology to Scotland. Obviously, we are looking at renewable energy across the UK”. so there you have it, a proven technology that works well with intermittent renewables, ignored because it is seen as a Scottish technology. 

SNP “Yellow Wall” 

One Tory candidate, Penny Maurdant says if she is Prime Minister she will smash down the “SNP Yellow Wall”. This shows how out of touch she is – the whole Labour “red wall” terminology was associated with seats which had always been Labour held. To see the current SNP MPs in the same light shows how little she knows – most SNP MPs held seats only came to fruition in 2015. Some quickly changed hands again in 2017. We know we cannot take holding seats for granted which is what happened to Labour and what is now happening in some Tory seats. There never should be a “safe seat”. Such things stifle democracy and lead to elected representatives not working as hard as they should. This is also why I believe independence provides more democracy – the Scottish public will always get the government that reflects the largest number of votes cast and will always be able to vote politicians out if they decide to do so. 

11th July 2022: A Week in Parliament

Bye Bye Boris

So eventually Johnson was forced to do a resignation-type speech. Yet more lies undid him at the end – the tipping point being the lies that he gave to Tory MPs to go onto TV shows to defend him proved unsustainable. So many constituents have said to me “he is a clown” and “should never have been made Prime Minister”. They were so right, yet even after he did his stepping down speech, the TV cameras were able to find plenty of people in the north of England who voted Tory for the first time because of Johnson and still backed him. Quite unfathomable really!

Alistair Jack the Scottish Secretary of State also backed him in staying in post. So much for representing Scotland within the cabinet. While a caretaker Prime Minister might not be ideal authority-wise, there is no doubt that this is what should happen rather than Johnson staying in place until the Tories get a new leader. He has literally appointed a Zombie Government because of the number of people who won’t or can’t work with him. Having seen and heard many of these MPs now promoted to Ministers I can safely say they do not have the skills or talents to be Ministers. It was summed up when Andrea Jenkyns gave the bird/middle finger to the public when she was leaving Downing Street. Can you imagine the furore if an SNP Minster came out of Holyrood and gave the fingers to a crowd, even if there were hecklers? Overall, the mess sums up Westminster and a system imposed on Scotland. For the third time in a few years, Tory backbenchers and Tory party members get to decide who the new Prime Minister is, imposing someone else that the voters in Scotland had rejected.

BEIS Committee

The BEIS Committee of which I am a member of continues to be busy. We will be due to publish a report into the failings of the retail energy market. Hindsight can be wonderful, but it is obvious that in the past Ofgem was too lax about understanding what was going on in the market and how stable the new energy companies were. While some people were able to take advantage of cheaper energy deals, the reality is that we are all paying for it now. The failure of Bulb energy alone will cost over £2bn. Other hundreds of millions of pounds have already been added to our energy bills as part of the cost of the failures. Many of these companies went down owing customers money. We all get that credit reinstated when a new supplier takes over. However, it means we, as bill payers are having to cover the money that these energy companies effectively stole from customers. The owners of these companies also got very rich at our expense. The founder of Bulb energy is still employed on his £250k salary while the company is in administration. This is a choice of the Government and represents ongoing failures by them. We really do need big changes in Government.

4th July 2022: A Week in Parliament

Local Jobs

It is devastating to hear the news of Worksmart going into voluntary liquidation. Any engagement I have had with Stevie and Lisa Neilson was so positive and they did so many good things such as charity fundraising as well as targeted recruitment giving opportunities to some that might otherwise have missed out. A good company ethos and so it is with real sadness that they have suffered in the current challenging market.

However, I am grateful there is also some good news on jobs with Brodie Engineering continuing to expand; Halo starting to fill up and PRA doing their official opening as the anchor tenant there. One other positive is that I have been in talks with a multi-national company about possible future investment in the constituency. Hopefully, this will come to fruition. Meanwhile, best wishes to Halo, PRA and Brodie for continued upward good news.

Referendum

The First Minister has now confirmed a route map for delivering a referendum or at least a vote akin to a referendum. The cleanest option will be for Westminster to grant a Section 30 order, but the Scottish Government will also test in courts if it is legal for them to hold a consultative referendum. Suppose this fails and Westminster still refuses to acknowledge the democratic mandate for the Scottish Government to hold a referendum. In that case, a general election will be contested on the basis of the independence question by SNP candidates (and Greens too apparently). Having to work out different options underlines that whatever your beliefs, the Union is not “a union of equals” and by trying to block a democratic vote, then the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems are not even willing to demonstrate it is a voluntary union. Indeed. with Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour saying they will not work with the SNP at Westminster, then that’s a clear message of how they view voters in Scotland.

Alternatives to Independence

It is good that Labour are proposing alternatives to independence. This acknowledges that the current setup is not fit for purpose. It is also a tacit admission that a further vote must be made. However, an announcement that they will implement a “legal duty of cooperation” between Governments is hardly radical. It is nothing more than a soundbite. How do you legally define proper co-operation and who has breached it? In the current setup, Westminster has primacy over the devolved governments. This would continue meaning Westminster ultimately can force its will on the devolved parliaments - particularly on budget matters. They also propose to abolish/reform the House of Lords. We have heard all this before. I noted that Labour say this cooperation aspect is due because of the attitude of the SNP Scottish Government and the Tory Westminster Government. They neatly forget that for the biggest complaints from the Scottish Government about the actions of the Westminster Government, that the Labour Welsh Government have been in complete agreement! There have been many areas of co-operation between the devolved governments which is the real example to follow.

27th June 2022: A Week in Parliament

Dunlop Gala

As the end of the gala season drew near, I had another great day out at Dunlop Gala. The sun shone and the wind didn’t get too strong making for a very pleasant afternoon. I am really impatient when it comes to being in a queue, but when it is local events like these, it is great to see queues at the stalls! It has been very enjoyable being at all the various galas and fairs over the past couple of months. In all cases, a return since 2019, and very noticeable that crowds are bigger than average as people making the most of getting out and enjoying these community events.

Family Illness

My dad suffered a stroke and has had to be admitted to Crosshouse Hospital. We all know the pressures on the Scottish NHS, and my family have been so grateful for the wonderful treatment received from the ambulance staff, through to the staff on the ward. Truly remarkable work they do. A big thanks to the junior doctors who helped on the scene when it happened and to the staff member in The Jewel who went above and beyond in getting an ambulance out and re-organising the tables and chairs to facilitate my dad to get treatment. There really are tremendous people out there who step in when required. Thanks to all.

Referendum

Nicola Sturgeon has now committed to a referendum next year. The first published paper, “why Not Scotland” shows how poor the UK performs in fairness and inequality measures compared to a number of European countries. In simple terms, if these smaller countries create a fairer, more equitable, healthier society, then why not Scotland? It is obvious that having a government that reflects the wishes of the population and is answerable to the voters, is more likely to provide a fairer society.

According to the Tories it is a “pretend referendum” and they “won’t allow” one. Hardly a union of equals then. Labour also say they will not support one. We are told a Labour Government will make everything better. Yet, Labour are currently pledging to “make Brexit work” and will not return to the single market or customs union. Effectively they are pledging to be “Tory Lite”, so what is their actual purpose? The Lib Dems who supported another EU vote, “The People’s Vote” and argued it was fine for people to change their minds, argue that for Scotland, we have had our one chance and that’s that. Follow that logic! The bottom line is that no one should block democracy. Self-determination is actually a fundamental stated by the United Nations.

BEIS Committee

The BEIS Committee has an ongoing inquiry into the Energy retail sector. It has been an eye-opener seeing how badly Ofgem has done as a regulator; how many charlatans have made hundreds of thousands of pounds at our expense and just how much money has been added to our bills due to all the failures. If truth be told, this is another Westminster governance failure that we are all paying the price for.

20th June 2022: A Week in Parliament

Stewarton Bonnet Guild

Three years after the last event, it was great to attend Stewarton Bonnet Guild festival. The crowds on the streets of Stewarton were incredible. While the weather certainly helped, it was proof indeed that communities want to get back to normal and be out and about, socialising and supporting each other. I thought it was a nice gesture to have crowning ceremonies for the 2020 and 2021 Queens who obviously missed out due to covid. The parade too had many floats and participants so well done all who helped organise and well done to the community for showing such support.

Take A Bow

Take a Bow Development Trust celebrated 10 years by putting on the musical Joseph and His Technicolour Dreamcoat at the Grand Hall. It was a great event, showcasing the talent and enthusiasm of so many kids. It was impressive to see some who have been with Take a Bow for the ten-year journey and hear how many have gone on to courses associated with the arts following their experiences with Take A Bow. Most heartening of all though was seeing the unbridled joy of the youngest performers, who were having a ball while performing!

Having taken over the former New Farm Community Centre in 2019 just pre covid, then I am sure the organisation will go from strength to strength. The board of trustees need to be commended too for the work they are putting in to support the running of the centre and the company.

Johnson’s Ethics

It says it all when Boris Johnson has had a second ethics advisor quit because of his behaviour, actions, lack of morality and willingness to ignore the Ministerial Code he is supposed to be bound to. The fact that Johnson has re-written the code too so that being found to have broken the Ministerial Code is no longer an immediate resigning matter is no coincidence either. The man is corrupt to the core and his willingness to break the Northern Ireland protocol, an international treaty is further proof of this. The bizarre aspect is that Northern Ireland’s economy is fairing ok in relative terms and having access to the single market has proven to be an advantage to the country. The DUP and unionists do not like the fact that there are additional checks required for goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland. However, that is the reality of leaving the Single Market and EU Customs arrangements. The UK Government never takes responsibility and still blames the EU - an easy deflection trick.

HS2

The UK Government quietly announced that the spur that would allow high speed trains to run to Scotland from the Birmingham line being constructed has now been abandoned. This is another broken promise as we were assured that from day one of HS2, trains would run to Scotland. In many ways it is no real surprise that the spur to Scotland has been abandoned but it is still a disgrace and it just adds to more recent betrayals such as the Scottish Carbon Capture Cluster.

13th June 2022: A Week in Parliament

Vote of No Confidence

So Boris Johnson has now recorded the worst ever result, in a vote of confidence of any Tory Prime Minister. Rees Mogg demanded Theresa May stepped down when she did far better, so why are they still backing Johnson? When you take out Ministers and others “on the payroll”, it is estimated that 75% of backbenchers voted against Johnson. It is a sorry state of affairs when we are stuck with a Prime Minister, that so many of his parliamentary colleagues do not think is fit for office. In Scotland, he has never been rated and the majority of the people saw him for the charlatan he is. It is only a small consolation that the Tories are starting to recognise this. He should so some humility but that is not in his nature. Just like Trump, it is all about personal power and nothing else matters.

Gala Season

Weather-wise, I have now established that strong winds are far worse than the rain when there are tents, marquees and gazebos to put up for gala days. On a very windy Saturday, I managed to visit Galston, Fenwick and Darvel galas. Both Galston and Fenwick moved their stalls indoors so well done to the organisers for such flexibility to save the day.

Darvel, on the other hand, managed to keep theirs fully outdoors. A hardy lot indeed! It was impressive to see their big marquees survive the winds. Well done to the organisers, and a highlight was squeezing into the beer tent to shelter from torrential rain, while the band, The Aboriginals, were singing “why does it always rain on me”. Great to see so many people stick with it.

Roon The Toon

With my broken foot not yet healed, I was unable to run the Roon The Toon 10km race. I was fortunate the committee had me helping out give out t-shirts after the finishing line. It was really enjoyable seeing just how happy people were when they had finished. There is always a great atmosphere at the event and an astonishing 1800 people entered the race. A great effort from all involved at Kilmarnock Harriers, and there is no doubt they are helping promote the town with this. I was also able to hear, first-hand, just how complimentary runners from outwith the area were about the race which was excellent to hear.

Passport Chaos

I feel for all those constituents caught up in the passport processing delays. My staff have spent hours upon hours on the phone with casework and I have personally dropped into a help centre at Westminster too. I fear for when this will be resolved because they are doing so much firefighting and trying to sort out those with impending departure dates, then they are spending so many manhours doing this, that it will be months before any sort of “business as normal” can resume. Meanwhile, the Tories want to sack 91,000 civil servants. You cannot make this kind of stuff up and it is more Tory incompetence.

6th June 2022: A Week in Parliament

Queen’s Jubilee

Hopefully, many people enjoyed the extra two-day holiday period granted for the Queen’s Jubilee. Serving 70 years is certainly some feat. Congratulations are rightly due. On a personal basis, I am not one for the pomp and service nor the fawning over the Queen. However, I recognise her service and while it can be easy to dismiss what she does, the amount of travelling in her job, the speeches to learn, diplomacy, politics, including in recent times, working with some real duff prime ministers, then it is a genuinely challenging and tiring role. There have been many changes in her time of service, including nearly 50 countries becoming independent from the UK since she took the throne. Will there be at least one more?

Johnson

As I write, a vote of confidence has been triggered for Boris Johnson. It is amazing how many Tories calling for his head, had also supported him to be leader in the first place. They backed a scheming liar, and yet, have been surprised he continues to be a charlatan, a liar and a rule breaker. At the same time, they have helped him put through legislation that weakens our democracy – he alone can now call a general election without going through parliament; he has weakened the powers of the electoral commission when the reality is they need tougher powers; they are removing the right to protest; privatising Channel 4 - because it dares to be critical; pushing through boundary changes which favour the Tories and he has now changed the Ministerial code so that rule-breaking doesn’t mean automatic resignation. In short, they have backed him to create an authoritarian state and make him the most powerful prime minister ever and at the same time, turned a blind eye to him receiving dodgy donations and appointing Lebedev to the House of Lords despite security concerns. When he wins his vote of confidence, expect some false contrition, but the reality is that this leopard cannot change his spots.

Auchinleck Talbot

I headed to Rugby Park for my final football match of the season and was delighted to see Talbot win the Junior Cup for an astonishing 14th time. It is an incredible record especially when there are so many teams from larger towns and with bigger budgets.

Newmilns Show/Community Events

I attended the Newmilns show and felt it was a larger crowd than previously which was great to see. The fantastic weather probably helped, as much as the post covid desire for normality. The efforts that go into organising an agricultural show are incredible, so well done to all involved. It is great seeing the work that goes on and how volunteers step up to the mark.

The same weekend had Galston Boys and Girls football tournament at Portland Park, Galston, which again sees a huge number of volunteers give up their entire weekend. With a fete on at Shortlees, it demonstrates an amazing variety of events. I will always try and attend community events so if you have something on, please let my office know.

30th May 2022: A Week in Parliament

Cost of Living Crisis

Well, no one was surprised that the very day after the Sue Gray report into Partygate, the Tories announced measures to deal with the cost of living crisis. They are so shameful and transparent that it should be embarrassing but they don’t care. That said, as the scale of the measures announced was in reality bigger than expected, I do welcome the shift and the recognition that there is a proper crisis. Indeed, I would class it as a national emergency with the average capped cost of energy per household to increase to £2800 in October. If no action was taken, it was predicted that there will be 12-million fuel poor households in the UK or 40% of all households. This is staggering. Even the estimated 6.5million households in fuel poverty at present is a disgrace. The Chancellor’s new announcements will prioritise protecting pensioners and the most vulnerable, which is logical. However, as these make up the majority of the 6.5-million fuel poor households at present, then they will remain in fuel poverty, but just not pushed in further come October. That is the reality of their situation and I am waiting on updates from charitable organisations as to how many more households will become fuel poor in October, so I can challenge the Government further and suggest additional support mechanisms required.

Partygate

There is nothing much to say except again, this is proof that Boris Johnson has been lying all along about what he knew regarding rule-breaking. He should go, but won’t.

Bahrain

I had a very short trip to Bahrain with the Armed Forces personnel scheme to visit the UK naval base there. It was a fascinating visit and gave an insight into the operations undertaken there in conjunction with other countries. One of the main tasks is effectively being a deterrent to Iran laying mines which would affect the shipping lanes. So much oil and LNG is exported straight through the Gulf, therefore any disruption would have major worldwide consequences, especially with the Ukraine invasion by Russia as well.

Other key operations are counteracting piracy and drug smuggling. Very important, but the reality is that the drugs that are captured and destroyed probably don’t even account for 10% of the trade, in that area. This means we really do need much better ways of dealing with the drug trade and much better ways to try and prevent people from becoming dependent on them in the first place.

Darvel Juniors

It was disappointing that Darvel just fell at the final hurdle in their attempts at promotion to the Lowland League, which is just below the SPFL. It was still a great season winning the West of Scotland Premier Division at the first attempt. I also think it is slightly unfair that three teams from three regional leagues go into a playoff for just one promotion slot. That said, a pyramid system still represents progress and there will be a few East Ayrshire teams in the mix next season again, I would suggest.