St Andrew’s Day and Scottish Affairs

Christine Jardine Excerpts

Thursday 11th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Graeme Downie (Dunfermline and Dollar) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered St Andrew’s Day and Scottish affairs.

I thank the Backbench Business Committee for the opportunity to mark St Andrew’s day and to discuss Scottish affairs. As a Fife MP, I begin by noting that the town of St Andrews is at the opposite end of the kingdom from my constituency, and it is always a pleasure to see the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) in her place. St Andrews is obviously not as important or beautiful as anywhere in Dunfermline and Dollar, but it is a place long associated with Scotland’s patron saint and, of course, famous for being the home of golf.

Across Scotland, we celebrate not only our connection to St Andrew, but the thread that runs through our national story: a generous spirit, a quiet strength and a belief that community, work and learning can change lives. As the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar, I see those qualities every day in the people and places that have shaped our history and will build our future.

Today I want to speak in three parts: Scotland as it was, Scotland as it is, and Scotland as it could be. In doing so, I will speak to the opportunities that different generations have experienced, the prospects that Scotland now must champion, the importance of our infrastructure and the lessons we can take from St Andrew’s life itself. I will also celebrate organisations—

[Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

I thank the hon. Member for giving way, especially so early in his speech. He talks about Scotland as we were. Does he share my concern that too often our history has been oversimplified, over-romanticised and focused on William Wallace, Robert Bruce and this entanglement with England, and has not looked at Scotland’s contribution not only to British but to world history and our achievements in engineering, for example?

[Graeme Downie]

I thank the hon. Member for her intervention and, indeed, for sponsoring my application to the Backbench Business Committee. She has anticipated one of the points that I will make later, and I should say that my speech does not mention either of those key figures in Scottish history she mentions, but it does mention many others. In this speech, I will embody some of those names that are particularly associated with my part of the world, such as King Malcolm, St Margaret and Mary Queen of Scots, through to Andrew Carnegie and beyond. I do not intend to start a civil war this afternoon, so I will perhaps not dwell on the most famous person to be born in Dunfermline: a certain Charles I—a name well known in these parts, of course.

When we talk about Scotland as it was, we should be proud of our history, but we should also acknowledge the difficulties and errors that have led to our present. As well as celebrating Scots abroad in every corner of the world, every airport people land in and every bar, we must remember Scotland’s past—the past we see when we look up in cities like Glasgow and across the country and see the remnants of the slave trade that Scotland also profited from. When we talk about the British empire and its legacy, both positively and negatively—as we rightly should—Scotland must also be part of all sides of that conversation. We must weigh the legacy that older generations built, the conditions they enjoyed and the sacrifices they made against the obligations we owe to younger people today.

In my constituency, Dunfermline is a place where the past walks with us. It is simultaneously Scotland’s newest and oldest city, and beneath our streets lies St Margaret’s cave, a place of reflection linked to a queen whose charitable deeds still resonate. It reminds us that the spiritual heart of our country rests not in institutions, but in the everyday acts of care for neighbour and stranger.

Few names loom larger than Andrew Carnegie. Born in Dunfermline, Carnegie’s journey from a weaver’s cottage to global philanthropy is the essence of the Scottish ladder of opportunity: education, enterprise and duty to community. Carnegie understood that libraries, learning and practical skills were not luxuries; they were the engines of mobility and civic confidence. The more a society invests in open knowledge, the more its people can change their lives.

Beyond Fife, Scotland’s identity was also forged in its coalfields. In Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, the Lothians and beyond, coal powered our factories, heated our homes and drove our railways and ships. Coalfield communities were not just clusters of employment; they were webs of support, with co-operative societies, miners’ institutes, working men’s clubs, brass bands—the social infrastructure that turned wages into lives.

Yet we must be honest. Older generations grew up in an era when the opportunity of a path from school to a skilled job was more certain, when housing was more affordable and when public spaces were continually endowed. For many, the apprenticeship or the training scheme led to stable employment and social housing, and the state, industry and unions wrestled—however imperfectly—towards fairer settlements. That does not mean life was easy. The safety net was less secure, working conditions were tougher, child poverty was higher and life expectancy was shorter, but the stability and prospects for generational improvement were clearer.

Let me move on to Scotland as it is, in my eyes. Where has the Scotland of the past led us? What do we see around us? I will focus on the support that we provide to older people in need, compared with what we provide for the young. We see an intergenerational gap in assets, wages and housing security. Graduates and non-graduates alike report difficulty finding stable, well-paid work in their field. The cost of renting has increased, a deposit for a mortgage remains out of reach for many, and the certainty associated with long-term careers is less common. For the first time since world war two, our children’s generation is projected to be poorer than that of their parents. Younger people come from an uncertain past. The financial crisis of 2008 left deep scars. Brexit—a decision made by older people—has reduced young people’s opportunities. The pandemic not only affected the people who were also hit hardest by the crash, but, by hitting their children, became intergenerational. In that pandemic, we asked young people to sacrifice their tomorrow to protect the today of their elders.

St Andrew spoke of the importance of service to others, respect and compassion. What better example can we find of those values than our nation’s young people? Is it any wonder, though, that those young people, with their uncertain past and present, look around and wonder why older people are the ones with the skills that the economy needs, and which young people have never had the opportunity to get; with the wealth that young people have never had the opportunity to gather; and with the security of their own home, while young people languish in childhood bedrooms? On top of that, successive Governments have granted older generations certain and increasing income—something that younger generations will likely never know.

This is not intended to be a counsel of despair; it is a call to rebuild the ladder with more rungs and stronger rails, and a call for clearer signposts. The answer lies in a proper economic strategy and skills. The UK Labour Government have acknowledged mistakes of the past, in which a university education was presented as a guaranteed path to securing higher income—a myth blown truly and utterly wide open. The Government have sought to place apprenticeships on the same level of importance and pride, because our economy desperately needs technical and professional skills. We need both learning by doing, and learning by the book. To misquote slightly a book that many of us read at school—I am sure that our teachers will be delighted to know that we still remember it—we need the Chris of the land and the Chris of the book. Scotland should be the best place in the UK to learn a trade, upgrade a qualification or pivot mid-career.

--- Later in debate ---

[David Mundell]

I am sure that we do not want to go down the blind alley of a long discussion about this flood prevention scheme, but it was the subject of a public inquiry, because—this is one of the most important parts of the issue—it does not command public support. That, in my view, is the reason why there have been numerous delays and it has not been progressed. Today is the opportunity to end all the uncertainty and say, “No, this project is not going ahead.” But of course, in our democracy, it will be for councillors to decide, and we will respect their decision.

As all of us representing constituencies in Scotland know only too well, the story of the past two decades of SNP government has been one of stagnation, mismanagement and, in many cases, outright failure in stewardship of our public services. Education standards in Scotland’s schools are on the slide. We have fewer police on the streets, and those streets and roads are in a poor state of repair, as vital transport infrastructure does not receive the investment that it needs. But of all Scotland’s public services, few are under such intolerable strain as our NHS.

Just a few weeks ago, the SNP’s Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care was boasting of cutting NHS waiting times, while ignoring the fact that there are now 86,000 cases of patients who have been stuck for more than a year on waiting lists. That is higher than in 2022, when the Scottish Government pledged to “eradicate” the problem by September 2024. More than a year on from that broken promise, SNP Ministers are claiming that they will wipe out waits of over 12 months, this time by March next year—conveniently, just in time for May’s election.

[Christine Jardine]

The right hon. Member is giving an impressive speech and a very important speech for Scotland. Does he agree that in May next year, Scotland will stand at an important crossroads where our future may be decided on how we pursue that election and who wins it, and that the time has come for change to address the problems of which he speaks?

[David Mundell]

The hon. Lady will be pleased to hear that change in Scotland is the theme of my speech, because I agree that we desperately need it.

In relation to SNP promises, we have heard it all before. Year in, year out, SNP boasts about bringing down waiting times ring hollow in the ears of patients whose experience is of being left to languish on those very same lists. It is not just on waiting times that the nationalists have let Scotland’s patients down. Emergency departments—the service people turn to in their most desperate hours—are overwhelmed. A year ago, more than 76,000 people waited over 12 hours in A&E before getting treatment, compared with just 784 in 2011.

--- Later in debate ---

[David Mundell]

One factual point worth making is that one third of those people who supported independence voted for Brexit. As the hon. Gentleman knows, when in government I looked at various schemes that could operate separately in Scotland, but ultimately we found that they were unworkable.

[Christine Jardine]

The right hon. Gentleman is being very generous with his time. He mentioned the problems that we are facing with mental health care in Scotland. A parent came to me last weekend, distraught because they have been told that there is no prospect at the moment of their son getting the treatment he needs, as there is not a psychiatrist available in that part of NHS Lothian to deal with him. This is not a singular case. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that in Scotland we need a root-and-branch examination of where healthcare has gone wrong for everyone?

[David Mundell]

I agree with the hon. Lady, but there also needs to be fundamental acknowledgment that there has not been the workforce planning that was required and that is the responsibility of the Scottish Government, not people in England or Wales or somewhere else. These responsibilities lie with the Scottish Government, and they should be held accountable for the way they have exercised them. Given the list of deficiencies that I have set out in relation to the Scottish Government on a whole range of issues, most particularly the NHS, let us demand better from Scotland’s Government on behalf of all of Scotland.