Cost of Living Increases

Debate between Douglas Ross and Steven Bonnar

Monday 24th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Douglas Ross (Moray) (Con)]

I will begin by picking up a few remarks made by the hon. Member for Glasgow East (David Linden) in opening the debate. First, he criticised the Chancellor for not being here. I apologise for any harm that this does to his career, but I must say that I am delighted that my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury spoke for the Government in these opening speeches. It did irk me slightly that the hon. Gentleman felt he should highlight that the Chancellor was not here, because I remember being in Holyrood in the Scottish Parliament just a few weeks ago when—[Interruption.] SNP Members can laugh at this if they want, but we were discussing kids dying at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, and I led for the Scottish Conservatives, Anas Sarwar led for Labour and Alex Cole-Hamilton led for the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Every party leader turned up to that debate with the exception of Nicola Sturgeon, who is the local MP in Glasgow and was the Health Secretary when that hospital was created. She has many questions to answer, but she could not even turn up to a debate about that. Not only that—she could not even be bothered to vote. When SNP Members pick fights and say who should or should not respond to these debates, they should remember what their own leader does in Holyrood.

Secondly, the hon. Member spoke about groundhog day. We are in groundhog day in Scotland because, in the run-up to another party conference and elections, we have got Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP yet again speaking about Scottish independence. She was on the TV yesterday saying that she is putting civil servants to work to get ready to fight the case for another independence referendum. Businesses in Scotland are still struggling as a result of restrictions put in place by the SNP. Even the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart), who is no longer in his place, said it was a fair point that they went too far before Christmas, yet Nicola Sturgeon thinks that now is the right time to recharge her efforts to separate Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom. That is the wrong focus, and it is groundhog day all over again.

Finally, the hon. Member for Glasgow East spoke about the economy and currency. The SNP Benches are very full, so I want to ask SNP Members this once more. They all support independence and want to separate Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom, so who on the full SNP Benches can tell me what currency an independent Scotland will have? I will give way to the hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Steven Bonnar), who put up his hand—we stand up in this place.

[Steven Bonnar (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (SNP)]

We will use our currency—the Scottish currency—the Scottish pound.

[Douglas Ross]

The Scottish pound—there we go. That has answered all the problems. There are no concerns about what the Scottish pound would be or when it would be introduced. I think that the muted response of the hon. Member’s colleagues tells him that that was not the best intervention to make. Yet again, none of them can answer that question. I have asked them many times before, but none of them can credibly say what currency an independent Scotland would have. I think that is telling.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Douglas Ross and Steven Bonnar

Wednesday 12th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Douglas Ross]

I can confirm that we will no longer be bound by the EU’s outdated and unfair method for sharing fishing opportunities. We will set our own fishing quotas, based on science, and decide who can fish in our waters. I have to say that I share my hon. Friend’s optimism for the future of our industry, and it is an optimism that I have heard time and time again from fishermen and fishing communities the length and breadth of Scotland.

[Steven Bonnar (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (SNP)]

Can the Secretary of State reveal whether the UK Government’s stated intention of agreeing a mechanism of co-operation within the EU on fishing will include an extended agreement on access to waters as part of an EU trade deal?

[Douglas Ross]

Clearly we are in discussions about this, but we have a positive vision for our fishing industry in Scotland now that we have left the European Union. How does that reflect on the SNP’s vision for fishing in Scotland, which is to take us back into the European Union, to be shackled once again by the common fisheries policy? That is something that many Scots and many fishermen voted comprehensively to leave, but the SNP wants to put us right back in.