Devolution in Scotland
Kenneth Stevenson Excerpts(1 week, 4 days ago)
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Kenneth Stevenson (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)
I thank the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for securing this debate. As a Labour politician, I am immensely proud of my party’s commitment to devolution and our delivery of the Scottish Parliament, and I will always be grateful to those who have gone before us, such as my constituency predecessor John Smith, who fought tirelessly to bring the decision-making process closer to home.
In the formative years of the Scottish Parliament, it was the Labour-Liberal coalition that delivered the smoking ban—an innovative policy that considerably improved the public health of the Scottish population and reduced the number of primary-aged children inhaling second-hand smoke by 39% within a year. The same coalition oversaw an education system that was recognised as being one of Europe’s best. Indeed, in those formative years, £3 million of initial funding was set aside for international development, particularly in Malawi. That developed an already strong relationship between the people of Scotland and that country, and committed the Labour-Liberal coalition to tackling global health and wealth inequality, reducing infant mortality rates in Malawi and improving educational standards. The delivery of free personal care for the elderly was a transformative domestic policy that set Scotland on a path to being a more compassionate society, and it secured dignity for our elderly population. It was us putting the principles of devolution into action.
That was always the change that devolution was intended to make, and it is pretty telling that even though significant time has since passed, the policies I mention remain to this day some of the most significant achievements of the Scottish Parliament. The reality is that the SNP, Conservatives and now Reform UK thrive when Scotland is divided. Their record of poor delivery, incompetent governance, money wasted and vanity projects is clear to see, yet they are all as comfortable as one other in hiding behind the constitutional question.
Richard Baker
My hon. Friend has mentioned Reform UK, which is apparently a recent convert to devolution. Does it tell us all we need to know about how much it values devolution, Scotland and its future that there is not one Member from that party in the Chamber this afternoon?
Kenneth Stevenson
My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Devolution opened the door for the delivery of good legislation. It was an opportunity for devolved Assemblies and Parliaments, whose politicians were closer to home, to deliver positive change for the people they represented. However, for almost two decades, Scotland has been held back. Eye-watering amounts of public money have been wasted, our once-great education system has seen standards plummet, and the poverty-related attainment gap remains stubbornly wide, with the gap between pupils achieving an A to C grade at higher level sitting at 17.1 percentage points this year.
Like my Labour colleagues, I want devolution to succeed. I want the Scottish Parliament to deliver for Scottish people. I want the people of Scotland to look at their Parliament and recognise it as a place where good things get done in the interests of working people. However, under nationalist leadership, it has increasingly become a talking shop, where blame gets passed and responsibility and accountability are avoided.
It saddens me to say it, but through no fault of our public sector workforce—it is a consequence of SNP incompetence—those who live in Scotland have a one in six chance of being on an NHS waiting list. GP appointments in towns such as Shotts in my constituency are hard to come by. Rail fares are exorbitant. Those who are educators, as I was, are working with diminishing resources, and pupils from poorer backgrounds still face greater barriers to educational and vocational success. Indeed, with the opportunities now afforded to young people as a result of this Government embracing the potential of artificial intelligence, the SNP’s political choice to neglect our further education and vocational sector becomes increasingly inexcusable.
This is not the Scotland we envisaged when we held the devolution referendum and the first set of Scottish parliamentary elections. This is a Scotland that has been stopped in its tracks, due to the lack of ambition shown by its SNP Government, and their unwillingness to do anything about growing the economy, increasing investment or showcasing Scotland as a proud part of the United Kingdom.
Melanie Ward
My hon. Friend rightly mentions the crucial role that further education plays, both in our communities and in our economy. Does he recognise that the reality is that, in my area, Fife colleges are receiving real-terms cuts from the SNP Scottish Government, whereas colleges in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen are receiving increases? Those areas are having their funding increased, whereas Fife is having its funding cut.
Kenneth Stevenson
The whole further education system across Scotland needs to be looked at rather rapidly. Things are moving quickly, and we are now becoming a skills economy, with skills not just in AI, but in other things. A lot of companies want to move into Scotland, and they want a good, well-funded further education college close to the place they locate to.
I am immensely proud of the investment that this Labour Government have put into Scotland. The largest financial settlement in the history of devolution is being delivered to improve the lives of working Scots in Airdrie and Shotts and beyond. This reaffirms Labour’s commitment to devolution, and its pride and passion for Scotland’s potential. This debate has reflected on the past and the progress of devolution, but this historic settlement could define its future. The people of Scotland will have the opportunity to elect a Scottish Labour Government next year, to invest in our NHS and to grow our economy, so that it works once again for working men and women.
Oral Answers to Questions
Kenneth Stevenson Excerpts(3 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Ian Murray
Going by the votes last week, the hon. Gentleman wants to keep the failed, broken welfare system that the Tories put in. What we have done as a Government is a pay rise for 200,000 Scots, day one rights for sick leave and parental leave and £150 off energy bills for more than half a million Scottish households, and we have banned exploitative zero-hours contracts. There are 10,000 children in Scotland every single night going to bed without a home. That is a dreadful record for the Scottish Government.
Kenneth Stevenson (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Kirsty McNeill)
Artificial intelligence will drive incredible change in our country. It will turbocharge growth and boost living standards. Scotland, as we know well, has been the UK’s home of AI since 1963, and it will become the home of the most powerful supercomputer in the UK, with this Labour Government investing £750 million in its development at the University of Edinburgh’s advanced computing facility in Midlothian. We are currently assessing applications for AI growth zones from across the UK, including several from Scotland, which is at the cutting edge of computing power globally.
Kenneth Stevenson
It is refreshing to have a UK Government so committed to investing in and developing AI, in comparison with John Swinney and the Scottish Government, who are stuck in an analogue age, unable even to provide patients and staff with a functioning NHS app. Does the Minister agree that the towns of Airdrie and Shotts and the former industrial heartland of North Lanarkshire are incredibly well placed to serve as an AI growth zone and capture the Government’s clear ambition?
Kirsty McNeill
Much like my hon. Friend, who is a truly passionate advocate for his community, I am proud to represent one of Scotland’s industrial heartlands. He is right to highlight the role that they can play in Scotland’s AI future. As for his comments regarding the First Minister, my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary was particularly astute in his assessment. I am afraid that the First Minister is from the age of “Taggart”, when what is upon us is the age of “Dept. Q”.
Oral Answers to Questions
Kenneth Stevenson Excerpts(6 months, 1 week ago)
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The Prime Minister
The right hon. Member raises an important issue. I visited Port Talbot a number of times and heard at first hand from the workforce. She may or may not know that even in opposition, before the election, I was talking to the owners to try to persuade them to delay their decisions, because I knew an election was coming. That is how important I thought it was. I remind her that at the same time, the then Prime Minister refused to pick up a call to the First Minister even to discuss the issue. I took a different approach, because I realised just how important it was.
The right hon. Lady compares the situation with the decision we took last week, but I remind her that the blast furnaces were turned off in January last year and the coke ovens in March 2024, which was before the election. That was the very thing I was trying to ensure did not happen, for reasons that she and the workforce will understand, and I was talking to the workforce throughout. Since then we have been able to negotiate an improved deal with Tata that means better terms for the workers, and we did that within 10 weeks. We are working hard to maximise opportunities from the £1.25 billion investment in an electric arc furnace, we are supporting those facing job losses with £80 million of funding to learn new skills, and we are supporting the supply chains and protecting communities.
The right hon. Lady talks about protecting working people, but she voted against the biggest devolution settlement since devolution. That includes more money for public services, including the NHS, and her party voted against it.
Kenneth Stevenson (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)
The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend is a real champion for Airdrie and Shotts. Over 60,000 Scots have been stuck, waiting for tests or treatment for over a year, which is a 46% rise in one year. Almost 50,000 fewer operations have been carried out compared with before the pandemic. To compare what the SNP is doing with what we are doing here in England, we have driven down waiting lists within six months, with six months in a row of reductions, and we have over 3 million extra appointments. Scotland’s NHS urgently needs change, but the SNP has no strategy or plan—it has absolutely no ideas.
Budget: Scotland
Kenneth Stevenson Excerpts(9 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Kenneth Stevenson (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Livingston (Gregor Poynton) for securing this debate.
It is right that we recognise the positive impact the Budget will have on Scotland. For too long residents in my Airdrie and Shotts constituency have been let down by Governments who have treated working people as an afterthought. They have been let down by incompetence from Conservative Governments here in Westminster and SNP Governments in Holyrood. They have felt the impacts in their pockets and can see the impacts in their depleted public services. However, this Budget puts us on a positive journey towards changing that.
The Budget delivers the largest settlement for Scotland since devolution. It will allow potential to be unlocked and public services to be invested in. It is a Budget that has ended the era of Tory austerity, puts working people back to the forefront and prioritises economic growth. It is a transformative Budget that has been a long time coming, and it is little surprise that it is a Labour Government delivering it.
I thought the Scottish Government would be pleased with the settlement they have received from the UK Labour Government. It has given them the opportunity to right the wrongs of their almost 20 years of mismanagement and incompetence and deliver a budget that works for Scotland’s working people.
Jamie Stone
Does the hon. Gentleman, who is making an excellent contribution, agree that the reason why the SNP Government did not welcome the announcement was that the Labour Government successfully shot the fox?
Kenneth Stevenson
I entirely agree, and we could go on. We could go on about the promised 800 GPs that are missing. We could go on about ferries. We could go on about everything. We could go on about selling off the seabed for well under what was required and not having any manufacturing input in Scotland for wind turbines or solar or any advanced manufacturing.
Pete Wishart (Perth and Kinross-shire) (SNP)
Will the hon. Member give way?
Kenneth Stevenson
No, I will not give way.
Only yesterday we heard from the First Minister of Scotland, who ironically warned that not supporting his budget would play into the hands of populists. All the while he leads a party that has spent almost two decades pitting working Scots against one another in the interests of the Scottish National party, rather than the interests of Scotland. People can see through the Scottish Government, just as they saw through the Conservative UK Government. Their attempts to desensitise the electorate to the horror stories that we hear on a daily basis will fall flat, because this Labour Budget ensures that they have the money and the power, and there cannot be any more excuses. They have the votes. The First Minister should end the shadow boxing and focus on using the settlement provided by the Labour Government to deliver for Scotland.
This Labour Budget is promising for the people of Airdrie and Shotts and I look forward to working with the Scotland Office and other Departments to ensure that the impacts are felt. The Airdrie and Shotts constituency was at the heart of Scotland’s old industrial heartlands and it has all the skills and ability to be at the heart of a modern industrial strategy in this new era. I am pleased that this Labour Budget will unlock the potential of my constituency and its people to do so.
Oral Answers to Questions
Kenneth Stevenson Excerpts(1 year ago)
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Ian Murray
Scotland will be central to the space sector, and I very much welcome the question. We will fully back the space sector, as I said to the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone). The Minister for Science has been to the UK Space Agency’s new office in Edinburgh, and the Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms has met Orbex. I have met Orbex and been to Unst in Shetland to visit the spaceport up there. We will fully back this; of course, its potential reaches to infinity and beyond.
Kenneth Stevenson (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Scotland (Ian Murray)
I welcome my hon. Friend to his place; it was a wonderful election result in his constituency of Airdrie and Shotts. Investment in the UK to drive growth is the Government’s No. 1 priority, and we have already started delivery on it. Just this month, we hosted an international investment summit, at which we announced £63 billion of shovel-ready investment across the UK. That includes the likes of Greenvolt’s £2.5 billion investment in Scotland and Iberdrola’s £24 billion investment in green energy. We also announced this week that Glasgow will host the Commonwealth games, which will bring £100 million to the city.
Kenneth Stevenson
I thank the Secretary of State for his answer. It is refreshing to see a Government working across Departments to ensure a pro-worker, pro-business and pro-growth approach that attracts inward investment. After years of Scotland being let down by two poor Governments, how does he see this new Labour Government approach benefiting my constituents in Airdrie and Shotts?
Ian Murray
The No. 1 benefit to my hon. Friend’s constituents in Airdrie and Shotts will be that they have him for their Member, championing them. I am pleased by his welcome for our approach. Airdrie and Shotts has a rich industrial heritage, and a modern industrial strategy will reignite the industrial and technological potential in all our communities. The national wealth fund and Great British Energy will help rebuild Scotland’s industrial base. We want Scotland to be the most attractive part of the UK to invest in, and we will continue to work closely with the Scottish Government to make that a reality. I could not put it better than my hon. Friend did: pro-worker, pro-business and pro-growth—that is this Government.