Oral Answers to Questions Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: Scotland Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Scott Arthur Excerpts
Wednesday 4th June 2025

(2 days, 20 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Ian Murray Portrait Ian Murray
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

A consultation on Rosebank and Jackdaw is concluding, and the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero will report on it in due course. There is also the North sea transition consultation, which has concluded, as I mentioned earlier, and which will take into account all those issues. It will be published in due course.

Scott Arthur Portrait Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)
- View Speech - Hansard - -

Labour’s windfall tax on North sea energy profits is designed to make us less reliant on people like Vladimir Putin. When I was campaigning in Hamilton last week, voters asked me why the SNP, the Tories and Reform were so against our windfall tax. I could not explain. Can the Secretary of State?

Ian Murray Portrait Ian Murray
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the question. What astonishes me more than anything is that the shadow Secretary of State for Scotland was the Energy Minister when the energy profits levy was brought in.

--- Later in debate ---
Keir Starmer Portrait The Prime Minister
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

I welcome the hon. Lady to her place. I am not going to follow her down that line, but now she is in Parliament and safely in her place, perhaps she could tell her new party leader that his latest plan to bet £80 billion of unfunded tax cuts with no idea how he is going to pay for them is Liz Truss all over again—although, considering that I think the hon. Lady was a Conservative member when Liz Truss was leader, she probably will not.

Scott Arthur Portrait Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)
- View Speech - Hansard - -

Q12. During recess, I visited Scottish Action for Mental Health’s Redhall walled garden, which I am proud to say is in Edinburgh South West. It has operated for decades as a therapeutic horticultural centre, supporting adults with mental health problems. Like similar community mental health services across Scotland, it is now under threat: it faces potential closure due to chronic underfunding of integrated joint boards by the SNP Government. Does the Prime Minister agree that facilities such as Redhall walled garden should have been a priority for the SNP when deciding how to spend the record funding settlement that Scottish Labour MPs won for Scotland?

Keir Starmer Portrait The Prime Minister
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

What my hon. Friend describes is how health services in Scotland are utterly broken under the SNP, whether it is people waiting too long for mental health support in his constituency, or the Wishaw neonatal unit in Hamilton, which the SNP is threatening to downgrade. In 2021, the SNP Government said they would recruit 1,000 more community mental health workers. They utterly failed to do so. If they had a plan to fix Scotland’s NHS, they would have done it by now. Scotland needs a change of direction.