St Andrew’s Day and Scottish Affairs

Scott Arthur Excerpts

Thursday 11th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[David Mundell (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) on securing this debate, which gives us an opportunity to consider some of the important issues facing Scotland. As a Member of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, I was very disappointed not to have the opportunity to take part in the debate reflecting on 25 years of devolution, because I wanted to pay tribute to three colleagues whom we lost over the summer. The first is Sir George Reid, who was the second Presiding Officer. Although an SNP Member, Sir George always put the Parliament ahead of politics. Indeed, I voted for him in the 1999 election for Presiding Officer against party advice, which was to support Lord Steel. I have never regretted that decision.

I also pay tribute to my colleague Jamie McGrigor, who was one of the great characters of the Scottish Parliament. Many a night was spent—after parliamentary proceedings, Madam Deputy Speaker—with his guitar and several drinks consumed. Finally, I pay tribute to my constituent, the late Ian Jenkins, who was the first Member for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, a Liberal Democrat Member of the Parliament and a very well-respected figure. Even when he left the Scottish Parliament, he played an enormous part in the community across the Borders, and he is greatly missed by all who knew him.

It may surprise Members to hear that for my constituents, this is not the single most important debate taking place at the moment, or the one that will most affect them, because at this very moment, SNP-led Dumfries and Galloway council is proposing that £68 million be invested in a flood prevention scheme in Dumfries. Only a few months ago, that scheme was to cost £25 million. The cost of the scheme has ballooned, with no proper explanation, to £68 million. There may be a few moments left in which to influence councillors, if I have any influence at all with them, so I urge them to reject that proposal, which, in my view, would be a criminal waste of money for a council that is closing rural schools and struggling to provide basic services, such as maintaining our roads. I hope that my plea makes it across the ether to Dumfries.

[Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

In my previous life as an academic, I got a little bit involved in that project, but that was many, many years ago, so I am really surprised that it has not yet been delivered in some shape or form. I am sure that the local authority is working hard on it, but surely if the work had taken place much sooner, it would have been much more cost-effective, and would have delivered benefits to people well before now.

[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.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) for introducing the debate. He is my mother’s MP, so I will be able to give a good account of him on Christmas day.

I want to talk about Scotland. I will talk a little bit about St Andrew, but above all else I will talk about Edinburgh South West, which I believe is a microcosm of Scotland. I am talking not about the housing crisis, the potholes, and the long child and adolescent mental health services waiting lists, but about the dramatic landscape, including the fantastic Pentland hills, which I share with the Minister, and the unique culture—the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming is in my constituency. There is also our iconic food and drink; much of the shortbread that people will get as presents this year will have been made in my constituency at the Ferrero FBC factory, where Jammie Dodgers are also made—I am not sure whether they are Scottish, but I am happy to claim them.

Influential inventions also have their home in my constituency. This morning, I met a company called Lumino Technologies, which told me how it is using photons, telescopes and satellites to rival data transfer using cables under the Atlantic ocean. I did not understand it, but it sounded fantastic.

We also have literary giants. Robert Louis Stevenson used to come to my constituency for his summer holiday to meet his grandfather, and he undertook much of his work there.

I turn now to St Andrew—a Galilean fisherman and, as we have heard, the first of the 12 apostles chosen by Jesus; it is no accident that St Andrew’s day comes at the start of advent. It might be because he was a fisherman that he is also the patron saint of fishmongers. The striking thing about him is his name. It is not a Hebrew name, but a Greek one, which tells us that his family was perhaps a little bit more outward looking.

As we have heard, St Andrew travelled extensively in the Black sea region including Greece, and perhaps as far as Ukraine and Poland. There is no evidence yet that he visited Edinburgh South West or even the UK. But I think if he had visited, he would probably have come on a small boat; he would have been a man from the middle east coming perhaps to escape religious persecution.

What does it mean to have St Andrew as our patron saint in Scotland? He was a man who was called to love and care for other people. He believed in treating others with the same kindness, compassion and selflessness as he desired for himself. He saw foreigners and strangers as brothers and sisters. It is important to remember that.

Where would St Andrew go if he were to come to Edinburgh South West? I think he would visit the Edinburgh Interfaith Association, which operates right across the city and is a fantastic, cohesive force in the city for people of all faiths and none. He would visit Holy Trinity church in Wester Hailes, which does fantastic work on debt relief for people in prison and out of it, and obviously those who have never been in prison. He would also visit Soul Food, which is a fantastic community meal in Oxgangs every week. He would visit the people who operate the Edinburgh Food Project and Community for Food, who provide food for people right across the city. They were fantastic in campaigning against the two-child cap, and it is due to people like them, right across the UK, that we managed to get rid of that awful injustice.

These are troubled times, and people seek to divide us. We have to remember St Andrew’s values of being open and treating strangers not as foreigners, but as our brothers and sisters. I look forward to celebrating St Andrew’s day next year in that spirit.