St Andrew’s Day and Scottish Affairs

Torcuil Crichton Excerpts

Thursday 11th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Torcuil Crichton (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) for securing this debate on St Andrew’s day and for giving us the opportunity to take stock of the issues and challenges facing Scotland. I will not detain the House for long, Madam Deputy Speaker, because you caught me on the hop—I had hoped to be writing my speech while others made theirs.

I will plough on to discuss poor St Andrew. I have been checking in on Scotland’s patron saint, and he does not look very good. As a Scot, his average life expectancy would be just 77 years; his sister, Andrea, could expect to live to 81. Some 26 years into devolution and 18 years into an SNP Government who were meant to make things better, Scotland has the lowest life expectancy not just in the UK, but in the whole of western Europe.

But do not worry, because the SNP is coming to the rescue of Scotland’s ailing saint and ailing population—or it would do, if it could get ambulance waiting times in order. In January last year, one patient in Lothian on category red—that is a heart attack situation—had to wait more than 17 hours for an ambulance, and an individual in the highlands this year had to wait for 18 hours. It now takes a median wait of 22 minutes for NHS 24 to be answered in Scotland. The NHS app, which I have had for many years as a patient at the Royal London hospital, will not be available in Scotland until 2030. Why? Because the SNP Scottish Government refused the English NHS app, because the political optics of putting the St Andrew’s cross on an English app just would not look good, so Scots have to wait.

Scots are being ill-served. They have been waiting a long time through our revolving carousel of Health Ministers. A rotating carousel of 130 health strategies—one for every seven weeks of this SNP Government—has meant that 618,000 Scots are still waiting for specialist care in Scotland’s NHS. One figure is going up in Scotland’s health scene: the number of private health operations, which is up by 55% since 2019. Those are not just for those who can afford them, but those who need them because the waiting lists are so long that they have no alternative.

Scotland has a large number of health boards, with 14 health boards, 31 integration authorities and numerous quangos, all under tight Scottish Government control. Mike McKirdy, an eminent surgeon assigned by the Scottish Labour party to assess the future of Scotland’s health, has said it is a “complex structure”. He said that structure

“means reforms and improvements are difficult to roll out at scale or pace, while accountability and transparency are easier to avoid.”

Scotland is being ill-served in its health, and the ailing St Andrew is being ill-served by this SNP Government when it comes to health.

[Dave Doogan]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Torcuil Crichton]

I do not think I will.

Of course, St Andrew was bilingual, or trilingual or quadrilingual—as my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson) pointed out, he is celebrated in Russia and Greece. He appears on the Basque flag, and Basque is the oldest language in Europe. If he and his children were living in Glasgow, they would make up that one third of Scottish schoolchildren in the “Dear Green Place” who speak more than one language—something that the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage), in his desperate attempt to divide Scotland, found so appalling. To allay your fears, Madam Deputy Speaker, I emailed the hon. Member for Clacton—I assume the email went to his constituency office. I saw that the email received no reply, because he is rarely seen in this place or in Clacton. But he has been informed.

The hon. Member for Clacton is appalled by the celebrated diversity of our great city, but I am not. I am very proud of the dozens of pupils at the Glasgow Gaelic school, and I am proud that dozens of pupils who speak Arabic, Urdu, Polish, Punjabi or Chinese are students as well, but these children—like St Andrew, ailing in his unhealthy bed on those waiting lists—are ill-served by Scotland’s SNP Government.

As was pointed out by the right hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell), a former Secretary of State for Scotland, there is a statistical fiction in education as well as in health. Professor Lindsay Paterson, the esteemed Scottish academic, has said that the attainment statistics for Scotland’s schools

“fail to capture the serious decline of attainment that has been picked up by PISA.”

Of course, the Scottish Government previously used international assessments to measure the gap between teachers’ appraisals and real attainment, but those surveys were abandoned in 2008. Now Professor Paterson says:

“What is euphemistically called pupils’ achievement of the curriculum levels is in fact teachers’ impressions of whether their own pupils have achieved the levels… They are simply hunches.”

In 2016 the then First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, promised that her Government’s priority would be to close the education attainment gap. On this week’s figures and at current rates, it would take 133 years to close the poverty rate attainment gap in Scotland—that is shameful. Scotland and St Andrew’s children are being let down again by this SNP Government.

[Dave Doogan]

Will the hon. Member give way on that point?

[Torcuil Crichton]

I will, if only because the hon. Member displays the best budget cut I have seen this year.

[Dave Doogan]

The hon. Member is very concerned about St Andrew. We should focus on St Andrew today, but in parallel I am concerned for St David, and what he and his family might be enduring under the catastrophe of Labour-run Wales. I wish things were better in Scotland, and I know that my colleagues in the Scottish Government are working extremely hard to make things better under the egregious constraints of this Union, but the Labour Government in Wales are not so motivated. Can the hon. Member explain why it is only St Andrew’s bairns in Scotland who are getting elevated out of poverty on these islands, while child poverty is rising in Labour England and Labour Wales?

[Torcuil Crichton]

I thank the hon. Member for that intervention, which allows me to highlight that some 95,000 children in Scotland are to be lifted out of poverty by our Chancellor’s Budget, which got rid of the two-child benefit cap.

It is not just in terms of education and health that St Andrew’s children are being failed. St Andrew was a fisherman and was used to boats, as are many of my constituents in the islands, but these modern-day St Andrews are being let down. They see thousands of pounds of shellfish exports rotting in the harbour, or having to be deep-frozen at extra cost, because of the failing SNP’s ferry fiasco. For that situation, Madam Deputy Speaker, I need no notes, because the ferry fiasco is writ large in the experience of all my constituents, who have suffered for years because this SNP Government did not manage to procure enough ferries and took their eye off the ball. This crisis, which they thought would affect a few hundred islanders, has become an international symbol of the failure of nationalism in Scotland.

This week I welcomed the extra £820 million that the Chancellor found to give to the Scottish Government this year. In my book—in anyone’s book—£820 million is eight CalMac ferries, but the SNP Scottish Government can only manage 2.5 ferries for £500 million. It is a shame and a scandal. People in the Western Isles know that the S in SNP stands for “stunt”—the portholes had to be painted on to the ship so that Nicola Sturgeon could have a pretendy launch. That £500 million means that the S in SNP stands for “squander”, with millions wasted, affecting the ability and confidence of my constituents to stay in their homes and be connected to the rest of the islands. I hope that S will also stand for “swept away”, because in May that is what Scotland needs.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker—today is indeed my birthday. I thank my Scottish colleagues for letting me, as an English Member, crash this debate on St Andrew’s day.

I have the great privilege of representing the great border city of Carlisle, the only city in the United Kingdom to have been governed by both the Scottish and English Crowns during its history. Standing just a few miles south of the Scottish border, Carlisle is a fortress city, its provenance bloodily contested for centuries. From its origins in Roman times—when not one but two Roman forts were built to defend the empire’s northern frontier—to the Jacobite rebellions, Carlisle has been the prize in a centuries-long struggle between England and Scotland.

In the middle ages, Carlisle was a city under siege again and again. In 1135, Scotland’s King David seized it, turning its castle into the beating heart of Scottish power. Two decades later it returned to English control under Henry II, whose treaty of York in 1237 finally fixed the border—or so Carlisle thought. In 1315 Robert the Bruce, of whom we have already heard mention today, marched south and laid siege to Carlisle, fresh from his triumph at Bannockburn. For days the city’s defenders fought, the walls shook under bombardment, but Carlisle held firm.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Jacobite rebellions again threatened Carlisle’s status. Indeed, it is joked locally that the reason why our old town hall’s clock tower, which has four faces, does not have a clock on its north-facing side is because we people of Carlisle would not give the Scots the time of day.

[Torcuil Crichton]

My hon. Friend may well be right about that clock tower, but she will also know that Carlisle will always be a little bit of Scotland, because it was apparently in Carlisle that the Loch Lomond ballad, with its famous lines

“You take the high road, and I’ll take the low road, and I’ll be in Scotland before you”,

was written by a Jacobite prisoner facing the gallows. That song, which is much more fondly remembered than “Flower of Scotland”, was written in Carlisle, was it not?

[Ms Minns]

Indeed, and my hon. Friend makes an excellent point. I was just about to mention Bonnie Prince Charlie and the 300 Jacobite soldiers he left in Carlisle castle after riding into Carlisle, standing on the steps of our historic market cross and claiming the city again for the Stuart Crown, and then riding south to do battle with the Duke of Cumberland. He then turned tail and rode back north, bypassing Carlisle entirely and leaving those 300 soldiers to their fate. As my hon. Friend says, the lyrics of that song are the lament of one of those ill-fated Jacobite soldiers.

Of course, Carlisle castle also had the honour of playing host, shall we say, to Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1568. Members may be interested to know that, thanks to the diligence of her guard, who recorded her every single movement, the Queen’s observance of a football match on an adjacent field resulted in the first written account of a football match played to rules.

Just as St Andrew’s day celebrates Scotland’s heritage, it is also a moment for all of us in the Border communities to honour our shared history and the deep connections between Scotland and its neighbouring communities—connections that my constituency of Carlisle and north Cumbria understands better than most. Our shared Christian traditions are a strong bond. St Andrew symbolises humility, and the service values that should guide all Members of this House, regardless of our geography. Carlisle cathedral, which owes its existence to the English Crown’s desire to create a diocese to ward off the diocese of Glasgow, still marks St Andrew’s day with prayers for Scotland. The St Ninian’s way pilgrimage links Carlisle to St Andrew’s, and echoes the spiritual roots that unite our nations. Such connections remind us that faith and fellowship have long bridged division. On that point, I pay tribute to the Border Kirk in my Carlisle constituency, which works tirelessly with a number of organisations to offer support and assistance to the refugee community in Carlisle.

Today, the ties are practical as well as historical. Our economy depends on cross-border trade, shared infrastructure and cultural exchange. The A74 and the west coast main line are lifelines for businesses and our communities, and I thank the right hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell) for his work on the Borderlands growth deal, a deal that we both wish to see rejuvenated because it offers great potential to the Borders region.

Tourism flows both ways. Visitors come to Carlisle for our castle, our cathedral and for the western gateway of Hadrian’s wall. My residents travel north for Scotland’s shopping at Gretna gateway and the fantastic Devil’s Porridge Museum, while Scots come south of the border to discover Hadrian’s wall and Carlisle’s heritage, and to shop in Carlisle’s big Asda, where minimum unit pricing does not apply.

Today, let us remember and celebrate the links, not the rivalry, between our two countries. St Andrew’s day is not just Scotland’s celebration. It is a reminder that when Carlisle and Scotland thrive together, the whole of the United Kingdom is stronger. I call on colleagues to reaffirm that spirit of unity. I call on the Scottish and Westminster Governments to work together to minimise the friction that too often arises because of divergent policy on devolved matters, such as health and agriculture—friction that causes unnecessary and costly problems for residents of our Border community. Let us invest instead in cross-border co-operation, culture and business, bringing our communities closer and ensuring that the decisions made in Westminster and Holyrood reflect the shared interests of the people who live and work along our historic border. St Andrew’s day is a day of pride for Scotland, but it is also a day of friendship for all of us.

--- Later in debate ---

[Torcuil Crichton]

The hon. Member mentions a national sovereign wealth fund, which the SNP called for, to be funded from oil revenues, in the ’70s and ’80s—

[Stephen Gethins]

And the ’90s.

[Torcuil Crichton]

And the ’90s, and maybe until today. The SNP Government had the opportunity to put one in place when they auctioned the ScotWind licenses for offshore wind for £700 million—they would have done it for £70 million, but were given guidance on that. They had the opportunity to either invest that £700 million in a sovereign wealth fund, or to give it back to the coastal communities from which those revenues flow, but they did none of that. They have used half of that £700 million in day-to-day expenditure, have they not?

[Stephen Gethins]

We focus an awful lot on the Scottish Parliament. I have no problem with that, but Members who sit here choose to be part of a Parliament that has powers that far outweigh those of the Scottish Parliament. I do not like that, but other Members here do.

On the future generations fund, since we are having a biblical debate and there has been biblical reference, I say to the hon. Member—he will not mind—that, to paraphrase Matthew’s gospel, sometimes you talk about the speck in my eye and ignore the plank in yours. Some £1.5 trillion, and 1.5% of every share on earth from the top 5,000 companies, is now in Norwegian hands, and Norway can use that, with transformative effect. If he thinks that Westminster control over oil and gas and other aspects of energy—it still has that responsibility—has been positive, I encourage him to think again. It has not been wholly positive; things have failed. As he has prompted me, it should be reflected that the failings of Holyrood are dwarfed by the gargantuan failings of Westminster. There has been Brexit, austerity—the right hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale was part of the Cabinet who brought that in—the Truss Budget, which put up all mortgages, and our relationship with the rest of Europe. Those failings have now been brought to bear.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Bowie]

Well, it is obviously for Edwin Morgan to determine where he spends his money. I do think that the hon. Gentleman and his party should reflect on the desire of the Scottish people when they voted for a Scottish Parliament in 1999 to address the real issues facing them. He must acknowledge that far too much of the past 18 years has been spent on issues that divide Scots, rather than building our country into a better place that we all want to see for our children.

Scotland knows who to blame. They know who could not build two ferries and who let Scotland’s drug deaths become the worst in Europe. They know on whose watch it was that our education standards slipped from their once great heights. They know that today, Scotland is worse off because of the decisions taken and promises broken by the Scottish National party, from its broken promise to dual the A9 and A96, as often highlighted by my hon. Friend the Member for Gordon and Buchan (Harriet Cross), to its neglect of the A75 in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries and Galloway (John Cooper), long raised in this House by my right hon. Friend the Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell). Remember the SNP promise to scrap council tax 18 years ago, the promise to close the attainment gap or the promise to deliver a national care service? For 18 years, the SNP has let Scotland down with broken promise after broken promise.

[Torcuil Crichton]

Does the hon. Gentleman regret that the Scottish Conservatives propped up the SNP for four of those 18 years?

[Andrew Bowie]

In 2007, when the decision was taken by the Scottish Conservatives to ensure continuity and certainty for Scottish business at the heart of the Scottish Government, it was indeed the right thing to do. However, hindsight is 20/20, and I can assure the hon. Gentleman and other Members present that no such agreement would be reached if we were to be asked at the next Scottish parliamentary election to support a Scottish National party Government for a further five years.

Scotland was suffering under the SNP, and the very last thing it needed was another Government letting them down. Then, enter stage left—far left—the Labour party. My goodness, it is not going well. After having been sold a story of false hope, folks in Scotland now have no hope in the Labour Government. The harm that this Government are inflicting on key Scottish industries is staggering.

Look at our farmers: already hammered by the daft policies that emanate from Bute House, they now have to contend with the brutal and callous family farm tax. The stories that we hear—and I know that hon. Members on the Government Benches are hearing them, too—are just heartbreaking.

The Government are knowingly destroying an entire way of life for thousands of families across Scotland, placing entire rural communities and our food security in jeopardy.

My hon. Friend the Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) spoke recently of how this Government have no grasp whatsoever of the constant struggle facing our family farms. He was absolutely right. It is exactly the same for our energy industry. Oil and gas workers are an afterthought—if they are even thought about at all by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whose messianic zeal to destroy the oil and gas industry knows no end.

I have stood at this Dispatch Box many times now over the past 18 months and raised the plight of our oil and gas industry. Almost every week we find that another business operating in the North sea has made the decision to cut jobs in the UK. It was Harbour Energy the other week. Before that it was ExxonMobil at Mossmorran. It was the Port of Aberdeen before that, then Petrofac, then Hunting, then Ineos, then Apache—I could go on. One thousand jobs are going to be lost every single month, and £50 billion-worth of investment is being passed over. The country is being made more vulnerable through increased reliance on imports. A poison is spreading through the energy industry, and this Government are doing nothing to stem it.

All of that begs the question of what the Secretary of State and his Ministers are going to do. Maybe the Secretary of State knows that the Prime Minister’s days are numbered and is just biding his time. Maybe, like every other member of the Cabinet, he is looking around the Cabinet Room and measuring the curtains. But time is something that workers in our oil and gas industry and on our family farms do not have.

Scotland does, of course, have another option—something that neither the SNP nor Labour can offer—and that is common sense. That is something that only the Scottish Conservatives are offering, and Scotland desperately needs it. The Scottish Conservatives would put an end to the stagnant, tepid policies that have come from the SNP Scottish Government and put growth at the heart of every single decision.

We would end the hostility to entrepreneurs and make it clear that Scotland is open for business. We would reverse the decline and go for growth. We would scrap the SNP’s 21% tax band and cut income tax to 19% for all taxable income up to £43,000.We would slash the number of quangos, restore regular police patrols, and allow for the building of new nuclear, bolstering our energy security, securing new jobs and driving investment. We would restore pride to our education system, so that it enables Scots to compete in a globally competitive marketplace for ideas.

Scottish Conservatives in this House would scrap the energy profits levy and the family farm tax. We would proudly, without fear or favour, stand up for Scotland’s continued place within our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. To be British as well as Scottish is, I believe, something that should be cherished. It is, in my view, to win the lottery of life. It is the best of both worlds—our freedoms, our shared culture, our institutions and our history. Being British has never relied on the rejection of being Scottish, English, Welsh or Northern Irish. Those identities are entirely complementary, not contradictory.

To be British is to be part of something larger—a shared civic and cultural inheritance built across these islands together. Whether you find yourself in Dundee or Doncaster, you will realise that those shared values are to be discovered at every turn. The United Kingdom at its best is not a denial of national identity but a partnership that allows each nation to contribute its own unique character to something greater together.

From the Scottish Enlightenment thinkers who shaped British democracy to the engineers and writers who helped forge its industrial and cultural strengths, Scots have never been passengers in the British story but always at the tiller. We will continue to be so, but we need change in Scotland, we need common sense in Scotland, and we need it desperately. The Scottish parliamentary election in May can be that moment. Change can and will be delivered. Of that I am certain.