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638 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDScotland Act 1998: Section 35 PowerThis is beyond parody. Democracy is what the Scotland Act is. Section 35 is in the Scotland Act. The SNP voted for the Scotland Act with section 35 in it. It is a democratic…17 Jan 2023HANSARDScotland Act 1998: Section 35 PowerThe Minister for Women and Equalities raised that subject with the Bill Minister, and it will be explained in our statement of reasons. The adverse effects are numerous and, if…17 Jan 2023HANSARDScotland Act 1998: Section 35 PowerI come back to my original point. This is a decision that I did not take lightly. It was taken after much consideration of the legal advice that we received and it is based on a…17 Jan 2023HANSARDScotland Act 1998: Section 35 PowerYes, and fortunately that addresses one of the points that the shadow Secretary of State for Scotland raised. I can address it here. I have written to the First Minister and…17 Jan 2023HANSARDImpact of Leaving the EUThere are many benefits of leaving the EU for Scotland. They include: the ability to agree new trade deals and strategic partnerships, controlling our borders, ensuring that…11 Jan 2023HANSARDImpact of Leaving the EUI would say that the people of Scotland are suffering worse health outcomes because of the incompetence of the Scottish Government to run the health system. Regarding NHS…11 Jan 2023HANSARDImpact of Leaving the EUThis Government respect democracy. We respect the outcome of referendums. There was a referendum in 2014 on Scottish independence. We respected the result; the Scottish National…11 Jan 2023HANSARDImpact of Leaving the EUThe hon. Lady quotes statistics for the two years following Brexit, but those of course are two years where we had other factors to take into account, not only covid and many…11 Jan 2023HANSARDImpact of Leaving the EUThe deficit in Scotland is considerably higher than 3%, which is the Maastricht criteria, so that is not the route back. The currency is a problem as well—as we know, the Bank of…11 Jan 2023HANSARDImpact of Leaving the EUI welcome the hon. Lady to her new role, and thank the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Mhairi Black) for her positive engagement in the role previously. Opinion…11 Jan 2023HANSARDImpact of Leaving the EUMy hon. Friend makes a good point. There is not just the issue of freedom of movement of people across the United Kingdom, but the fact that while 20% of Scotland’s trade is with…11 Jan 2023HANSARDImpact of Leaving the EUWe welcome all EU citizens with settled status and think it is absolutely right that those systems are in place. If the hon. Gentleman has any further questions regarding the…11 Jan 2023HANSARDImpact of Leaving the EUI do not accept that assessment. Certain sectors of the fishing industry have made much progress and seen many benefits. On the processing sector, we are looking at what the…11 Jan 2023HANSARDImpact of Leaving the EUMy hon. Friend is a great advocate for the fishing industry, and I agree with everything he says. We have a stronger voice. We have increased our tonnage by 30,000 tonnes, and we…11 Jan 2023HANSARDImpact of Leaving the EUWe have taken control of our waters. We have left the hated common fisheries policy. We have seen our quota increase by 30,000 tonnes this year in negotiations. We are going to…11 Jan 2023HANSARDScottish Referendum Legislation: Supreme Court DecisionOkay, so we have resorted to quoting Monty Python, which does not surprise me. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave earlier.23 Nov 2022HANSARDScottish Referendum Legislation: Supreme Court DecisionOn the basis that none of the apocalypse happened and that in 2014 the Scottish National party was asking the people of Scotland to vote to leave the European Union, then yes,…23 Nov 2022HANSARDScottish Referendum Legislation: Supreme Court DecisionYes. I made those points in my opening remarks and I totally agree with the hon. Gentleman.23 Nov 2022HANSARDScottish Referendum Legislation: Supreme Court DecisionTo pick up on the hon. Lady’s middle point, which was the only relevant point she made, the reason why leaflets in general elections say no to a second independence referendum is…23 Nov 2022HANSARDScottish Referendum Legislation: Supreme Court DecisionTo pick up on the hon. Gentleman’s first point, the reason I say that I have answered the question so many times before is that hon. Members are asking the same question time and…23 Nov 2022