Contributions
147 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Energy Security and Net Zero: ScotlandDo you agree that £9 million in total community benefit for the highlands, and £30 million for Scotland as a whole, is a paltry amount for a multibillion-pound industry?04 Mar 2026HANSARD Small Charity SectorI congratulate the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) on securing the debate. I want to speak briefly about mental health charities.…03 Mar 2026HANSARDFirearms LicensingWill the hon. Member consider the impact of defining what a farmer is? Is it somebody who is part time and has another job? Is it a vermin control guy? I do not think we can take…23 Feb 2026HANSARDRoad SafetyA year ago in my constituency, Lewis Knox, aged 16, Fergus Ward, aged 17, and Jordan Cameron, aged 17, went off the road and died—no other car was involved. It was an enormous…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRoad SafetyAll the evidence shows that graduated driving licence schemes work extremely well in reducing the number of serious incidents. I have one more statistic to finish with. In 2024,…05 Feb 2026HANSARD Taxation: Small and Medium-sized EnterprisesI met the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales this morning and am meeting the Federation of Small Businesses later. We have done all the modelling and I assure…03 Feb 2026HANSARD Taxation: Small and Medium-sized EnterprisesThe Scottish Affairs Committee is doing an inquiry into the viability of high streets. We heard from a professor at Glasgow University who specialises in the subject, and he made…03 Feb 2026HANSARD Taxation: Small and Medium-sized EnterprisesI have spent a great deal of my life looking at small businesses. There are 4.1 million sole traders or self-employed people in the UK and that £90,000 VAT restriction is a block…03 Feb 2026HANSARD Rural Broadband: InstallationWe have heard about the 78% and the 99%. In north-east Skye we have 3% gigabit availability, and in south Skye we have 4.5%. We are dealing with enormous levels of depopulation…27 Jan 2026HANSARD Rural Broadband: InstallationMay I intervene, seeing that we have been so generous on interventions?27 Jan 2026HANSARD Arctic and High NorthI wonder whether the hon. Gentleman could encourage the Prime Minister, or indeed the Minister, to move forward more quickly in committing to increasing expenditure on our defence…13 Jan 2026HANSARD Arctic and High NorthGiven that one of the UK’s core NATO responsibilities is securing freedom of operation in the GIUK gap, can the Minister reflect on what an SNP-led independent Scotland would mean…13 Jan 2026HANSARDEngagementsQ6. According to the Office for National Statistics, 174,000 people under the age of 35 moved abroad in the year ending June 2025. In the highlands, the problem is especially…07 Jan 2026HANSARD Rural Fuel Duty ReliefIn my constituency, the price per litre of unleaded is 160p. When I was in Northern Ireland over Christmas, places were selling at 125p. We have a 35% premium on the cost of…07 Jan 2026HANSARDNeurodiversity in the WorkplaceI left school at 16. I did extremely badly at school and seem to have been fine ever since, largely. It is now very clear to me that people who are neurodiverse in many ways…17 Dec 2025HANSARD Membership-based Charity OrganisationsI thank the hon. Member for allowing me to intervene. I wonder if the Minister would consider the following. I was the vice-president of the National Trust for Scotland for the…17 Dec 2025HANSARD Membership-based Charity OrganisationsYes—sorry. Does the hon. Member agree that when the Government introduce legislation on, for example, national insurance and people doing part-time work, and now this gift aid…17 Dec 2025HANSARDWar in UkraineI thank the hon. Member for Harwich and North Essex (Sir Bernard Jenkin) for bringing this very important debate to the House. It is very disappointing that the Chamber is not…04 Dec 2025HANSARD Northern Ireland Troubles BillMy family has served in the Army for many generations, including myself in the troubles in Northern Ireland, and indeed my son is serving now. We have seen and deeply admired the…18 Nov 2025HANSARDEngagementsQ5. Successive Governments have imposed massive environmental tariffs on customers using UK-produced renewable electricity, but far less on imported carbon fuel mains gas. This is…12 Nov 2025