- 6 weeks ago
Russell Findlay speech ahead of Scottish Parliament return
The Scottish Parliament must become more accountable to regain the trust of a disillusioned public, Russell Findlay has said.
In a speech in Glasgow, the Scottish Conservative leader accused the SNP of presiding over a ‘performative parliament’ and running a government machine stacked with ‘obedient yes men and women’ to avoid proper scrutiny.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: “Holyrood was supposed to bring decision-making closer to the people, but it’s never felt more remote.
“The SNP have nurtured an obedient machinery of state to do their bidding. These yes men and women run Scotland’s vast and powerful public sector.
“Contentious issues at Holyrood are often subject to what amounts to superficial scrutiny.
“Public sector witnesses to parliamentary committees are given free rein to waffle uninterrupted.
“Ministerial statements to parliament on big topical issues are usually laughably light on detail, and when SNP ministers are exposed as incapable – or downright dishonest – they suffer no consequences.
“As for SNP backbenchers who routinely read out scripted questions handed to them from their own government, they ought to be ashamed. I’ve seen jellyfish with more spine.
“The inconvenient truth is that Holyrood has become little more than a performative parliament.
"A parliament that panders to a government which uses every sneaky trick to evade scrutiny.
“We need a radical overhaul of transparency and accountability. Transparency is not a luxury. Accountability is not optional.”
Full text of speech (check against delivery):
The Scottish Parliament returns from recess next week.
I said the Scottish Parliament returns from recess next week!
But do people in the real world even know when Holyrood is sitting?
I’d bet that most don’t know the names of their MSPs or what they get up to.
The place has become irrelevant to most Scots.
There’s no doubt that the parliament is a busy place.
But being busy is not the same as being productive.
What happens at Holyrood is often a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.
It fixates on fringe issues that the majority don’t care about.
Yes, I’m thinking of the SNP’s bizarre obsession with gender self-ID.
It wastes time on problems beyond its remit.
Yes, I’m thinking of puffed-up MSPs who wag their fingers at the world.
And when the Scottish Parliament does focus on the right things, it spends vast sums on poor outcomes.
Yes, I’m thinking of the SNP’s disastrous handling of the NHS, schools, ferries … frankly, it’s a big list.
Holyrood was supposed to bring decision-making closer to the people.
But it's never felt more remote.
I heard that over summer in various places I visited.
Businesses are getting screwed by government who make life more difficult with a relentless barrage of rules and regulations.
People are sick of being told what to do by politicians who t
The Scottish Parliament must become more accountable to regain the trust of a disillusioned public, Russell Findlay has said.
In a speech in Glasgow, the Scottish Conservative leader accused the SNP of presiding over a ‘performative parliament’ and running a government machine stacked with ‘obedient yes men and women’ to avoid proper scrutiny.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: “Holyrood was supposed to bring decision-making closer to the people, but it’s never felt more remote.
“The SNP have nurtured an obedient machinery of state to do their bidding. These yes men and women run Scotland’s vast and powerful public sector.
“Contentious issues at Holyrood are often subject to what amounts to superficial scrutiny.
“Public sector witnesses to parliamentary committees are given free rein to waffle uninterrupted.
“Ministerial statements to parliament on big topical issues are usually laughably light on detail, and when SNP ministers are exposed as incapable – or downright dishonest – they suffer no consequences.
“As for SNP backbenchers who routinely read out scripted questions handed to them from their own government, they ought to be ashamed. I’ve seen jellyfish with more spine.
“The inconvenient truth is that Holyrood has become little more than a performative parliament.
"A parliament that panders to a government which uses every sneaky trick to evade scrutiny.
“We need a radical overhaul of transparency and accountability. Transparency is not a luxury. Accountability is not optional.”
Full text of speech (check against delivery):
The Scottish Parliament returns from recess next week.
I said the Scottish Parliament returns from recess next week!
But do people in the real world even know when Holyrood is sitting?
I’d bet that most don’t know the names of their MSPs or what they get up to.
The place has become irrelevant to most Scots.
There’s no doubt that the parliament is a busy place.
But being busy is not the same as being productive.
What happens at Holyrood is often a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.
It fixates on fringe issues that the majority don’t care about.
Yes, I’m thinking of the SNP’s bizarre obsession with gender self-ID.
It wastes time on problems beyond its remit.
Yes, I’m thinking of puffed-up MSPs who wag their fingers at the world.
And when the Scottish Parliament does focus on the right things, it spends vast sums on poor outcomes.
Yes, I’m thinking of the SNP’s disastrous handling of the NHS, schools, ferries … frankly, it’s a big list.
Holyrood was supposed to bring decision-making closer to the people.
But it's never felt more remote.
I heard that over summer in various places I visited.
Businesses are getting screwed by government who make life more difficult with a relentless barrage of rules and regulations.
People are sick of being told what to do by politicians who t
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NewsTranscript
00:00So please, ladies and gentlemen, welcome our leader, Russell Finlay. Thank you.
00:14The Scottish Parliament returns from recess next week.
00:19But I wonder if people in the real world even know when Holylood is sitting.
00:24And I bet that most don't know the names of the MSPs or what they get up to.
00:31I think the place has become irrelevant to most Scots.
00:35And there's no doubt that the Parliament is a busy place.
00:38But busy is not the same as productive.
00:43What happens at Holylood is often a waste of time and taxpayers' money.
00:48It fixates on fringe issues that the majority just don't care about.
00:55Yes, I'm thinking about the SNP's bizarre obsession with gender self-ID.
01:00It wastes time on problems beyond its remit.
01:05Yes, I'm thinking of puff-duck MSPs who like to wag their finger at the world.
01:11And when the Scottish Parliament does focus on the right things, it spends vast sums of money on poor outcomes.
01:21Yes, I'm thinking about the SNP's disastrous handling of the NHS, schools, hospitals.
01:29Quite frankly, it is a very big list.
01:33Now, Holylood was supposed to bring decision-making closer to the people.
01:36But it has never felt more remote.
01:40I heard that over the summer in the various places I visited.
01:44And this is an Orkney town, by the way.
01:47Businesses are getting completely screwed by government who make life more difficult
01:52with a relentless barrage of rules and regulations.
01:55People are sick of being told what to do by the politicians who they elected.
02:02People are sick of being forced to pay more tax only to have less power over their lives.
02:09Households are already struggling with the cost of living.
02:13But the SNP always come back for more.
02:16I think that punishing people with forever-rising taxes is unjust and unacceptable.
02:25Politicians need to give the public a break.
02:28Yes, a financial break.
02:30But also respite from the constant white noise of interference in our lives.
02:37What we can eat and drink, what we can drive and how to heat our homes.
02:50What we can say, even in the privacy of our own homes.
02:56Decision-making in Scotland is too centralised.
02:59Run by members of a self-serving club with no pressure to better serve the paying public.
03:08They represent a block on progress.
03:12That's why a vague line about gender reform buried in an SNP manifesto
03:18morphed into an extreme gender self-ideal law.
03:22They couldn't care less about what the public actually wants.
03:26They have no respect for the values of ordinary, decent and hard-working mainstream Scotland.
03:34Yet they have total control over our schools, hospitals, justice system and the economy.
03:43I am of course talking about the dismal SNP politicians who have run Scotland for 18 years.
03:51And when I say run Scotland, I mean run Scotland into the ground.
03:58After almost two miserable decades of incompetence and dishonesty,
04:04all they have to show for it is division and decay.
04:10And John Swinney sits at the very apex of this pyramid.
04:14For years, he was Nicola Sturgeon's ruthless fixer.
04:18During that time, the SNP nurtured an obedient machinery of state to do their bidding.
04:27These yes-men and women run Scotland's vast and powerful public sector.
04:35And the SNP have moulded them in their own party's image.
04:40Nobody dare question the received wisdom of the SNP paymasters.
04:44Of course, dissent is not tolerated.
04:48And of course, you had better wear the right lanyard.
04:52The state sector pays very well indeed.
04:56Many of those on six-figure salaries, cushy hours, gold-plated pensions,
05:01would get nothing like that in the real world of private sector meritocracy.
05:07A few years ago, in my past life, I investigated the lucrative work of Jean Freeman.
05:16And I discovered that before entering Hollywood,
05:19she worked more days on the state payroll than there were days in the year.
05:26And the newspaper headline referred to her as a superhuman SNP quango queen.
05:32And this is actually typical.
05:35The eyebrows were initially raised, but this was quickly followed by shrugged shoulders.
05:41It seemed that no one was that bothered about this dubious situation.
05:48And when the SNP came to power in 2007, they stole this state model from Scottish Labour.
05:54They assembled a replica apparatus that treats public coffers like a piggy bank for them and their pals.
06:04For decades, power in Scotland has been concentrated inside the Hollywood bubble.
06:10First Labour, then the SNP.
06:13They've imposed a big state, high-tax, left-wing agenda.
06:17This entitled political class has a firm stake in protecting its own interests.
06:25Self-preservation is everything.
06:27And that's why SNP drone politicians have no desire to get rid of those who are not good enough to do their jobs
06:35or to tackle institutional rot.
06:38Scotland often seems to be run like a private members' club, which is hostile to any form of progress.
06:48Access by invitation only, with a network of left-wing lobbyists acting as gatekeepers.
06:56They decide what should be on the agenda, even if it's at odds with the views of mainstream Scotland.
07:02Those who deviate from this groupthink are shouted down and shut out.
07:09Just look at the way they behaved towards women over gender self-ID.
07:15The brave Scottish women who would not wish are still being traduced for daring to speak out against the SNP.
07:23We see the same intolerance in relation to Scotland's tragic record as Europe's drugs-death capital.
07:29The SNP's favoured experts, hand-picked and taxpayer-funded, don't just dictate policy, but shape the entire debate.
07:40We saw this during the ugly intolerance of the gender debate, and we see it in response to our Right to Recovery Bill.
07:50Though this law would reduce deaths by expanding rehabilitation,
07:55it has grass-root support and backing from numerous frontline experts, except those who receive government funding.
08:05A small group of publicly funded bodies attack our legislation because they seek to protect the status quo.
08:13They must shield the system they created and depend upon for a living, even though it is failing so catastrophically.
08:23And that's why desperate addicts are refused rehab and their addictions are catered for.
08:29Instead of getting clean, they're patronised, they're told they won't be stigmatised for what the SNP sickeningly regard as a lifestyle choice.
08:40The deadly misery of drug addiction should never be normalised.
08:47But gender...
08:48Gender and drugs are not the only examples of groups with the patronage of SNP ministers presenting a pro-government united front.
09:06Across policy areas, such groups work in unison to push the party line and suppress any dissent.
09:14A circular system of approval exists between the SNP state, its state-funded activists, state-funded charities and state-funded academics.
09:24The reach of the left-wing establishment includes quangos, third-sector agencies and charities that only survive on government funding.
09:33And let's not forget the trade unions who dictate Scottish education policy.
09:39The public sector is littered with SNP loyalists because the government bestows appointments and contracts to those who toe the line, collectively from top to bottom.
09:51These people don't trust the public to make their own decisions.
09:56And they have absolutely no interest in tackling the broken status quo.
10:03And that's why we've ended up with a parliament so detached from reality.
10:09That's how the Scottish Parliament has ended up wasting years on radical gender politics that made Scotland an international laughing stock.
10:19It's why MSP has recently spent hours debating who can use the toilets at Holyrood.
10:25It's why the SNP bring forward laws that go against our values, personal freedom and freedom of speech.
10:33It's why the SNP bring forward policies that would devastate rural Scotland.
10:39It's why the SNP impose measures that cripple business and punish aspiration.
10:47To maintain their harmful grip on Scotland, the SNP must control Holyrood.
10:54On the surface, it might look like a parliament where ideas can be tested freely and robustly,
11:01but in reality the topics of debate are tightly controlled.
11:05I spent years on the Criminal Justice Committee and I despaired at the way in which the SNP shaped legislation.
11:14They pursued lawmaking backed by their client state, but often without any real evidence to support it.
11:22I lost count of the number of times I asked witnesses from state agencies for basic data, basic information,
11:31only to be met with a blank look.
11:34Contentious issues at Holyrood are often subject to what amounts to superficial scrutiny.
11:40Public sector witnesses to parliamentary committees are given free reign to waffle uninterrupted.
11:47Their publicly funded training teaches them how not to give a straight answer to the paying public.
11:55And MSPs who do ask straight questions are often treated with hand-wringing when they are only doing their jobs on behalf of the public.
12:07Ministerial statements department in relation to big topical issues are usually laughably light on detail.
12:15They never answer questions. They are as illuminating as a 10 watt light bulb.
12:21And we see the same platitudes in response to the weekly round of portfolio questions.
12:28I experience the same sham exercise every Thursday at 12 noon, so please if you can tune in next week folks.
12:41When SNP ministers are exposed as incapable or downright dishonest, they suffer no consequences.
12:51They glide on just like the fleet of taxpayer funded Teslas they are chauffeured around in.
12:59And as for SNP backbenchers who routinely read out scripted questions handed to them from their own government, they really ought to be ashamed.
13:12I've seen jellyfish with more spine than that lot.
13:24Apologies to all jellyfish, all members of the jellyfish community.
13:28The inconvenient truth is that Hollywood has become little more than a performative parliament.
13:35A parliament that panders to a government which uses every sneaky trick in the book to evade scrutiny.
13:42And John Swinney has been central to this process for years.
13:48Look at the recent Edinburgh tram inquiry where much of his evidence given under oath was rejected by a judge.
13:58It exposed, and I quote, his lack of candour.
14:02It's interesting to note that John Swinney's government has just passed a law making candour a requirement for police officers.
14:09The tram report questioned John Swinney's integrity.
14:14The consequences? Absolutely none.
14:18Now there's one man in Scotland who has the power to formally measure what the SNP say they will do and what they actually do.
14:25The Auditor General also has the power to examine the books to follow the SNP money trail.
14:33He regularly lays bare a litany of broken promises, but also an insidious culture of secrecy around the spending of taxpayers' money.
14:46Scotland's bloated public sector despises transparency and sneers at accountability.
14:54They think they know best.
14:57They are painfully and arrogantly certain about the supremacy of their fellow members of the political establishment.
15:06Just as concerning is the relationship between the SNP and Scotland's civil service, which is supposed to be impartial.
15:15I get no doubt that most civil servants are professional and conscientious.
15:19Yet we've frequently had dreams to question if all of them understand that they are supposed to be servants of the people, not the politicians.
15:28Nationalist ministers publish pro-independence propaganda using taxpayers' money.
15:34They use channels of government to promote the separation of Scotland from the rest of the UK in defiance of the hard facts.
15:42We have been clear. Government resources and communications should not become weapons of SNP spending.
15:51The misuse of the machinery of state is not only confined to the SNP's obsession with breaking up our country.
16:10The First Minister was recently allowed to host a summit which he billed as being against the far right.
16:18It was no such thing. It was a nakedly party political stunt designed to promote the interests of the SNP.
16:27Yet it was all paid for by the taxpayer.
16:30I didn't go because I refused to be co-opted into an SNP PR operation.
16:37But inevitably, Aras Sawar and the Lib Dem leader did turn up and get a pat on the head.
16:44I raised this SNP summit during a recent meeting with senior civil servants and I was told that it was all within the rules.
16:53I was told that they had checked with something called the Government's Proprietary and Ethics Directorate.
17:01After the meeting, I had a look at the Ethics Proprietary and Ethics Directorate.
17:08It's not very easy to say.
17:10And guess who the boss of this directorate is?
17:13A certain Jay Swinney.
17:16So John Swinney holds a taxpayer funded political summit and when the civil service checks if this is okay, they ask John Swinney.
17:25They really do take the public for fools.
17:29The civil service does have a tool that it can use against ministers who make decisions which are detrimental to the taxpayer.
17:38Ministerial directions are issued by ministers when they proceed with a course of action in defiance with formal civil service objection.
17:48Since 2008, around 70 ministerial directions have been issued by UK government ministers.
17:57Under the SNP, there have only ever been three.
18:01And two of these relate to the SNP's corrupt Kalamak ferry scandal.
18:07Another egregious example of the SNP's twisted form of governance can be seen in their use of false information.
18:17They routinely appear in Parliament and on our TV screens spouting bare-faced lies, whether about energy, child poverty, education, the economy or virtually any other topic.
18:34And they then continue to spout them, even once the lie has been exposed.
18:40They have got absolutely no shame and they are allowed to get away with it.
18:46Now considering all this, you might be forgiven for thinking that Scotland has become a one party state.
18:53It's not quite, but it is, I believe, a one ideology state.
18:59The Scottish political establishment believes that taxes must only go up.
19:06That benefits must also keep rising.
19:09That immigration is always good.
19:12That free speech must be curtailed to avoid offence.
19:16That anyone can be any gender, regardless of the rights of others.
19:20That businesses should be treated with suspicion.
19:23That private enterprise must be kept in check by red tape and taxation.
19:28That trade unions must dictate what happens in schools.
19:32That throwing limitless sums of money at the NHS is the only option.
19:38All of these and more are the ideology of Scotland's political establishment.
19:44Anyone with a shred of common sense can see that change is necessary.
19:53Of course people want to play their part in society.
19:56Of course they understand the need to pay a fair share for public services and the collective good.
20:03But not when a self-serving political elite in Edinburgh treats them with such contempt.
20:12So here are three proposals that I'm making to bring about change.
20:17To take power away from the Hollywood establishment and put it into the hands of the people of Scotland.
20:24Firstly, I've got a better plan than John Swinney to put Scotland's future in Scotland's hands.
20:30Because yet again John Swinney is threatening to put independence on the ballot paper next year.
20:37Well I believe there should be more devolved power.
20:41But away from the Scottish Parliament.
20:44Local communities and councils should be empowered by a new era of devolved decision making.
20:52Communities deserve a direct say in how their money is spent.
20:57Council budgets should be bigger, funded from the SNP's vast central pot.
21:04They should no longer be ring fenced by ministers in Edinburgh.
21:09Their money, their choices.
21:11We would work on a plan to transfer new powers and funding from Edinburgh to local communities.
21:19And we will issue a detailed paper on this in due course.
21:23But one example would be to give councils the power to lower business rates in their area.
21:29It's a conservative principle to trust people to make their own decisions.
21:35People should have maximum freedom to spend their hard earned cash how they want to.
21:41On their family, to build a business, to buy a home.
21:46The next Scottish budget and after that the next parliamentary term should impose no new red tape on businesses or households.
21:57At the very least, let's guarantee to scrap existing unnecessary bureaucracy before any more is even considered.
22:13Secondly, we need a radical overhaul of transparency and accountability.
22:19Transparency is not a luxury. Accountability is not optional.
22:23Whistleblowing in the public sector should be embraced even when it upsets SNP ministers.
22:29Too often, whistleblowers in Scotland are crushed by the state which uses vast resources to inflict prolonged legal attrition.
22:39We would extend lobbying laws to public sector organisations.
22:45Those who seek to influence policies should be obligated to full disclosure.
22:51And those in receipt of taxpayers' money should publicly declare it.
22:55Ushering in a new, genuine era of transparency would shine a light on dodgy and costly decisions made behind closed doors.
23:07People would be able to see exactly how their cash is being spent.
23:13Thirdly, we would cut Scotland's self-serving political establishment down to size.
23:20We've got so many public bodies in Scotland that even Scotland's Information Commissioner cannot keep track of them all.
23:28We must reduce the number of Quangos by at least a quarter.
23:33Scotland has a far higher number of public sector workers than the rest of the UK.
23:39It's 22.5% in Scotland compared to 17.4% UK wide.
23:47We can start by returning the civil service to the levels of a decade ago.
23:53And we've already proposed what we're calling a frontline first guarantee.
23:59This would prioritise public sector jobs that actually make a difference to people's lives.
24:05In other words, more nurses and teachers, fewer pen pushers and PR people.
24:11And finally, the civil service would be outlawed from agitating for the breakup of Britain.
24:28If the SNP wants to waste its time and supposedly ring-fenced donations on this folly, that's their right.
24:38But it's not their right to do so with taxpayers' money.
24:42Now, no political party, single political party, should call the shots.
24:48Nor their public sector client stay made up of trony activists.
24:53All of the actions I've outlined today would give people the freedom to make more decisions about their own lives.
25:01We would transfer power from politicians to the people where it belongs.
25:07I trust the Scottish public to make decisions for their communities and families.
25:13And if you agree, let's work together on a new era of local power.
25:19You don't have to believe that my party has all the solutions.
25:22But we do know that meaningful power should be seized from Hollywood and put back in your hands.
25:31I want a genuine Scottish Parliament that respects, trusts and listens to mainstream Scotland.
25:48A Parliament that works for the people, not against them.
25:52Thank you very much.
26:01Thank you very much.
26:02Thanks so much.
26:04Please join me every single time.
26:06Thank you, ultimately.
26:07Thank you very much.
26:09So that was an burdensome.
26:11Thank you very much.
26:12Thank you very much.
26:13Thank you very much.
26:14Thank you very much.
26:16Mary Karim, thank you very much, too.
26:17Thank you very much.
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