Scotsman Politics FMQs Roundup Thursday October 09 2025 #FMQs

The Scotsman

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's politics show here.

00:04We're here to unpick and unwrap First Minister's questions

00:08for another week.

00:09My name's Dale Miller.

00:10I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined

00:12by political correspondent Rachel Amory who's coming

00:15to us from the Scottish Parliament.

00:18Rachel, off the bat, I thought the exchange,

00:21the initial exchanges between Russell Finlay

00:23and John Swinney were really interesting.

00:26Russell Finlay stood up, got a few laughs,

00:29but it was a real contrast in what he got in return

00:32from the First Minister.

00:34Yeah, so Russell Finlay was the first to speak,

00:36the Scottish Conservative leader, and he was wanting

00:38to focus on the independence paper that John Swinney

00:41released earlier this week.

00:42So he tried to have a few laughs, tried to get the rest

00:44of the party behind him, a few sort of giggles and cheers

00:47and taunts as well.

00:48And then what was quite interesting was that John Swinney

00:50immediately stood up and instead of directly answering

00:53the question, decided to take him out to pause

00:55and reflect on the peace deal that's currently being

00:57discussed in the Middle East.

00:58While we're recording this video, I believe

01:00the Israeli government is trying to look at whether

01:02they're going to agree to that deal or not.

01:04So a really big difference in tone.

01:06I think that was perhaps a tactical move to try

01:08and bring the situation down, calm everything down,

01:11and to show John Swinney as being focused on sort of

01:14quite serious issues where Russell Finlay was perhaps

01:17joking and trying to sort of get some laughs on the coast.

01:19That was quite interesting to see at the start.

01:22So both John Swinney and Anna Sarwar and Alice Boe Hamilton

01:25to the Scottish Labour Party and the Scottish DEMS also took

01:28a minute to sort of pause and reflect on the situation

01:30in Gaza at the moment.

01:32We then sort of had the first sort of back and forth

01:34between Russell Finlay and John Swinney focusing

01:36on his independence paper.

01:38Russell Finlay trying to sort of make a laugh at the fact

01:40that it's called a fresh start and trying to point out

01:42that John Swinney has been in government for about 17 years,

01:45has been in some very high profile jobs,

01:48not least in the Education Secretary, Finance Secretary,

01:50Deputy First Minister and now of course First Minister,

01:52and tried to sort of say how can you possibly bring out

01:55a new paper that says it's a fresh start

01:57when you have been there for so long.

01:59So that kind of went back and forward.

02:01A lot of the old arguments we perhaps seen before

02:03between the Conservatives and the SNP.

02:06We know that the Conservatives want unionism,

02:07we know the SNP wants independence,

02:09and because it's the SNP conferences weekend

02:11are very much trying to highlight this independence debate.

02:15So a lot of things pulled on old ground,

02:17not a lot of new things were said between these two parties

02:20during the exchange there, but quite interesting,

02:22since it was in 20.

02:24Yeah, it was very much from Russell Finlay making a point

02:27off the top about, you know, a fresh start.

02:31The sort of slogan that John Swinney was speaking about

02:34in the launch of the paper yesterday,

02:37making a bit of fun of that.

02:39But independence, as we know, will be on the agenda

02:42at the SNP conference this weekend,

02:44so impossible to ignore completely.

02:47Rachel, outside of that,

02:49Anasawa took a slightly different approach

02:51with his questioning.

02:53We know we've got Douglas Ross's Right to Recovery Bill

02:55coming up for debate at Stage 1 today.

02:59Can you talk us through the likelihood

03:02of that bill progressing,

03:04but also what Anasawa had to say?

03:07Yeah, so this is this afternoon,

03:09Douglas Ross's Right to Recovery Bill

03:11being debated at Stage 1.

03:12It's a bit up in the air at the moment.

03:14We're not sure if it will go through.

03:16Now, in First Minister's Questions,

03:18Anasawa said that Scottish Labour

03:19will be backing the bill,

03:21but I'm not sure if that is enough numbers

03:22to get it over the line past Stage 1 and Stage 2.

03:26That being said, Anasawa, again,

03:27trying to take a serious issue here

03:29for First Minister's Questions,

03:31highlighting the fact that there's been 607

03:33suspected drug deaths

03:34in the first six months of this year.

03:37That means that Scotland is still

03:38amongst the highest death rates

03:41in Europe for drug use.

03:42Also trying to highlight the fact

03:43that there's perhaps a lot of residential beds

03:45sitting empty because of lack of funding,

03:47for example, too.

03:48And he then moved on the conversation

03:49onto the criminal justice system

03:51and said that in the past three years,

03:53570 people who have been up in court

03:57for drug charges

03:58have had their cases dropped,

04:00not because they've been found innocent,

04:01but because the time bar

04:03has gone out of time

04:04and therefore their case has been dropped there.

04:08Now, John's very very keen to point out

04:09that this is because of the backlog

04:10that was caused during the coronavirus pandemic

04:12and that he is very aware

04:14of how serious this issue is

04:15and trying to go back

04:16into what investment the S&P has made

04:18in recent years

04:19onto rehab

04:20and into different others

04:21as well.

04:22That being said, though,

04:23it's probably going to be

04:24a little comfort

04:24to those who are

04:26sort of on the front line here,

04:27who have got family members,

04:28for example,

04:29who have been affected by drug deaths

04:31and those who are working

04:31on frontline services too.

04:33So, again,

04:34a serious tone taken,

04:35but I'm not sure

04:36how much it will comfort

04:37those who are on the front line

04:38of this crisis.

04:39You can read Rachel's story

04:42about that exchange

04:44and the 500

04:47that were highlighted

04:48at scotsman.com.

04:49That story is live

04:50as we're speaking now.

04:52We'll also bring you

04:53the best of the rest

04:54of the exchanges,

04:55including the debate

04:56around John Swinney's

04:58independence paper,

04:59the final in a series

05:00that started back in 2022.

05:03There is some analysis

05:04around that

05:05from our political editor,

05:06Alice Le Grant, as well.

05:08We'll bring you

05:08all the very latest

05:09in the build-up

05:10to the SNP conference

05:11this weekend.

05:12There's a great piece

05:14on the site

05:14from David Boll

05:15that talks you through

05:17some of the most

05:17contentious motions

05:18that will be discussed

05:19at the conference

05:20this weekend.

05:21And both Rachel and David

05:23will be at the conference

05:24in Aberdeen

05:25and they'll bring you

05:25all the very latest.

05:26So stay tuned

05:27over the next couple of days

05:28Saturday, Sunday

05:31and Monday

05:32when some of the big hitters

05:33including John Swinney speak.

05:35Rachel, thanks to you

05:36for bringing us

05:36all the latest

05:37and thanks to everyone else

05:38for tuning in.

05:39Bye-bye.

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