Speeches by Doogan.

“I think the Scottish Government are willing to run on a comparatively favourable record. Was that a no? After all that, I do not know whether you agree or not.”

“To come back to the question, Secretary of State, the basis of the First Minister’s claim is that the precedent was set in 2011 when the SNP won a majority in that election. Do you agree that constitutionally the UK operates on the basis of precedent and so from that perspective the First Minister’s analysis is sound?”

“Another central tenet of the First Minister’s argument is that things have changed substantially since 2014. I am sure you are not advancing an argument that Scotland made a decision in 2014 and therefore it will not be in a position to make that decision ever again. On that basis, why is the pursuit of precedent not l…”

“Which he does weekly. But to be clear, and I think I am picking it up in your answer, as long as you decide independence is not a priority for Scotland, regardless of the sovereignty of the Scottish people, the choice over independence will be continued to be denied to the people of Scotland, even now when polling for …”

“I am not much interested in what your party or even my party wants. I am interested in fulfilling the constitutional ambition of the Scottish people and there is no means to do that in the absence of a referendum, which you are obviously quite keen to deny. Do you not believe that there is a significant appetite in Sco…”

“The wait lists have gone down.”

“Secretary of State, did you say it is down to 200? That is UK-wide?”

“The Scottish Secretary—a grown man who seems easy to upset—was very upset recently when the First Minister of Scotland had direct meetings with the President of the United States over whisky tariffs. The SNP and the First Minister will always stand up for Scotch whisky. Will the Chancellor follow suit, or will she cont…”

“The shadow Minister will, of course, be delighted to know that the Scottish National party was the first party anywhere in the United Kingdom to introduce business rates relief for small businesses. As for the Labour Government’s business literacy, which the hon. Gentleman critiques quite accurately, does it concern hi…”

“Does the Minister understand the immediacy of the pressure on small businesses? She may have the best of intentions, and I am sure that prices will unwind in five or 10 years, eventually resulting in lower energy bills for commercial enterprise across the United Kingdom. That will not happen this week, however, or even…”

“The Ministry of Defence spent £1.2 billion with SMEs in 2024-25. Sadly, though, only 2.5% of that spending went to SMEs in Scotland, which report extreme difficulty in accessing those MOD contracts. This is an inevitable consequence of the MOD spending more in one region of England than it spends in Wales, Northern Ire…”

“A century of Labour taking the people of Wales for granted came crashing down last week with the sensational victory of Plaid’s Lindsay Whittle in Caerphilly, with Labour reduced to third place. Why would anybody accept any more Labour, as Labour’s cost of living soars, its Westminster perma-crisis deepens, and 700,000…”

“3. What recent discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on reducing the cost of living in Wales.”

“That is a problem in itself.”

“Thanks both, and it is nice to see you. The £3 million recurring savings the company is looking to make, rough order, funnily enough is about an average salary of £50,000, which comes out at 60 jobs. Is your assessment that its entire savings plan is predicated on cutting 60 jobs out of the north?”

“To confirm, because I think you have covered it, so we do not need to spend too long on it, how would you characterise the engagement of the company with the trade unions and/or staff in the run-up to this?”

“Are these individuals members of the union?”

“Thank you. Philippa, did you want to add anything to that?”

“Very quickly, because we have a lot to get through, the dynamic that has been emanating from STV with this unilateral approach to its ambitions and fulfilling its ambitions, has that been consistent throughout up to and including the hearing at the Scottish Parliament? Does it remain the behaviour to this day, this uni…”

“So 37 jobs in the newsroom in Aberdeen; is that right?”