John Lamont MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 17 Oct 2024 · Visitor Levies · Hansard source

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  Imposing taxes on tourists will only discourage people from enjoying the best of what the Scottish Borders and Scotland have to offer. Many small, rural businesses are struggling to sustain themselves, so I fear the extra tax proposed by the Scottish Government will be the last straw. Does the Minister share my concern about the impact that will have on tourism in Scotland? Will the Government undertake an impact study on the effect the tax will have on tourism, not just in Scotland but across the UK?

• 15 Oct 2024 · Scotland’s Economy · Hansard source

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  I totally agree. We need to invest in the skills we have; otherwise they will be lost, particularly for more traditional industries. If the skills are lost there, they might never return. I do not often agree with the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman), but she highlighted an important point about the gap that is emerging, with skills in the oil and gas sector potentially being lost if the renewable sector does not accelerate more quickly. Those in the sector up in the north-east, in Aberdeen, highlighted that point repeatedly during my time as a Minister. They were concerned that there was such a stigma attached to the oil and gas sector now that new people were not moving into that area and would not then be able to move over to the renewable sector when that opportunity arose.

• 15 Oct 2024 · Scotland’s Economy · Hansard source

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  I will make some progress, if I may, as I have taken a number of interventions. Our workers and businesses have been poorly served by a nationalist Government who have too often been distracted from the day job and who have too often overlooked and sometimes even ignored what small businesses have said. Let me outline how stark the situation has become. A recent survey by the Fraser of Allander Institute at the University of Strathclyde highlighted two key points. First, just 9% of Scottish firms agree that the Scottish Government understand the business environment in Scotland. Secondly, just 8% of businesses agree that the Scottish Government engage effectively with their sector. Those statistics should have been a wake-up call for the SNP to reset its relationship with the business community. It has been promising that reset for years, but it simply has not happened and the consequences are now becoming clear. Compared with 10 years ago, the Scottish economy has also grown more slowly than the United Kingdom’s economy overall. GDP in Scotland is 8.4% larger in quarter 2 of 2024 compared with in quarter 2 of 2014, whereas UK GDP is 14.3% higher. Although the nationalists may try to claim an excuse by citing different population-based figures, the Fraser of Allander Institute have already dismantled that, too. Its most recent economic commentary found that, “even when the differential population growth in the UK and Scotland is accounted for…growth in Scotland per person over the last 10 years has been 6% for the UK, compared to 4.3% for Scotland”. It is crystal clear that ever since the independence referendum, Scotland has suffered from an SNP slowdown. The SNP’s damaging business policies and harmful decision to bring the Greens, who do not even believe in economic growth, into government has cost our country dearly. Scotland’s economy is crying out for something different, but it is not happening at the moment. Labour and the SNP offer only more of the same old ideas. John Swinney and Anas Sarwar favour most of the same policies. They both want higher taxes on workers. They both expect businesses to pick up the bill for a bigger state. They have the same socialist ideology that has failed Scotland for decades. The left-wing parties in the Scottish Parliament have become disconnected from the lives of normal people. They spend too much time on divisive policies and fringe obsessions like gender reform and they do not spend enough time, energy, and resources on driving Scotland’s economy forward. Scottish Conservatives are proudly standing up against that left-wing consensus of the political establishment in Scotland. Scotland’s workers, businesses and indeed our entire economy need a different approach. They need a new way forward.

• 15 Oct 2024 · Scotland’s Economy · Hansard source

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  I will push back slightly on the narrative that, up until the election of the new Government, the Scottish Government and the UK Government had not been working together on the project that the hon. Gentleman mentions, or on other areas. The reality is—as, again, I know from my own experience as a UK Government Minister—that there were huge amounts of co-operation between the Scottish Government and the UK Government latterly. Yes, we did not agree on the question of independence, but it is a myth to say that just because there is a new Prime Minister, a new Labour Government, all of a sudden there is a reset. I know the UK officials behind the scenes were working incredibly hard with officials in the Scottish Government to achieve the best for all of our communities; for all of us who represent Scottish constituencies. The project he highlights is an example where both Governments should be, and have been, working together to try to achieve positive outcomes. The last Member I want to mention is the hon. Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur). I have to say I was very disappointed that he refused to oppose the new Labour Government’s decision to scrap the supercomputer project for Edinburgh University. I know it was going to be a huge boost to the university. I know that even in my own area, again in the borders, there were a number of people directly employed with that project and they were mightily disappointed when the new Government decided to rip up that deal.

• 15 Oct 2024 · Scotland’s Economy · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Glasgow East (John Grady) for bringing forward this important debate on the state of Scotland’s economy. As he highlighted, there can be no doubt that Scotland’s economy has suffered from 17 years of SNP rule. It is impossible for me to mention all the many contributors to this morning’s debate, but I want to mention a few. First, the hon. Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) rightly highlighted the multiple failures of the SNP over the last 17 years, not just in relation to economic policy, but in other areas too. The hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) talked about the importance of skills, particularly in rural areas such as his, and the same applies in my own area in the Scottish borders. Another challenge we face in the borders is access to childcare, which prevents young women from going back to work.

• 15 Oct 2024 · Scotland’s Economy · Hansard source

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  I am grateful for that intervention. I did not quite catch the first point, but the previous Government had a proud record of improving the lives of people across the length and breadth of Scotland by lifting people and families—and children in particular—out of poverty. That is a record the previous Government are rightly proud of. I wait to hear what the new Government are going to do, and what the Budget will contain. I know from businesses, many communities and residents that there is a great fear of higher tax and more money going out of people’s pockets, which will do nothing to deal with poverty in many communities the length and breadth of Scotland. The Scottish Conservatives are determined to deliver the stronger economic growth our country desperately needs. Under our new leader, Russell Findlay, the Scottish Conservatives will put forward a positive vision for the future of our country that champions the values of mainstream Scotland—opportunity, aspiration and decency. We will present positive new policies to fire up Scotland’s economic growth, create opportunities for workers and businesses, and reward aspiration with lower taxation.

• 15 Oct 2024 · Scotland’s Economy · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about Scotland’s universities and the role that they play, particularly regarding investment in our universities. So does he agree that it was a mistake by the UK Labour Government to reverse investment in the supercomputer in Edinburgh?

• 14 Oct 2024 · Points of Order · Hansard source

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  Further to those points of order, Mr Speaker. On behalf of the Opposition, I would also like to pay my tribute to the right honourable Alex Salmond. As others have said, despite political differences, we were all shocked and saddened to hear the news on Saturday of Alex Salmond’s sudden passing. He and I were both elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2007, and although we disagreed on many of the big issues of the day, not least the question of independence for Scotland, we all respect his dedication to public service as a Member of the Scottish Parliament, as a Member of Parliament and as First Minister of Scotland. He was passionate, formidable, impressive and hugely charismatic. Alex Salmond was undoubtedly a giant in Scottish and United Kingdom politics. My sincere sympathies go to his wife Moira and to his wider family, in particular his sister Gail, who lives in Hawick in my constituency in the Scottish Borders. My thoughts and prayers are with them all.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Draft Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 (Disability Assistance) (Consequential Modifications) Order 2024 · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Efford. As we have heard, the main purpose of the order is to make consequential amendments to UK legislation to ensure that recipients of the pension age disability payment—the Scottish Government’s devolved benefit that will replace attendance allowance—are treated in the same way as those in receipt of attendance allowance in respect of reserved benefits and for tax purposes. For example, receipt of pension age disability payment will passport a person to an additional amount in pension credit in the same way as attendance allowance does. As proposed by the Scottish Government, the pension age disability payment will operate in a broadly similar way to attendance allowance. I am pleased that the Scottish Government and the UK Government have worked together to deliver the pension age disability payment. I know a little bit about the work to prepare this from my time in the Scotland Office, and I pay tribute to the officials in the room today who have done a huge amount of work behind the scenes to get us to this point. The credit for the hard work that has been done to deliver the order should rest with the officials, I would suggest, rather than any politician in this room. I am happy to confirm that the Opposition will support the order today. However, although it is uncontroversial, there are questions about how the pension age disability payment might interact with reserved matters should the rules diverge from those for attendance allowance in the future. As with other devolved benefits, the Scottish Government have ruled out significant changes to the pension age disability payment eligibility rules until the process of moving attendance allowance claimants in Scotland over to the new benefit is complete. This is known as case transfer. I welcome it, and the Scottish Government intend to complete case transfer to pension age disability payment by the end of 2025. However, once case transfer is complete, it is possible that the eligibility criteria for the pension age disability payment could diverge from those for attendance allowance. That point was highlighted at a recent meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Social Justice and Social Security Committee. There was a discussion about the risk of divergence in terms of continued access to reserved passported benefits for pension age disability payment recipients. The DWP told the Committee that it would find a way to ensure that people receive their entitlements to reserved benefits. The Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary raised the possibility in future of making substantial changes to any of the disability benefits that would greatly increase the number of people who were eligible in Scotland who would not be eligible in the rest of the United Kingdom. In these circumstances, the Scottish Government would be asking the DWP to pay out benefits that would not be paid to people in a similar situation in England. It would be for the UK Government and DWP to decide what to do. Has this been considered by the Minister and his DWP colleagues? Would extra capacity at DWP be required to handle such claims? Would there be another application form or type of assessment required to make a determination for such applicants? These are legitimate questions about how the two systems will match, so I would be grateful if the Minister could deal with them. I welcome the order and am happy to confirm the Conservative party’s support for it.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Farming and Food Security · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to follow my constituency neighbour across the border, the hon. Member for Hexham (Joe Morris). Today’s debate is on a topic that interests me greatly as the son of a farmer, and also as a proud MP for a rural constituency where farmers, land managers and workers in the rural economy deliver some of the finest produce anywhere in the United Kingdom. We have so many outstanding farmers and food producers in the Scottish Borders it is impossible to name even half of them. We should be immensely proud of the food and drink produced here on our doorstep, but too often the concerns and the needs of farmers are taken for granted. They are overlooked by the SNP Government at Holyrood and now they seem to be ignored by the Labour Government here at Westminster. Politicians in those parties talk freely of the need for food security, but they do not seem to understand who delivers that food security. They speak of the need for great and high-quality produce without properly recognising the hard work that goes into producing it. They talk of the benefits of reaching net zero targets by managing land effectively and reducing the air miles for food, but do not give enough credit to the farmers who are achieving that. If Members wonder what I mean, they should look no further than this Labour Government. The Labour party manifesto for the recent general election made no mention of its plan for funding for farming.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Farming and Food Security · Hansard source

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  My right hon. Friend makes an excellent point about both the funding arrangements and the tax changes that have been speculated about in the press. Farmers are in the dark about what comes next. There may be budget cuts and there may be financial pain, but they do not really know. The Government should be listening to NFU Scotland, which recently submitted a detailed budget submission to the United Kingdom Government. Let me put on record what that submission said. It underlined the need for an increased, multi-annual, ringfenced agriculture and rural economy funding commitment in the Budget. Labour must also pay attention to the warning from NFU Scotland that, without adequate funding from the UK Government, the majority of farmers in Scotland would cease to be viable. This Labour Government cannot do to farmers what they have done to pensioners by cutting their winter fuel payment. The change they promised in the election is already looking hollow to the Scottish and British public. If they go on to cut farmers’ funding, that will reveal again that Labour is not on the side of businesses and workers. It will show that all its priorities are wrong. I do hope that it will see sense, listen to our farmers and do the right thing.

• 8 Oct 2024 · Draft Government of Wales Act 2006 (Devolved Welsh Authorities) (Amendment) Order 2024 · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Vickers. While, as we have heard, this is simply a technical instrument to amend schedule 9A of the Government of Wales Act to remove the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales—which no longer exists—from a list of devolved Welsh authorities, my concern is the Welsh Labour Government’s record on education and that this latest round of reforms will cause further damage to the education of our children in Wales. Education attainment in Wales is dreadful, as has been clearly highlighted by the latest PISA—programme for international student assessment—results. The results show a large decline in attainment, declining more in Wales than in any other country in 2022. Wales’s performance has fallen to its lowest ever level in maths, reading and science tests taken by 15-year-olds. Wales is at the bottom of the rankings for the whole of the United Kingdom in maths, reading and science. The performance of pupils in Wales has fallen significantly since the last PISA tests in 2019 and it continues to be below the OECD average. For maths, Wales is down by 21 points; for reading, it is down 18; and for science, it is down 15. But there is absolutely no sign of Labour recognising the problems that it has created or making any attempt to invest in our young people. Labour’s budget last year cut £56 million in cash terms and £140 million in real terms from the education budget. This year’s supplementary budget has resulted in a further £92 million cut in cash terms to the education budget. Those cuts include £930,000 taken away from additional learning needs and £1.2 million taken away from education infrastructure. There can be no doubt where this failure rests. It rests solely with Labour and its reforms to the education system in Wales. In Wales, the gap between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils is much wider than it is in England and there has been little to no progress in addressing that since 2009. The gulf between pupils in Wales and in England can be explained only by the difference in policy and approach. While we will not oppose the instrument, we want to record that we recognise the concerns that parents and communities have in Wales about the failure of the Welsh Labour Government to maintain educational standards.

• 7 Oct 2024 · Anniversary of 7 October Attacks: Middle East · Hansard source

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  Hezbollah began its latest assault on Israel on 8 October, the day after Hamas’s attacks on Israel. The Iran-backed terror group has fired more than 12,000 rockets towards Israel over the past year, but the international community called for a ceasefire only after Israel had responded. The Prime Minister has said that he is committed to standing by Israel against the threats that it faces, but will he deliver on his commitment to proscribing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps?

• 12 Sept 2024 · Funding for Farming · Hansard source

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  10. What discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for farming.

• 12 Sept 2024 · Funding for Farming · Hansard source

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  Being an MP for the Scottish Borders, I am lucky enough to represent some of the best farmers and food producers in the whole of the UK. However, as we have heard, the new Government have chosen not to give them any clarity about their future funding settlement, so I ask again: can the Secretary of State commit not to cut the funding for farmers and food production?

• 11 Sept 2024 · Clean Energy Projects · Hansard source

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  I congratulate new Ministers on their appointments. The last Conservative Government spearheaded various clean energy schemes for Wales, including the Celtic freeport, which has the potential to create more than 10,000 green jobs. Will the Secretary of State join me in recognising that the last Conservative Government led the way in delivering clean energy projects for Wales? Does she recognise that the Welsh Government also have to play their part, and what discussions she has had with them about their own plans to support clean energy projects in Wales?

• 11 Sept 2024 · Steel Industry · Hansard source

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  Today the Government are expected to unveil details of their steel plan for south Wales. From what has been briefed to the press, it seems that the new deal is, at its core, the same deal—worth hundreds of millions of pounds—that was agreed by the last Conservative Government. At the time, the Secretary of State and the Welsh Labour party appeared to rubbish the deal, and suggested that a better one was possible. Does she now regret the Labour party’s previous criticism of the deal?

• 11 Sept 2024 · Steel Industry · Hansard source

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  The fact remains that key parts of the deal, as it appears in the press, appear to be largely unchanged from what was agreed before, including almost £100 million to help steelworkers who might lose their jobs. In its negotiations with the last Government, Tata Steel was crystal clear that no other deal was possible. Moving forward, it is crucial that funding to help retrain those who will lose their jobs reaches them swiftly, so will the Secretary of State lay out the detail of how and when the money will be sent to those impacted?

• 4 Sept 2024 · Relationship between UK and Scottish Governments · Hansard source

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  Labour is taking a leaf from the SNP playbook by refusing to take responsibility for its own actions. This is happening because of choices made by this Labour Government that have been passed on by the SNP in Edinburgh. Labour’s election slogan was all about change and, under this Labour Government, pensioners do not seem to have any change to spare. A woman called Lesley told Age Scotland that the winter fuel payment “is literally a life saver for us.” Another person, Brian, told Age Scotland: “I would freeze without it, or go hungry.” Is this the change that Labour meant—taking money away from struggling pensioners?

• 4 Sept 2024 · Relationship between UK and Scottish Governments · Hansard source

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  I, too, start by congratulating both Ministers on their appointment to the Scotland Office. I loved my time at the Scotland Office, and I know they will be very well supported by the Department’s excellent team of officials, some of whom are in the Box today. Labour plans to end the winter fuel payment, taking money away from elderly people who have worked all their days. Age Scotland has said: “At minimum, a quarter of a million pensioners in Scotland on the lowest incomes or living in fuel poverty will no longer receive this vital financial support over the winter months, while hundreds of thousands more on modest incomes are going to struggle”. Labour has cut the winter fuel payment across the UK, and the SNP is doing Labour’s dirty work in Scotland. What does the Minister have to say to the 250,000 elderly Scots who are in poverty and struggling with the decisions of Labour and the SNP?

• 4 Sept 2024 · Energy Industry · Hansard source

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  The Rosebank oilfield will provide more than £6 billion of investment in UK-based businesses. The Jackdaw oilfield will cater for the energy needs of 1.4 million UK households. This Labour Government are jeopardising all that investment, energy and jobs by dropping the UK Government’s opposition to the judicial review, which aims to block these vital energy projects. Can the Secretary of State seriously tell the 90,000 people whose jobs rely on oil and gas in Scotland that the future of this crucial industry is secure under Labour, when it is his Government’s policy to oppose all new developments?