Commons
Oral Questions
Wales
21 January 2026
2 contributions
Minority Language Broadcasting
4. What support her Department is providing for minority language broadcasting.
Welsh does very well out of broadcasting, but I am glad that the Western Isles are well represented on the airwaves just now. The stand-out star of this season’s “The Traitors” is Stephen Libby from the Isle of Lewis—I think he is going to win it this weekend. I am glad that Gaelic has its place in …
Commons
Proceedings
8 January 2026
Business of the House
Yesterday, with Highlands and Islands airports at the centre of international events, there was no Scottish news programming on STV—the ITV channel in Scotland—because journalists were on the picket line in Aberdeen and Glasgow. Their strike centres on STV’s plans to cut the cherished northern editi…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 January 2026
Ukraine and Wider Operational Update
I thank the Secretary of State for his statement, and pay tribute to the role of the Royal Navy and RAF personnel in taking out this rogue tanker flying under the flag of a rogue nation. The Bella 1 was taken just a few hundred miles out into the Atlantic, which is too close for comfort for those of…
Commons
Westminster Hall
7 January 2026
Rural Fuel Duty Relief
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss—apologies for not informing you of my intention to speak. I congratulate the hon. Member for North Devon (Ian Roome) on securing this important debate on an issue that affects lots of rural seats, including my own in Na h-Eileanan an Iar.
Th…
Commons
Oral Questions
Energy Security and Net Zero
6 January 2026
Renewable Energy Jobs
When it comes to creating clean jobs and local wealth, there is no better example than the community-owned wind farm sector in my Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency. I welcome what the Government have done to clean up the grid connection queue, but the community-owned wind farm sector in my constitue…
Commons
Westminster Hall
6 January 2026
3 contributions
BBC Charter Renewal
It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Maldon (Sir John Whittingdale) on securing this important debate, and thank him for his support for broadcasting in minority languages and for making programmes that would otherwise not be made.
I…
I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. I also echo the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Glenrothes and Mid Fife (Richard Baker) about the £100 million spent in Scotland and elsewhere to make sure not just that all voices from across all parts of the UK are heard and seen on the BBC…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 January 2026
Venezuela
I thank the Foreign Secretary for her statement and her stamina. Over the past hour and 40 minutes, no one has regretted the downfall of Nicolás Maduro, but notwithstanding what the Foreign Secretary has said about the tension between practical, progressive realism and political principle, few of us…
Commons
Oral Questions
Home Department
5 January 2026
Asylum Hotels
Bliadhna mhath ùr—happy new year to you, Mr Speaker. Will the Minister update the House on Cameron barracks in Inverness and plans to move some asylum seekers to that town?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
17 December 2025
INEOS Chemicals: Grangemouth
I thank the Minister for the statement and the work his team and the Scotland Office team did in securing the 500 jobs at Grangemouth. I also pay tribute to the former Business Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds)—now the Chief Whip—for the work he …
Commons
Proceedings
11 December 2025
8 contributions
St Andrew’s Day and Scottish Affairs
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and Dollar (Graeme Downie) for securing this debate on St Andrew’s day and for giving us the opportunity to take stock of the issues and challenges facing Scotland. I will not detain the House for long, Madam Deputy Speaker, because you caught me on …
I do not think I will.
Of course, St Andrew was bilingual, or trilingual or quadrilingual—as my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson) pointed out, he is celebrated in Russia and Greece. He appears on the Basque flag, and Basque is the oldest language in Europe. If he and his c…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Women and Equalities
10 December 2025
Topical Questions
T3. Western Isles Women’s Aid in my constituency helped 180 women last year. The refuge is working at capacity, yet its funding is uncertain. That is why my fundraiser on Friday will seek to raise funds for the organisations. More than 1,800 women reported domestic abuse in the highlands 10 years ag…
Commons
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
EU Exit: Economic Growth
Has the Treasury made any assessment of the SNP’s plans to separate Scotland from its main market, the rest of the UK, which accounts for 60% of its trade? While I am at it, may I thank the Chancellor for the £820 million extra for the Scottish budget?
Commons
Ministerial Statement
25 November 2025
G20 and Ukraine
My friend the Scottish journalist Jen Stout has just returned from the grey zone between Russian and Ukrainian forces, where to try to evacuate the wounded or even to wander outside for a moment is to invite death from the sky by drones. The message she brings back from Ukrainians on the frontline i…
Commons
Proceedings
20 November 2025
Russian Ship Yantar
The Yantar was intercepted in the north Atlantic, which is the UK’s new frontline but my constituents’ backyard. I was reassured by the preparedness of the RAF and the Royal Navy and grateful for their defence of our airspace and seaspace, but what assurance can the Minister give my constituents abo…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
19 November 2025
Engagements
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
When the Prime Minister next meets the President of the United States, will he ask him if he knows any reasonably priced hotels near the MetLife stadium in New Jersey, where the world cup final is to be held, and, as we are about to provide the biggest boost to whisky exports…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
18 November 2025
ExxonMobil: Mossmorran
I pay tribute to the Minister for his work, and to my hon. Friend the Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) for hers, in trying to engage regularly with ExxonMobil for the last couple of months. However, they failed to extract any viable proposal from the company on a way forward. Shar…
Commons
Westminster Hall
18 November 2025
2 contributions
UNESCO: 80th Anniversary
It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Derbyshire (Jonathan Davies) on securing the debate.
We will hear a lot today about UNESCO world heritage sites across the UK, from the Giant’s Causeway to Saltaire and the Palace of Westmins…
Even in the summer.
The sea cliffs of St Kilda are among the highest in the UK. When you crane your neck up from the deck of what feels like a very small boat below those cliffs, it feels as if someone has dragged New York’s skyscrapers midway across the Atlantic. The sea stacks teem with bird life…
Commons
Debate
17 November 2025
Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Power Station: Wylfa
Scotland’s Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes, told the SNP conference that her Government would not allow Labour to turn Scotland into a “nuclear playground”. I guess she knew her audience, but given her reputation as the common-sense member of that Government, she should have known better. That ki…
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
Remembrance Day: Armed Forces
Madam Deputy Speaker, it was a pleasure to join you today at the remembrance service in Westminster Hall, and it was an honour to attend services in Tarbert, Harris in my constituency and at the Lewis war memorial in Stornoway at the weekend. The years are passing, but the numbers attending are not …
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 November 2025
Support for Dyslexic Pupils
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Adam Dance) and my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Juliet Campbell) for leading on this very important issue.
In the short time that I have, I want to give a perspective from Scotland, where…
Commons
Oral Questions
Business and Trade
30 October 2025
2 contributions
Trading Relationships
12. What steps his Department is taking to improve the UK's trading relationships with other countries.
I welcome the Secretary of State to his place and invite him to Benbecula Distillery in my place. It is a dramatic lighthouse distillery, and a great addition to the landscape. It recently secured £1.5 million from the British Business Bank’s investment fund. Benbecula’s distillery is one of a chain…
Commons
Proceedings
29 October 2025
Asylum Seekers: MOD Housing
As the Minister pointed out, and as Shaun Fraser, the Labour candidate for Inverness, said yesterday, this situation has arisen because of the broken asylum system that the Labour Government inherited from the Conservatives, but it must be handled sensitively. While I sympathise with my friend, the …
Commons
Debate
27 October 2025
2 contributions
North Sea Oil and Gas Industry
I have to say that this is a very underpowered urgent question. It is similar to a two-stroke engine attached to a rowing boat— [ Interruption. ]
I was, of course, referring to the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Andrew Bowie), who knows full well that he has missed the story here. Petrofac went into administration because the Dutch Government cut a contract for offshore wind farm developments. I dare s…
Commons
Oral Questions
Work and Pensions
27 October 2025
Topical Questions
I welcome the Secretary of State to his office and thank the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Stretford and Urmston (Andrew Western), for a recent visit to the DWP debt and fraud centre in my constituency. There are 95 jobs at the centre doing tremendous …
Commons
Proceedings
23 October 2025
Business of the House
A return flight from my Western Isles/Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency to Glasgow can cost £600 return. That is enough to make Donald Trump think twice about coming to his mother’s home island. There is an air discount scheme, but what we really need is a public service obligation, with Government …