From his bitter campaign against Charles Kennedy to his mishandling of sexual harassment allegations against an SNP MP, it's clear that Ian Blackford has never been fit to lead.
He should have stepped aside a long time ago.
The one we've all been waiting for today.
🔶Liberal Democrats GAIN Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire
Congratulations Angus MacDonald MP!
Charles Kennedy's seat is officially represented by the Liberal Democrats once again.
"That multi-million pound contracts are routinely signed off by one line emails even when there is a legal risk reveals a causal disregard for the public purse and the jobs and livelihoods of thousands of people.
There must be a public inquiry."
@willie_rennie
This speech was Nicola Sturgeon’s Groundhog Day address.
Independence got more than 50 mentions, education didn’t get one. Just like there was nothing on ferries, long Covid or mental health.
The SNP fixation on breaking up the UK is taking people for granted.
.
@willie_rennie
has reported Nicola Sturgeon to the UK Statistics Authority for her use of Covid figures.
Public confidence in these statistics must not be put at risk. There must be no bias, spin or manipulation.
"Instead of trashing the reputation of Jim McColl, the Scottish Government should now just confess that they gambled hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to get them a cheap headline."
🗣️
@willie_rennie
Whether praising Putin or getting duped by Chinese firms the nationalists embarrass Scotland on the world stage.
People need a government that can help them see a GP and bring down bills.
They’re fed up with a government that lets standards slip while playing dress-up diplomat.
Having faced a humiliating defeat in the Supreme Court, we now learn that the SNP have thrown away a shocking amount of tax payer money on this fool’s errand.
It is time that the Scottish Government focus on what really matters.
"The very people who were outraged on behalf of Nicola Sturgeon this week were cheering her on 4 years ago when she threw the exact same insult at me.
Just like Liz Truss, the First Minister couldn’t come up with anything better to say."
@willie_rennie
"This SNP/Green Government needs to remember that it's elected to represent all of the Scottish people and not just Nationalist acolytes desperate to break up our country.
This independence drive is a criminal waste of political oxygen."
@agcolehamilton
"It's a bit ironic that Ross Greer is calling for an anti-disinformation campaign, just days after parroting nationalist nonsense about an independent Scotland not having to pay for pensions."
🗣️
@wendychambLD
"I am appalled that on the day Scotland announces its worst ever figures for cancer waits, Nicola Sturgeon is focused on another attempt to break up the UK.
Where is that same urgency for patients in need?"
@agcolehamilton
Nicola Sturgeon could find the time to attend an independence protest outside Holyrood last night.
But she's nowhere to be seen at the rally for teachers on strike for the first time in 40 years.
Teachers have been overworked and taken for granted for far too long.
We have an amendment to block the appointment of a constitution secretary. The Government should focus on putting recovery first.
@agcolehamilton
#PutRecoveryFirst
Jackie Baillie has just made a very serious point that the name of one of the complainers was privately revealed to Alex Salmond’s former chief of staff. That is very serious. An absence of action would be negligence. .
@willie_rennie
#FMQs
Parliament votes 65-58 in favour of our motion to put teachers in charge of education, reform the bodies in charge and release the OECD education report. 🎉🎉🎉Government lose all three education votes.
That the final act of this general election should see Charles Kennedy's old seat returned to Lib Dem hands and the care of Angus MacDonald is simply wonderful.
Angus has shown that the Liberal Democrats are the strongest voice for the Highlands.
For Islanders this crisis means 7431 cancelled sailings this year so far.
Hospital appointments missed, children missing school, shops and businesses missing supplies.
In any normal government, adopting international norms, ministers would resign without delay.
"It's astonishing that the SNP are spending even more money on a second referendum, when polling makes clear that the public want the government to focus on other things.
Nicola Sturgeon needs to get real about the country's priorities."
@agcolehamilton
In the wake of this embarrassing defeat for the First Minister, her party should commit to refund taxpayers for all the money that has been wasted on this case.
It is time the SNP Government finally focus on what really matters.
🚨LIB DEMS WIN CORSTORPHINE/MURRAYFIELD🚨
Congratulations to our newest councillor, Fiona Bennett!
Winning the seat with 56% of the vote to the SNP's 13%.
Just as SNP MPs had lambasted the UK government for voting to allow raw sewage into rivers, it emerges that Scotland is "way behind" even England in dealing with sewage leaks
The Environment Minister must come to Parliament to give a statement on what is being done to solve this
The SNP have once again failed to admit whether or not they have received legal advice over their Independence Referendum bill.
Why won't they simply say if they have asked for legal advice over another independence referendum?
.
@agcolehamilton
branded Nicola Sturgeon as contemptible for being the only party leader not to attend the debate on the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
Despite commissioning the hospital, despite her constituents relying on it, Sturgeon didn't show up.
"It is a statistic that has now been proven to be false.
This matters because this Scottish Government has put this claim at the heart of the debates around Scotland’s energy security, on independence and on meeting our climate targets."
@agcolehamilton
The SNP were prepared to gamble with taxpayers' money and the livelihoods of islanders for the sake of a sound bite at a party conference.
@willie_rennie
said the SNP just can't be trusted with public funds.
We need an immediate public inquiry.
Ignoring votes, holding back papers and delaying the publication of documents until after the First Minister had given evidence and now failing to minute important meetings shows a fundamental disrespect for democracy.
While Nicola Sturgeon goes through the motions people wait days for an ambulance, months for NHS treatment and years for lifeline ferries.
It is time the SNP Government finally focus on what really matters.
What Scotland needs now is new hope not old divisions.
Just at a moment when many are calling on the SNP to abandon plans for a divisive referendum next year.
The SNP are doubling down and spending more taxpayers cash on their pipe dream when people are facing the worst of living crisis since rationing.
Far from being rushed or haphazard, these debates on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill come after years of work in Scotland.
Upholding and endorsing the rights of the individual is fundamentally what this Bill is about and that is why Scottish Liberal Democrats will support it.
Not one SNP MSP backed a motion calling for upgrades to Scotland's sewage system.
We know there were more than 14,000 sewage spills last year but, it seems SNP MSPs are perfectly happy with this grimy status quo.
Can you spot your MSP on this list?🔍⬇️
.
@willie_rennie
said it is awfully convenient for Nicola Sturgeon that the latest scandal threatening her government can be blamed on someone who has since left politics.
Derek Mackay should appear before parliament to give his side of the story.
It was revealed by the think tank These Islands that a key Scottish Government statistic is false.
Given that this figure is completely fictitious, I believe it is only appropriate that Ian Blackford rises in the House of Commons to correct the record.
"Rather than spending taxpayers' money on a series of vanity publishing exercises, the Scottish Government should be using every penny to help people with the cost-of-living crisis.
That's what every minister should be focused on."
@wendychambLD
"The Greens sound more like the SNP every day. They won't even put the climate first during an election.
This Green Party must be the only one anywhere in the world to abandon its traditions and swap environmentalism for nationalism."
@agcolehamilton
The SNP are desperate to use the promise of EU membership to hoodwink remainers.
The SNP barely lifted a finger to keep the UK in the EU. They spent more money trying to win the in the Shetland by-election.
"When the SNP talk about 'Scotland’s voice being ignored', they want us to buy into a narrative in which the only legitimate voice is nationalist.
They want us to accept that Scotland has one voice. It does not."
@amcarmichaelMP
"If only the Lochaber deal had proven as lucrative for the Scottish government or the highland economy as it has for Deloitte.
This is a disastrous indictment of SNP industrial policy."
@willie_rennie
WATCH:
@agcolehamilton
challenges the SNP on breaking up the UK.
We are indeed a nation in waiting.
We are waiting for ambulances, for overdue ferries, for mental health appointments for our children.
But the SNP have placed independence above all of those issues.
How in the middle of a cost of living crisis, a pandemic and a refugee crisis, can the SNP government justify this spending?
This eyewatering cash spent on their pipe dream certainly amounts to a catastrophic mismanagement of public funds.
The SNP's management of the Scottish economy has left a gaping hole at the heart of our public finances. The fact is Scots are faced with paying more and getting less under the SNP.
Nicola Sturgeon will be forced to beg Whitehall for further funding after the SNP pledged to overspend in Scotland by £640 per person, economists have said
"The way the SNP are handling this whole sorry affair is absolutely appalling.
It’s depressingly predictable that despite his party slashing council budgets, Angus Robertson’s first instinct isn’t to offer a solution, it's to point the finger at others."
@agcolehamilton
Nicola Sturgeon has prioritised independence over the climate emergency, publishing an advert linking independence to
#COP26
@agcolehamilton
said at the time when the world is coming together, the SNP just can't leave independence at the door
"Less than 24 hours into the nationalist’s latest cunning wheeze and already the wheels are falling off the clown car.
They seem to concede they are heading for defeat in court and are brainstorming barmy schemes for what comes next."
@agcolehamilton
"The SNP are happy to splash out millions on building walls and pointing the finger, yet they say they can’t do anything to help people keep themselves warm and feed their families.
It's nothing short of shameful."
@agcolehamilton
"The government’s humiliating foray into carpentry has taken an axe to their crumbling credibility.
This was a ridiculous plan.
It would appear that the First Minister is hellbent on chopping, whether that be chopping up doors or chopping up the UK."
@willie_rennie
We're proud to announce that Gloria Adebo is our candidate for the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election.
Gloria does what Liberal Democrats do best: standing up for local communities and offering positive solutions.
"The Green minister sounds more and more like an SNP minister every day with her ‘Westminster bad’ routine.
Blaming Westminster for the shocking Scottish train service won’t wash, the trains are owned and run by the Scottish Government."
@willie_rennie
The Greens have swapped environmentalism for nationalism.
The central mission of their deal with the SNP is breaking up the UK – not the climate.
None of the answers to the global problems we face can be found in a border or a flag.
Scottish Liberal Democrats have today opposed the appointment of Angus Robertson as the Scottish Government's constitution secretary and called for the next Cabinet to focus on recovery from the pandemic. You can read
@agcolehamilton
's speech here 👇
"As Scottish families look towards the winter with dread because of the soaring cost of living, the Scottish Government has no business embarking on a vanity exercise that new international embassies represent."
@agcolehamilton
.
@agcolehamilton
said it was saddening but unsurprising to see that after Sarah Smith spoke out she received another wave of nationalist abuse.
The SNP seem to have a problem with the BBC because it won't unquestionably parrot nationalist nonsense.
The two partners to this failed agreement are at each others’ throats.
They are now trying to blame each other, but in reality they have both failed the people of Scotland.
Two clowns have left the clown car, but the circus continues.
Lib Dem Denis Rixson GAINS the Caol and Mallaig Ward from the SNP. Great result in Charles Kennedy’s old seat of Ross Skye and Lochaber. Well done Denis!
We made a generous offer: if you put independence to one side for this Parliament, we can work together on education, mental health and local government. The SNP refused to even consider a pause in their campaign.
#ScotBudget
"Ian Blackford is right to press the UK government to recall parliament to act on the cost-of-living crisis.
But, it seems hypocritical to do so while refusing to address the crises in the Western Isles that his party is responsible for."
@willie_rennie
It is utterly crass to draw any parallels between what is going on in Ukraine to Scotland’s situation, when people in Ukraine are fighting and dying to avoid falling under the yoke of the Kremlin.
The SNP and Mike Russell must apologise for this post.
The Scottish Government has done next to nothing to help direct people into the Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland service, and needs to get its act together.
The pitiful lack of referrals sharpens the challenges facing long Covid sufferers.
An Erasmus replacement scheme was an SNP 2021 manifesto commitment.
Wales has already done it.
But there is no sign of a plan from the Scottish Government, why is the minister not getting on with it?
📣
@agcolehamilton
: This information was deliberately hidden from the public. SNP ministers had knowledge of these fatal errors before the elections. I was shocked when the minister said they had known about this since March. ⬇️
It's embarrassing that the Greens are expecting the public to vote to break up the UK on the basis of 13 page pamphlets that don't even mention what currency they want to use.
Scotland deserves a serious government focused on the issues actually affecting Scots day-in, day-out.
We’ve had eight years of this utter fiasco.
Yet, we’ve had six ministers in that time. Not a single one of them, including the current First Minister, has lost their job for this fiasco.
Will anyone ever face the music for this disaster?
As a consultation into making temporary Covid powers closes today,
@agcolehamilton
has called on the SNP to hand back its unprecedented emergency powers
Many powers were never meant to be forever and it would be an affront to democracy for the SNP to try to keep them for good.
WATCH:
@willie_rennie
on why we need to bin the independence referendum bill and focus efforts instead on Putting Recovery First for Scotland.
SIGN OUR PETITION:
The SNP and Green's Covid ID cards have been flawed from the outset. It should come as no surprise that they are proving to be an unenforceable burden rather than part of our response to Covid-19, said
@agcolehamilton
This is rotten to the core.
Everyone knew from the start that there would be a public inquiry, so to delete messages on an industrial scale is shameful.
Nicola Sturgeon made an unambiguous commitment on national television to retain all records and hand them over to judges.
.
@willie_rennie
:
How can the people of Scotland judge the First Minister on her number one priority of education, if the OECD report that was supposed to get to the bottom of problems isn’t published until after the election?
#FMQs
If your daughter broke her arm you could reasonably expect her to be in plaster by the end of the day. But if she came to you with profound anxiety and self-harming behaviour, she would join one of the longest queues in the NHS. That isn't acceptable
@agcolehamilton
#sldconf
"Nicola Sturgeon’s economic plan is a dangerous recipe for years of chaos.
When it comes to breaking up the UK no price is too high and no amount of disruption too painful for the SNP."
@agcolehamilton
The Deputy First Minister announced today that expanding the SNP-Green's illiberal Covid ID card scheme is being considered by the Government
@agcolehamilton
said the Government should abandon this expansion and focus on what works: vaccinations and contact tracing
After 16 years in power, the SNP’s record is a one of complete and utter failure.
None of the contenders to replace Nicola Sturgeon will clear up the mess she’s left behind.
The Scottish people deserve so much better than this awful SNP Government.
A group of children suffering with long Covid came to parliament this morning hoping to meet Nicola Sturgeon and tell her what life is like with the awful condition of long Covid.
Unfortunately this didn't happen but
@agcolehamilton
made a point to go and see them.
Susan Murray is our candidate to be East Dunbartonshire's next MP.
The SNP have been awful for Scotland. Meanwhile the Conservatives are reduced to making excuses for Boris Johnson's lies.
In East Dunbartonshire a vote for Susan will send a message that it is time for a change.
Lib Dems have made a huge leap forward and are back as a major force in British politics.
With huge swings in Scotland we have toppled huge chunks of the acid yellow wall of the SNP.
There are far more liberals than nationalists on the benches of the House of Commons today.
Today we saw the second highest number of people waiting over 4 hours at A&E and record queues for cancer care.
But the SNP would rather waste time and effort on an unwanted push to further their obsession with breaking up the UK.
"The fact no SNP minister is willing to accept responsibility is galling.
To see the SNP’s Pete Wishart then even mock those who ask questions shows utter contempt.
Workers, taxpayers and islanders all deserve a public inquiry."
@willie_rennie
There is no such thing as a ‘de facto’ referendum.
We will fight the next election on the issues that matter.
Supporting people through the cost of living emergency, combating the crisis in our NHS and restoring Scottish education to its full potential.
There is a risk that Nicola Sturgeon's appearance at the Public Audit Committee will only herald more filibustering and finger-pointing.
If delays and costs continue to spiral, ministers must be held accountable.
They have dodged any morsel of responsibility for far too long.