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Scotsman Politics: FMQs Unpicked Thursday February 20 2025 #FMQs
The Scotsman
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20/02/2025
Scotsman Politics: FMQs Unpicked Thursday February 20 2025 #FMQs
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00:00
Hello, and welcome to the Scotsman's Politics Show.
00:03
We're here to unpick and wrap up First Minister's questions
00:07
for another week.
00:08
Rachel Amory, our political correspondent,
00:10
coming live from the halls of Holyrood.
00:13
Rachel, we thought it would be a bit of a spicy FMQs.
00:17
It didn't let us down, thankfully.
00:19
I know you've been covering blow by blow
00:21
of what's happened over the past hour.
00:24
Take us through the key question,
00:26
because we probably all knew it was coming,
00:28
and Russell Finlay went straight in on same-sex spaces.
00:32
Yes, we were very much expecting the FMQs today
00:35
to kind of be dominated by single-sex spaces
00:37
and transgender rights,
00:38
particularly in the back of this employment tribunal
00:41
that's happened between the nurse, Sandy Peggy,
00:44
and Dr. Beth Upson in NHS Fife.
00:46
It's been going on all week.
00:47
Earlier in this week, you might remember as well,
00:49
the Conservatives, in fact, several MSPs
00:51
from different parties, actually,
00:53
tried to get questions heard on this in the debating chamber,
00:57
and these questions were rejected.
00:58
The Conservatives then tried to amend
01:00
the parliamentary timetable
01:02
to force the health secretary to make a statement,
01:04
and that was voted down.
01:05
So we kind of expected this slot
01:08
the Conservatives have every single week at FMQs
01:10
to be dominated by this instead.
01:13
So it was very much on single-sex spaces,
01:16
what the guidance is for public bodies,
01:18
and how the Equality Act is to be used by public bodies,
01:21
such as NHS boards, for example.
01:23
It did get very, very heated.
01:26
John Swinney, very keen to point out
01:27
that he cannot comment on anything
01:29
that might compromise the employment tribunal,
01:31
which has now been adjourned into the summer,
01:33
so it's still very much ongoing,
01:35
but lots of quite angry back and forth,
01:38
lots of laughing at disbelief
01:39
in some of the comments being made as well.
01:42
So very much a spicier FMQ
01:44
than what we've seen of late from there.
01:46
Now, the Labour Party did go on health,
01:48
but they did also refer to the case of Sandy Peggy
01:51
and Dr. Beth Upson as well,
01:53
basically referring to the priorities of the NHS
01:56
and the money that's being spent on this case
01:58
compared to frontline health services, for example.
02:01
It wasn't just that that was being talked about
02:04
at FMQs today.
02:05
We also had Pam Gosal.
02:06
She's a Scottish Conservative MSP.
02:08
She was talking about single-sex spaces,
02:10
particularly in schools.
02:11
It was slightly different, not directly about this case,
02:14
but a very, very similar issue,
02:16
and again, referring to the case of Sandy Peggy
02:18
and Dr. Beth Upton,
02:19
saying that it shows that the mindset
02:22
that's being of gender identity and self-ID
02:26
produced by the SNP is being infiltrated into public bodies.
02:31
And she was trying to say that it's unfair
02:33
for there to be no single-sex toilet in schools.
02:36
But again, it was very much a case
02:38
of looking at the legislation that's already in place
02:40
and trying to get technical on the details of all of that.
02:44
Rachel, please correct me if I'm wrong,
02:46
but the hearing's not meant to restart until July,
02:49
I think it is.
02:50
I mean, we're looking, that's four months away.
02:53
That's a considerable period of time.
02:55
What's, can John Swinney's position hold?
02:58
I cannot comment on this issue in general
03:01
because of the hearing
03:02
when he's going to be asked about it
03:04
for the next four months.
03:05
Is that realistic that he can stick to this position?
03:08
I think at this point, it's almost like he's got to.
03:11
It's one of the things that are so far down the road now
03:13
that it can't, it will look quite bad for the party
03:16
to u-turn on this at this point in time.
03:18
Earlier this week, for example,
03:19
Anna Sarwar and Jackie Bailey from the Labour Party
03:22
said that they would not have voted for gender reforms
03:24
back in 2022 if they had known
03:26
this was coming down the line.
03:27
That has not necessarily gone down that well
03:30
with the public, basically people saying,
03:32
why did you not have this position at the time?
03:36
So it's unlikely we're going to see a change in position,
03:38
but as you said, it's a very, very long legal process.
03:41
We're now just going to have months and months
03:42
of this debate because there's going to be no answer
03:45
to what's going to happen until the summer
03:47
when the poorest parliament is in recess.
03:50
One thing to note, it's quite interesting
03:51
that it was the Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes,
03:53
just before FNQ started, there was newspaper reports
03:57
that she had said that she gives her full backing
03:59
to single-sex spaces, which is perhaps a bit sort of firmer
04:03
than anything we've heard from John Swinney
04:04
or the Health Secretary, Neil Gray, on this issue.
04:06
But again, Kate Forbes is very keen to not comment directly
04:09
on the case that's happening at NHS Fife.
04:12
It's an interesting one because I would love
04:15
to have heard the discussions behind the scenes on this one
04:17
because clearly Scottish Labour have said,
04:20
look, we'll update our position.
04:22
We'll maybe even take a hit with some people
04:24
who criticise us now, but at least allows us to move on
04:28
and be critical of the situation,
04:30
whereas the position from John Swinney
04:32
and the Scottish government and the SNP means
04:35
it is going to drag out for them
04:37
and it's going to keep coming up.
04:38
So which is better from a political point of view?
04:41
It's a good argument to make.
04:43
Rachel, health was referenced as well.
04:48
We know it's a big issue for Scottish Labour.
04:51
We know it's a big issue for the government as well
04:53
that's made some commitments lately.
04:56
We're expecting it'll be talked about again
04:58
over the coming days with Scottish Labour
05:01
to start their conference tomorrow.
05:03
Can you talk through what was asked by Anas Sarwar
05:06
but also the significance of that discussion
05:08
heading into the weekend?
05:10
Yes, so Anas Sarwar almost every week goes on the NHS.
05:13
So no surprises there.
05:14
This is what was happening this week.
05:16
And again, seeing there's huge waiting lists.
05:19
So many Scottish people are on these NHS waiting lists.
05:22
And one of the reasons, one of the knock-on impacts of that
05:25
is more people trying to get GP appointments
05:27
and recurring GP appointments
05:29
for things that would perhaps be fixed
05:31
if they could get to hospital in a shorter amount of time.
05:35
So the Labour Party have come out
05:37
with the past week of a new policy point
05:39
if they were to win the next year's election
05:41
to say that they would end the 8 a.m. rush
05:43
for a GP appointment and would have everyone
05:45
seeing a GP within 48 hours.
05:48
Again, slightly another sort of problem with Labour Party,
05:51
sometimes we don't get a lot of detail
05:52
on these sorts of points.
05:53
And perhaps a bit of detail lacking here
05:56
on this point that was made by Anas Sarwar.
06:02
His position on what they want to do with the health service.
06:06
Now, as you were saying,
06:07
it's Scottish Labour Party conference in Glasgow
06:09
starting tomorrow.
06:11
Myself and political editor Alistair Grant
06:13
and deputy political editor David Ball,
06:14
we are all going to be there this weekend
06:16
to bring you all the latest news from that.
06:18
But I would expect there to be a lot of discussion
06:20
about the health service.
06:21
I know that Jackie Bailey, for example,
06:23
who you may have just seen walk behind me,
06:25
she has got some panel events booked in.
06:28
She's also got a few talks
06:29
that she's been expected to make on the health service.
06:32
So we will definitely hear some more
06:33
about what Labour plans to do for the health service
06:36
over the next few days,
06:37
particularly because they have made this such a key issue
06:40
for them when it comes to next year's
06:42
Scottish Parliament election.
06:45
Thank you very much for joining us
06:47
and talking us through all that.
06:48
You can read all the latest of our coverage
06:51
to come out of First Minister's Questions at scotsman.com.
06:54
We're running a live blog across it
06:57
and the blow-by-blow details are in that.
06:59
But there will also be more running on our site
07:01
over the next 24 hours on health and the political fallout
07:07
from what was discussed today as well.
07:09
On top of that,
07:10
there's some key council tax decisions being made today.
07:13
We will know how much Edinburgh and Glasgow
07:16
are going to be raising council tax,
07:18
which will affect a lot of people,
07:20
I'm sure, that are tuning in.
07:22
So please follow us for all the latest
07:24
and go out and buy a copy of The Scotsman tomorrow
07:27
for the full package.
07:28
Thanks to you, Rachel.
07:29
Thanks to everyone else.
Recommended
6:13
|
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