Scotsman Politics: FMQs roundup Thursday June 26 2025 FMQs

The Scotsman

Dive into this week's wrap-up of First Minister's Questions at Holyrood. Dale Miller and Alistair Grant dissect the pressing issues debated in the Scottish Parliament.   The discussion focuses heavily on the state of the NHS, particularly concerning cancer treatment statistics. Opposition leaders challenge the First Minister on healthcare performance and funding. The conversation also explores the implications of the Scottish Government's medium-term financial strategy, including potential public sector job cuts and efficiency measures.   The panel analyses the political attacks related to the Health Secretary's trip to Japan and the broader financial challenges facing Scotland. Get insights into the key debates and challenges shaping Scottish politics.   #ScottishPolitics #FMQs #NHSScotland #ScotlandBudget

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Politics Show.

00:03We're here to wrap up First Minister's Questions for another week.

00:06I'm Dale Miller, Deputy Editor of the Scotsman.

00:09Alistair Grant is coming to us from the halls of Holyrood.

00:15And Alistair, there was a lot of questions about health.

00:20We got some stats about cancer earlier this week.

00:23They were worrying.

00:24Every party's gone on it.

00:25And there was even a Titanic reference thrown in.

00:28So run us through it.

00:30Yeah, this was one of those First Minister's Questions in Holyroods

00:32where every single party leader goes on roughly the same topic.

00:36And this was the state of the NHS and specifically those cancer statistics

00:40that were released earlier this week.

00:42So Russell Finlay, the Scotsman's Tory leader,

00:44bringing it up in his first question,

00:46saying that one in three cancer patients were not receiving treatment when they need it.

00:50He was talking about the SNP's culture of failure.

00:54John Swinney was effectively accepting that performance in this specific target area

00:58was not acceptable.

01:00The Scottish Government was focused on making improvements.

01:03But he was also pointing to the fact that in parts of the country,

01:05specifically Lanarkshire, NHS Lanarkshire, those targets are being met.

01:09So he was saying that lessons can be learned by looking at what they're doing.

01:13Russell Finlay was calling for an increase in cancer spending.

01:17He was asking for the launch of an emergency cancer fund.

01:21The money from this would come from the Scottish Government's budget underspend.

01:26We had those figures that were released, I believe, yesterday.

01:29The Scottish Government has to balance its budget.

01:31It can't borrow money in any huge way.

01:33So every single year there is an underspend.

01:36The Scottish Government always points out that it equates to about 1% of its overall budget.

01:40But the parties always say that, you know, that £500 million, whatever it was,

01:44could have been spent on improving the public services in Scotland.

01:47And that's the argument that Russell Finlay is making.

01:51John Swinney saying that the Scottish budget has already increased funding for the NHS for cancer services.

01:57And Anna Sarwar, Scottish Labour leader, you touched on this.

01:59He was going on this issue again, had that kind of catchy soundbite when he asked John Swinney,

02:06has the guy that claims to have steadied the ship now become the captain of the Titanic?

02:11This is obviously referring to the fact that John Swinney came in as First Minister and SNP leader

02:15as this kind of stabilising figure, a difficult time for the party.

02:20Anna Sarwar obviously saying that he has not stabilised things and things are just getting worse.

02:26And so, yeah, it was very much focused on the health service.

02:29And I think the other notable thing is there was a couple of attacks both from Russell Finlay and Anna Sarwar

02:34on Neil Gray, the health secretary, and the fact that at the moment he's in Japan on Scottish government business.

02:41John Swinney says that he sent him to Japan, that he's there to promote the life sciences sector,

02:47which is a big industry for Scotland.

02:49It's very important for the university and research sector.

02:51But of course, Russell Finlay and Anna Sarwar saying that he's on a jaunt to Japan

02:56when he should be back here trying to do something about some of these massive problems we've got in the NHS.

03:01I know there's been some ongoing comparisons made by Labor between the UK health secretary

03:07and the performance of Neil Gray and questions around who's doing it better effectively.

03:14Alistair, just on the subject, you mentioned the cancer wait times and the attacks there.

03:19It comes against the wider backdrop, which is the medium-term financial strategy for the Scottish government

03:24that was published late yesterday.

03:27Shona Roberson talked about the impact of that.

03:30But the extent of it is a near £5 billion black hole by 2030

03:36and a commitment to cut the public sector workforce, the devolved workforce,

03:41by 0.5% per year over that period.

03:45Now, Alistair, that works out as in the first year as 2,750 jobs.

03:51The devolved workforce includes NHS workers,

03:54and we're talking some 10,000 to 12,000 roles that would need to go to meet this target within five years.

04:01It is a massive number.

04:03How do you think the government could actually achieve this and what impact will it have?

04:07Yeah, I mean, making efficiencies in the public sector in Scotland

04:10is something that has been talked about for quite a while now,

04:13the fact that the Scottish government accepts that the number of civil servants,

04:17the size of the civil service sector is too large, needs to go down,

04:23and it kind of ballooned during the pandemic levels,

04:27during the pandemic, sorry, and now it has to kind of return to something approaching pre-pandemic levels,

04:32or at least become smaller.

04:34And that probably involves a lot of difficult decisions.

04:36I think in Brighton City, the Scottish government has a policy of no compulsory redundancy,

04:40so if you're looking for this to be made by voluntary redundancies,

04:43by moving people around, the impact that has is obviously something to watch.

04:49Ivan McKee, the government minister, has been tasked with looking at ways that they can kind of save money

04:54by, you know, quote-unquote making efficiencies within the Scottish government, within the public sector.

04:59That's obviously a euphemism for cuts in some shape or form.

05:03So I think this is very much one to watch, and there could be some difficult decisions down the line,

05:08particularly when it comes to how the public sector trade unions handle this as well,

05:13and what their reaction to it is.

05:15So, yeah, it's a difficult issue for the government, but at the end of the day, money does need to be saved.

05:19The Scottish Fiscal Commission has produced some analysis around that medium-term financial strategy.

05:27Our Deputy Political Editor, David Boll, has written a report off that.

05:31The Commission's saying cutting that many jobs without cutting services is quite easier said than done,

05:37but there's more to the analysis than just that.

05:39You can read the full report at scotsman.com.

05:43If you ever can't find any of our politics coverage,

05:45there's a politics tab in the navigation that are available off the homepage,

05:49and you can pick up a copy of the Scotsman in print tomorrow for all the latest on politics here in Scotland

05:55and more widely across the rest of the UK.

05:58We'll also have a write on the evidence given by former Dundee University principal,

06:05Professor Ian Gillespie today, who has spoken about incompetence,

06:09incompetence, sorry, when he was asked, read questions about how the university slipped into the financial hole it's in now.

06:17Alistair, thanks to you, and thanks to everyone else for joining us.

Category

Transcript

Recommended