Speeches by Alexander.

“The mandate on which we were elected as a UK Government was very clear that we are not countenancing the break-up of the United Kingdom or a further referendum. Secondly, one of the differences between now and 2014 is that 2014 actually happened. We had our choice, we made our choice. I know that is a matter of disappo…”

“As I say, it is my political judgment that this is a smokescreen. When you say that the Scottish Government are happy to run on their comparative record, if, respectfully, you or indeed the Scottish Government think this is as good as it gets, I welcome the chance for the court of Scottish public opinion to reach its j…”

“As I say, the constitutional apparatus that was in place in 2014 remains in place, so in that sense we have been very clear as to the basis on which Scotland made its choice. On what John Swinney is claiming will happen after May, respectfully I would rather play the game than engage in the post-match analysis before a…”

“If you would let me answer the question. You are perfectly entitled to ask questions; I am perfectly entitled to answer them. We made our choice as Scots in 2014. I know that was a matter of disappointment for some on the Committee, but we made a clear and categoric choice by 10 percentage points, by 55% to 45%. At the…”

“Respectfully, the First Minister claims a lot and is pursuing what I regard as a core vote strategy with independence supporters.”

“Yes. As I say, the ambition was never to judge the effectiveness of UK Government spend by—with respect to the civil servant sitting on the panel—the number of civil servants that we employ or the number of bureaucrats who are working on public policy. The opportunity was to scale hundreds, and indeed thousands, of job…”

“Thank you for your three questions. Let me try to deal with them each in turn. First on GB Energy, I had the opportunity to meet with GB Energy leadership in Aberdeen on Thursday. I would respectfully and politely observe that we promised to set up a publicly owned energy company, the first in 70 years, and our Governm…”

“I tend to find that Ministers once assuming office are entirely in favour of ministerial continuity and I adhere to that maxim, definitely.”

“I was too polite to make the observation.”

“The most salient example of that probably is I understand I am the first Secretary of State for Scotland to have travelled abroad with the Prime Minister to make the case for Scottish business and Scottish jobs. Shortly on taking office I travelled with the Prime Minister and more than 100 businesses and vice-chancello…”

“You will appreciate that for any Select Committee—and I have done a number of them over many years—I ask the Department to provide me with a detailed briefing across a whole range of issues. It will not come as a great surprise that my awareness of the Committee’s reports was quite high up my list of what I was going t…”

“I had a fair sense that I would be asked about things like EFI college funding, given the situation that we are in at the moment. I had a fair idea that we would probably talk about independence, because that tends to be what the SNP talks about a lot, but I am very happy to answer any questions that any Committee memb…”

“I am in a position where I answer the questions that you put to me.”

“I can assure you that I am both alive to and grateful for the work of this Committee. I am conscious of the report and, as you can imagine, ahead of this Committee had the opportunity to make myself familiar with the terms and recommendations of the report. I can give you the undertaking that I will make sure that the …”

“I would be very happy to write to you.”

“There is a formal process, which I am sure Fiona can speak to, for annual reports and the standard work that is undertaken. We have a governance structure involving non-executive directors and others, but in that sense I have been very much reading myself into the brief in the last few weeks. That has afforded me the o…”

“First, let me pay tribute to my predecessor, Ian Murray, and the work that he and Kirsty did during the first 14 or 15 months of this UK Government. On arriving in the Department I said I was keen to build on the priorities that had been set by the outgoing Secretary of State. In relation to Brand Scotland, in my previ…”

“Thank you for the opportunity to appear relatively early in my tenure. Let me set out the priorities as I see them for the Scotland Office. The first is working with Departments across Whitehall to maximise opportunities in key economic sectors such as defence, energy, life sciences, financial services, and food and dr…”

“I sense that it might be myself. We would take seriously any SNP majority, but if the SNP is returned to office, I hope it will do better than it has done over the past 18 years. I assure the hon. Gentleman that we on the Government Benches are not anticipating defeat; we are working for victory.”

“Not least because he has just turned up, let me say that I always agree with my boss. The reality is that we are clear and unequivocal that we do not want the break-up of the United Kingdom. As Scots, we made our choice in 2014, and that was for a better future within the United Kingdom.”