Speeches by McAllister.

“The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in his statement to the House on 11 November, advised that he would “retake” the earlier decision of the Government on the question of how 1950s-born women were affected by the maladministration of pension age changes communication. I have almost 6,000 WASPI women in my con…”

“Can I ask both of you how effective UK Government measures have been in tackling the skills shortages in Scotland’s defence sector?”

“Do you think our colleges are best placed to receive that money?”

“I was hoping to hear your views on the Norwegian Government naval contract secured by the UK Government, which will provide that long-term type of work that you are referring to on the Clyde. What is your view on that?”

“Some £20 million of the UK Government’s defence industry skills package will be directed towards skills initiatives in the devolved nations—Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. How should Scotland’s share of that money be spent?”

“I did want to ask about that, so we will move on. Further education is devolved to the Scottish Parliament, but R&D is not. Do you support the introduction of defence technical excellence colleges in Scotland?”

“Is that Norwegian contract not good news for SMEs? I think there is a statistic that over 100 SMEs are supported by the two yards on the Clyde at Govan and Scotstoun. Some of them are in my West Dunbartonshire constituency.”

“In preparing for this e-petition debate, I clicked on the House of Commons Library service, which invites Members to look at a Government tracker produced by the registered charity and independent fact-checking organisation Full Fact. Did the hon. Member click on that and look at its findings in relation to the 86 pled…”

“The Minister advised in his statement that consular cases of British citizens detained abroad are at the heart of the work of the Foreign Office, and he provided an update on some of those cases. My West Dunbartonshire constituent Jagtar Singh Johal has remained arbitrarily detained in India for more than eight years; …”

“Last month, I visited Portnellan farm in my West Dunbartonshire constituency. I received a very warm and courteous welcome from husband and wife farmers David and Freda and their son Chris. The Scott-Parks run their family farm and were keen for me to hear and see at first hand the challenges that they face in ensuring…”

“We might be asking you that, because you have been in discussions with the UK Government since April, have you not?”

“Was the view formed, therefore, that the discussions had to be with the UK Government because it was about presenting the scale of the challenge, and you saw that the discussion should be about Government policy? What about a just transition plan, then, either presenting that to the UK Government over the six months or…”

“If you have no concerns about your other plants, is it just then the ethylene production operation that has the challenging environmental and economic challenges that you have described?”

“Were you part of the co-development of the just transition plan for Mossmorran that the Scottish Government announced in April 2024?”

“Would today’s UK Government announcement in Grangemouth not then fly in the face of that? That announcement today would appear to have protected 500 high-value jobs, securing the supply chain, and preserving that industrial capability. In Scotland, it is a £120 million investment, and as I understand it, that is ethyle…”

“You are in the industry and I am not, but I guess that would have taken months and months of discussions, meetings and negotiations involving the Minister, Johnny Reynolds, Jim Ratcliffe and others—I am guessing—to allow them to reach the stage where they made that announcement today.”

“This is a plan specifically about Mossmorran that you have been working on for a year and a half.”

“Mr Greenwood, as I understand it, ExxonMobil began discussing Mossmorran’s future with the UK Government in April, and you have explained to the Committee the nature of those discussions. The Scottish Government were reportedly not informed until November of this year, according to the Scottish Government. Can I ask, w…”

“The Cabinet Secretary, who was then Màiri McAllan, announced in April 2024 that they were working on that, and it would be co-produced, presumably with you. Well, that was a year and a half ago.”

“This is such welcome news for Grangemouth and Scotland just prior to Christmas. My thanks go to the Minister and all Departments that worked jointly to secure the deal. It is a pity that the SNP could not bring itself to mention the Grangemouth investment earlier today at PMQs—perhaps after decades of failure, the SNP …”