Speeches by Murray.

“You used the word “demoted”. It has not been demoted; there has always been a track 1 and a track 2 process. Track 1 has been fully funded; it went through approvals because it has its readiness. Track 2—although it is not necessarily a track 2, and it has always been said to Acorn that it was right behind, and next in…”

“That was a decision that was made by the previous Government. It came down to the fact that the heavy industries in the cluster around the track 1 projects were a much readier source of carbon than the Acorn project itself. Despite the fact that Acorn had the infrastructure, it did not necessarily have the level and vo…”

“To highlight, the Glasgow chamber of commerce has recently been to Shanghai. The interim director of the Scotland Office accompanied them to try to get some big projects over the line. We are all looking for measurables, but some things need a nudge from Government to get them over the line. Hopefully, we will get some…”

“I do not want to spend any time at this Committee talking about global instability because everyone knows that is the case. Maybe I could just use that as the first sentence to segue into the fact that from a Scotland Office perspective, all that is incredibly important. We have seen the increase in defence spending an…”

“Yes, the Prime Minister and the Government have been very clear that the decisions on defence spending here are driven by the fact that we have to drive forward a much clearer and much more locally grown defence in that sense. Supporting NATO is sacrosanct, as are the international alliances that we have, but standing …”

“To be fair to Ineos, it did facilitate Project Willow. It worked very closely with the consultants to get Project Willow together because it had to drive it in terms of what the site’s capability was, and what the site currently has on its footprint. I have never had anything other than good faith discussions with Ineo…”

“It is operationally independent in the sense that projects that come forward to bid into that £200 million ringfence will still have to be investable propositions under the remit of the National Wealth Fund, but it was a commitment from the Government to say, “We are confident that there are some big investable proposi…”

“It is very positive. We have discussed this at Committee before. Just 72 hours after the general election, the Prime Minister hot-footed it to Scotland, as he had promised to do, to meet with the First Minister and make it very clear that he wanted to reset the relationship between the UK and Scottish Governments. This…”

“You might be very pleased with our director appointment that is just about to be announced, in terms of her location.”

“Not really, but a thought for the record. We had this debate in the House of Commons with a private Member’s Bill from your colleague. There are bigger challenges to think about in terms of the depopulation of Scotland, and we have heard some of those already from Mr MacDonald. There are huge opportunities, but is the …”

“To make a general comment on that: when we have talked to growth deal partners about what the next stage looks like, one issue has been that it is all about quantum of money, etc., but one of the key drivers of what could happen in local growth is the devolution of skills. For example, I know the Edinburgh city region …”

“There is a drive for efficiencies in the sense of what the Government have been trying to do through the spending reviews, and to shift the day-to-day spending from administration of Government Departments to frontline priorities in terms of programme budgets. That has not been different in the Scotland Office. Brand S…”

“I have mentioned the UK Government’s commitment of £20 million for Orbex. The UK Space Agency is offering another £5.5 million to the international bilateral fund to support partnerships between UK organisations and international space entities. The UK Space Agency accelerator is open for use as well to early-stage bus…”

“In all honesty, I do not think it is threat. I think it is a reality now because the refinery has closed. The vast majority of those jobs have gone, save for the decommissioning jobs and those that have to be there for safety. That gap has always been the biggest concern. Whether it be Project Willow or the Falkirk and…”

“This is normally what happens in terms of the process. You would make a bid to Treasury for the funding of a particular project and it would determine whether or not, in principle, it would support it. The Budget announcement in that sense is the principle, and when the Treasury says through the Chancellor that it will…”

“The 10% tariff on Scotch whisky is a concern. It is low but, hopefully, the direction of travel you can see in our relationship with the US is very positive in trading terms. Having spoken to the industry, I am confident. It is worth saying that every single sector and business leader, including the Scotch Whisky Assoc…”

“The strategy of the Government in terms of trade deals in general, and the US in particular, is to make sure we are doing everything in the national interest. We have lower tariffs with the United States than anywhere else in the world. It was really important to get that over the line. There were tens of thousands of …”

“As the father of an 18-week-old daughter, I am absolutely horrified by those proposals and I know that they will be causing anxiety for families across Lanarkshire. That is why it is so disappointing to see the SNP candidate in the Hamilton by-election back the plans to downgrade the Wishaw neonatal unit. The way to se…”

“I have brought glasses to see if I can find an ounce of credibility in the SNP’s candidate in Hamilton for voting against that £8 million. The SNP candidate is a councillor from Cambuslang who stood for election twice in Rutherglen, sought selection in Shettleston and then voted against £8 million for the Hamilton town…”

“As a former publican, I know that these are hard times for businesses on the high street. We are investing £200 million in our plans for neighbourhoods in Scotland, with £20 million-worth of funding for towns including Irvine, Greenock, Kilmarnock, Coatbridge, Clydebank, Elgin, Dumfries, Arbroath, Peterhead and Kirkwal…”