Speeches by Murray.

“The Brand Scotland strategy is being worked on at the moment. It will have three major strands to it. It will be about the trade mission that we committed to in the election campaign, so making sure that we are actually going out there, working in conjunction with our DBT colleagues, our FCDO colleagues, and the Scotti…”

“Yes, and actually the Delivering for Scotland board I suspect—and I am not quite sure I have told Laurence this yet—we may have put specific boards now on our key four priorities of the Scotland Office, one of them of course being Brand Scotland, which may or may not be the next one that we do in terms of getting all G…”

“Let me reflect on the Budget we have just had. When the Chancellor got to her feet on 30 October, to the time she sat down, Scotland was better off to the tune of £4.9 billion. That is the largest single settlement in devolution’s history. I think we should celebrate that. It shows a direction of travel from this UK La…”

“The beauty of devolution is it is up to the Scottish Government to spend the money in the ways in which they wish to spend it. We do have some commitments of course—education being one—and there will be some money going in directly from the VAT on private school fees and will be spent on education. There has been some …”

“I would not want to open up a discussion about the fiscal framework in this Committee. It may be a very long inquiry that you may want to start yourself because it is hugely complex, but there was a fiscal framework review before the election that I think doubled the allocation that was allowed for resource borrowing, …”

“It is a multifaceted question and there are lots of answers to it but let me go to pay first of all. It was the largest increase in the National Living Wage, but the right thing to do because we have a situation in this country whereby 70% of people who have a connection with the welfare system are in work. One or both…”

“As I have already said, there is pain in the Budget. We understand that, but we had to make lots of tough decisions in order to try to set the economy in the direction of travel that will benefit your constituents in the rural areas in the short, medium and longer term. I do not want to—”

“We had a manifesto commitment not to increase Corporation Tax above the 25% that it is currently at, to give that economic stability for businesses right across the country. That is the right thing to do because, with all due respect, we have been in power since July, the last 14 years will be difficult to turn around.…”

“The £150 million is not my figure but we have three things already. First, the £750,000 for Brand Scotland, essentially effectively turns us into a de facto spending Department because we have to spend that money on the Brand Scotland issues. There was £1.4 billion in the Budget for the regional growth in Scotland, pro…”

“I am very happy to respond to those. May I ask for the current Committee to refresh that letter and send it back to us, if that is possible, on the basis that the current Government do not have access to the previous Government’s issues. I am very happy to respond. On space, I spoke at the Space Expo in Glasgow back in…”

“I am glad that the hon. Member has not lost any of his popularity in the House. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on planning decisions for large-scale energy projects in Scotland, as it is a devolved responsibility. I recognise the importance of considering the protection of local assets when developing rene…”

“First, Mr Speaker, I apologise to you and the House for Scottish questions overshadowing other events today. I was pleased to join the Commonwealth Games Federation last week to confirm that Glasgow will host the Commonwealth games in 2026. It will be yet another wonderful opportunity for Scotland to show how we put on…”

“On 16 July, the Deputy Prime Minister wrote to all areas that do not have a devolution deal to invite them to come forward with a proposal. New mayors established through that process would be eligible to sit on the Council of Nations and Regions. I will make sure that the Deputy Prime Minister forwards that letter to …”

“I was delighted to attend the Council of Nations and Regions, held in a Labour constituency in Edinburgh. I can assure my hon. Friend that our manifesto said “no return to austerity”, and that is what we are determined to deliver.”

“I thought that, with a full House, the shadow Secretary of State would have taken the opportunity to apologise for his Government not only crashing the economy, but leaving a £22 billion black hole. That is something this Government are determined to clean up. [Interruption.]”

“I hope that, in a later question, the shadow Secretary of State will apologise at the Dispatch Box to the country for crashing the economy, and to pensioners for what has happened to them as a result.”

“I was delighted to speak at the Space-Comm expo last month in Glasgow, where I met a wide range of industry members, both national and international, and recently I was fortunate enough to visit the SaxaVord spaceport in Shetland, where I saw wonderful progress. I have also met representatives of Orbex in the hon. Gent…”

“Elgin is certainly not the final frontier, so I would be very happy to visit. The Minister for Science recently visited the UK Space Agency’s new office in Edinburgh, and during that visit, he echoed my sentiments about the importance of Scotland’s space sector. The Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms has recentl…”

“Scotland will be central to the space sector, and I very much welcome the question. We will fully back the space sector, as I said to the Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone). The Minister for Science has been to the UK Space Agency’s new office in Edinburgh, and the Minister for Data Protecti…”

“I welcome my hon. Friend to his place; it was a wonderful election result in his constituency of Airdrie and Shotts. Investment in the UK to drive growth is the Government’s No. 1 priority, and we have already started delivery on it. Just this month, we hosted an international investment summit, at which we announced £…”