- Scottish Lib Dems secure £7.6 million in neurodevelopmental support as government announces funding
- Transport Secretary was “oblivious” about escape of flammable gas on embattled Arran ferry
- Scottish Government must respect will of parliament after it backs ferry compensation for coastal areas
- Murray backs parliamentary inquiries into party funding and Lord Advocate role in wake of Murrell embezzlement
Scottish Lib Dems secure £7.6 million in neurodevelopmental support as government announces funding
Responding to the Scottish Government announcing £7.6 million in funding to expand neurodevelopmental support, money which was secured by the Scottish Liberal Democrats in their negotiations during the 2026/27 budget, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Adam Harley MSP said:
Scottish Liberal Democrats will always be the party of mental health, which is why we worked hard to persuade the government to make this important investment, and I am very pleased to see it being delivered today.
This money has the potential to make a big difference for children and families across the country, making sure that services get the funding they need to provide support.
From the opposition benches, with our newly expanded group of MSPs, we will continue to be the grown-ups of this parliament, providing strong and effective criticism, hunting for agreement where we can, to get things done for the people of Scotland.
Transport Secretary was “oblivious” about escape of flammable gas on embattled Arran ferry
Scottish Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie has said it is “unacceptable” that SNP Transport Secretary, Stephen Flynn, only became aware of a sudden and uncontrolled release of highly flammable methane gas on the Glen Sannox ferry, which occurred last year, when the MSP challenged him about it this morning.
During a meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Transport Committee, Willie Rennie asked Mr Flynn whether he had been briefed about BBC reporting that highly flammable gas had escaped from the Glen Sannox in June last year while 82 passengers were on board.
In response, Mr Flynn said: “no”.
Mr Flynn also said that he would have to “familiarise himself” with the incident, and that he was not listening or watching the news before attending the meeting of the committee.
Director of Ferries and Ports for Transport Scotland, Chris Wilcock, also failed to provide an explanation for what had happened.
700kg of the gas, enough to fill a four-bedroom house, was vented from the side of the Glen Sannox for 12 minutes as it was sailing from Arran to the mainland. CalMac described it as a “critical failure”.
Commenting after the meeting of the committee, Mr Rennie said:
This was a significant incident involving an uncontrolled escape of highly flammable gas, on board a ferry that has been troubled for quite some time and which was carrying 82 passengers.
The Transport Secretary promised to be transparent, but it has taken a year before the public was told about this incident.
The details of what had happened were all over our national broadcaster from midnight last night, but Mr Flynn seemed to be oblivious.
It is unacceptable that the Transport Secretary did not know about this incident. It cannot be allowed to happen again.
Scottish Government must respect will of parliament after it backs ferry compensation for coastal areas
Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for the Highlands and Islands Morven-May MacCallum has today said that the SNP government must now “do the right thing” and compensate coastal communities impacted by ferry disruption, after parliament backed a Scottish Liberal Democrat amendment calling for this funding.
Parliament is now fully in recess until September – the House of Lords sat for an additional week – and now there’s not much “politician on politician action” for five weeks, leaving the field open for commentators and journalists to speculate on what might come next. And, given that the line between reporting and comment is now so blurred, it becomes increasingly hard to separate the two.
And so, another Prime Minister is gone. Admittedly, it isn’t entirely clear yet in terms of what will change apart from the personnel, even if we can be pretty confident who will be in 10 Downing Street at the end of the transition.
So, I ought to declare an interest as a former member of the Party’s Federal International Relations Committee, and a member of the Liberal Democrat European Group on and off over the years. You might therefore imagine that I’d be pleased that Ed Davey is finally talking about our future as a member of the European Union. I’d put it more as relieved, though, as it’s been an open door that we’ve rather shied away from in recent years.
I’ve been away for the past fortnight, mostly riding on trains, occasionally walking around small, but interesting, towns, many a bit off of the beaten path. This rather lovely piece of local government architecture is Tartu Town Hall, which has a carillon in its bell tower. if you’re in the area, I recommend dropping by.
Fortunately, it’s not the hope that will kill you, especially in the upper chamber, but there is a high degree of uncertainty in terms of the week ahead.
It’s coming to that time when nobody wants to leave anything to chance, when the pressure is on. Yes, I’m talking about the end of the football season, with titles, promotion and relegation still to be decided.
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