As the Scottish elections get underway, we know that one of our five MSPs will definitely not be returning to Holyrood. Elected in a 2019 by-election, Beatrice Wishart announced some time ago that she would be standing down at this election. Since then, she has been Shetland’s voice in Holyrood, standing up for the islands and for women’s rights and safety.
This week, she made her final speech at Holyrood summing up the problems that islanders face with transport, affordable housing and connectivity.
She finished by urging future MSPs to work together constructively across party.
Scottish Lib Dem Women, the official Lib Dem organisation representing women, took a motion to Scottish Conference at the weekend which called on the Scottish Government to improve women’s health care.
Medical misogyny refers to the gender bias or discrimination women can experience when accessing healthcare.
Instances of medical misogyny include the dismissal of pain as “normal”, a lack of research into women’s healthcare and a general lack of understanding among many GPs.
Medical misogyny can lead to longer waiting times for gynaecological care, which have increased by more than 250% over the last seven years in Scotland.
The motion called on the Scottish Government to:
Launch a public awareness campaign for both medical professionals and the wider public to remove the stigma faced by women seeking help for their reproductive health.
Improve access to diagnosis, end dismissal of symptoms and the normalisation of pain faced by women.
Tackle postcode lotteries of care by enhancing understanding of conditions, including but not limited to, endometriosis, the menopause, polycystic ovary syndrome, hyperemesis and ectopic pregnancies.
Embed a better understanding within the NHS of the effects of reproductive health conditions on period poverty, women’s mental health and women in the workplace.
Vastly reduce waiting times for referrals and then treatment, especially in gynaecology and urology.
Improve training and standards across NHS services in Scotland.
Increase research into reproductive health over a women’s life course, moving away from the belief that this is a ‘niche’ area.
The motion is part of the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ broader strategy to tackle misogyny and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
The debate was emotional, thoughtful and powerful as women shared their sometimes awful experiences in accessing healthcare.
You can watch it here.
Christine Jardine said:
There are too many women who have effectively been told to put up and shut up when accessing healthcare.
There is an insidious and entrenched prejudice around women’s pain, and the cost can be devastating. It can lead to conditions being undiagnosed, to misdiagnosis and, ultimately, to an eroding confidence amongst women about the point of reporting symptoms at all.
The SNP have only added fuel to the fire: by mismanaging our NHS over two decades, they have made it much tougher to deliver the care that women need.
Progress on the women’s health plan has been slow; ministers need to step up and get on with making plans a reality.
Women deserve a system that they can trust and depend on. To build that system, we should be moving heaven and earth to increase awareness and understanding of women’s healthcare, ramp up training and research, and end the damaging waits for diagnosis and treatment.
Kirsten Herbst-Taylor from Dumfries and Galloway proposed an amendment calling for annual gynaecological screening for women. She has been living with Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer and she told Conference:
When I was diagnosed during a routine check-up at my local GP surgery, the disease was already advanced. I underwent extensive surgery and six rounds of chemotherapy.
I am here today because of the extraordinary skills of the surgical team at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh — Dr Pete Sanderson and Professor Stephen Wigmore — and because of the expertise and steady care of my oncologist, Dr Rachel Nirsimloo.
We are incredibly fortunate to have such dedication and excellence within NHS Scotland. I am deeply grateful for the treatment I have received.
But gratitude for treatment must sit alongside urgency about prevention.
In Scotland, around 600 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year. It is the most lethal gynaecological cancer. Across the UK, fewer than half of women are diagnosed at an early stage.
Stage at diagnosis changes everything.
When ovarian cancer is detected at Stage I, around 95 percent of women survive five years or more. At Stage IV, that figure falls to around 15 percent.
That is not a marginal difference. It is the difference between life expectancy measured in decades and life expectancy measured in years.
We have national screening programmes for breast and cervical cancer. We do not have one for ovarian cancer. Instead, we rely on women recognising vague symptoms and primary care identifying a rare disease early enough to alter outcomes.
That is not a systematic early detection strategy.
I am asking this conference to support the establishment of a national screening programme for ovarian and other gynaecological cancers, and to give women the entitlement to an annual gynaecological check-up, including ultrasound where clinically appropriate.
Even at Stage 4, there is hope. Treatment advances mean many women now live for years with good quality of life. But earlier diagnosis reduces the need for aggressive treatment and dramatically improves survival.
With survival at around 95 percent when ovarian cancer is detected early, and only around 15 percent at the most advanced stage, the evidence is clear: early detection saves lives. A national screening programme and annual gynaecological checks are not optional — they are necessary.
Let’s make this a reality.
Central Scotland candidate Lucy Smith told of her experience of endless visits to the doctor with abdominal pain and being dismissed. After too long, she was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. Lucy’s experience was almost identical to that of someone I love very much and it is infuriating that both of those young women had to experience years of hell.
Beatrice Wishart MSP talked about the importance of training future doctors in these issues – asking how many women had been fitted with IUDs without pain relief, being told they would experience only slight discomfort.
Jacquie Bell spoke very movingly of her traumatic birth experience and how the refusal of her doctor to consider home birth meant that her child never had any siblings.
While my own childbirth was not nearly as traumatic, I told the Conference how I basically ran away and hid for a few hours after a male obstetrician told a midwife without reference to me to just break my waters and get on with it. I also added that every time I went to the doctor after I turned 40, no matter what with, it was put down to the menopause. And now I come to think of it, that might be why it took 3 months to get my Glandular Fever diagnosis back in 2009.
Ed Davey vows to defend Bank of England against Farage’s threats to its independence after meeting with Andrew Bailey
This morning Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey and Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper met with Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey to reaffirm support for the bank’s independence. Commenting after his meeting, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said:
A fortnight ago, Nigel Farage stood on the steps of the Bank of England and showed just what a danger to our economic interests he is.
Once again putting his obsession with mimicking Donald Trump ahead of what is in the best interests of the British people, Farage attacked the independence of our central bank. Trump’s threats to sack governors of the Fed if they don’t do what he wants are causing economic panic in the United States. That is the last thing we need here at home – we cannot let Trump’s America become Farage’s Britain.
Liberal Democrats will stand firmly behind Bank of England independence, just as we have stood against recent attacks on the independence of our judiciary. Those who seek to plunge our country into chaos are no patriots – they are putting their own narrow political interests first. Instead of undermining Britain’s economic foundations, we need a real plan for growth that includes rebuilding trade with our European neighbours.
Mandatory Digital ID for 13 year olds: “sinister, unnecessary, and a clear step towards state overreach.”
Responding to reports that the Government is considering rolling out mandatory digital ID for those aged 13 and up, Victoria Collins, Liberal Democrat Science, Innovation & Technology spokesperson said:
This is proof that the Liberal Democrats were absolutely right to warn about mission creep.
The Government is already plotting to drag teenagers into a mandatory digital ID scheme before it’s even off the ground. It’s frankly sinister, unnecessary, and a clear step towards state overreach.
McArthur sets out amendments to assisted dying bill
Liam McArthur MSP has today lodged a number of amendments to his Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill ahead of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee beginning their Stage 2 scrutiny of the Bill on 4th November.
Patients waiting up to a year for cancer treatment under SNP
Wishart blasts Ministers for lack of action on air travel review
Cole-Hamilton criticises SNP over new A&E and drugs reports
MacDonald urges public to respond to Community Benefit energy consultation
Patients waiting up to a year for cancer treatment under SNP
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP today said that the SNP government isn’t giving people the best chance of surviving cancer as he revealed the longest waits for first treatment of cancer, with patients waiting up to a year.
Scottish Liberal Democrats analysed waiting times from an urgent referral with suspicion of cancer to first treatment for patients in every health board.
This analysis shows that:
In the quarter ending March 2025, a patient in NHS Lothian waited 393 days for treatment.
In the same period, patients in Grampian, the Borders, and Dumfries and Galloway waited 11 months for treatment.
Between the quarter ending March 2015 and March 2025, the longest wait in NHS Borders has more than quadrupled, increasing from 76 days to 343 days.
Over the same period, the longest wait in NHS Dumfries & Galloway has more than trebled, from 99 days to 347 days.
Since March 2015, the longest waits in NHS Ayrshire & Arran, NHS Orkney and NHS Shetland have more than doubled.
It comes as Scottish Liberal Democrats revealed that the median waiting time for cancer treatment across the whole of Scotland, 52 days, is the worst on record.
In June, Public Health Minister Jenni Minto admitted that “people could be dying as a result of later cancer diagnoses”.
Alex Cole-Hamilton said:
All across Scotland, the SNP government isn’t giving cancer patients the best chance of survival. These statistics show huge increases in waiting times to begin treatment after an urgent referral with suspicion of cancer, stretching up to a year.
International studies show Scotland falling behind. The fact that SNP ministers are now admitting that their failures may have caused people to die shows just how badly they have got this wrong.
Access to screening programmes, diagnoses and treatment is a postcode lottery across the country. Scottish Liberal Democrats want to see ministers who will move mountains to bring down waits and get to grips with the gaps in tech and staff.
Patients deserve better than an SNP government that keeps letting them down. Only the Scottish Liberal Democrats will bring a real vision and a real plan for delivering the care they need.
Wishart blasts Ministers for lack of action on air travel review
Scottish Liberal Democrat and Shetland MSP Beatrice Wishart has written to the Scottish Government questioning their lack of action on the Highlands and Islands Air Discount Scheme after almost a year since the publishing of Transport Scotland’s Aviation Statement which made the following commitment:
Davey: welfare review must listen to the voice of carers
Lib Dems call for COBRA meeting as Britain braces for second heatwave
Lib Dems reveal 100,000 meters still to be replaced as RTS switch-off begins
SNP’s solution to NHS crisis could be delayed or cancelled
Greene secures island support fund but questions exclusions
Davey: welfare review must listen to the voice of carers
Ahead of the statement on the welfare bill later today, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has said the Government’s review of the Personal Independence Payments (PIP) must listen to groups representing family carers, as well as disability charities.
Under the Government’s plans, those caring for someone who doesn’t qualify for PIP in future will lose their Carer’s Allowance.
The Liberal Democrats said the Government’s welfare bill should be pulled until the full impact on disabled people and carers has been assessed and published.
Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:
I remain deeply worried about the future impact of these cuts on family carers and the vulnerable people they look after.
Ministers must ensure that this review listens carefully to carers’ charities to understand the impact these changes will have, on family carers themselves, on the NHS and social care.
Carers have been ignored by the Government throughout this whole debacle, their voice must now be heard loud and clear.
Liberal Democrats are clear that we cannot vote for anything that strips disabled people and those who care for them of vital support. The Government needs to go back to the drawing board and pull this bill until they have consulted carers and properly set out the full impacts of these changes.
Lib Dems call for COBRA meeting as Britain braces for second heatwave
The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to hold an urgent COBRA meeting on this week’s soaring temperatures.
The party is calling on the Government to ensure proper resilience measures are in place to protect the health service and key national infrastructure which can be acutely affected by heat, with rising hospital admissions and travel delays potentially impacting large areas of the country.
Cole-Hamilton: Youth work is key to tackling youth violence
Cole-Hamilton to Swinney: Do the right thing and give Fornethy survivors access to Redress
Wishart comments on energy report calling for delay to RTS switch off
Cole-Hamilton calls for investment in concrete youth work after summit
Cole-Hamilton: Youth work is key to tackling youth violence
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and former youth worker Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today called for greater investment in youth work ahead of a summit on youth violence.
Later today, Alex will attend a cross-party summit hosted by the First Minister on tackling youth violence and knife crime.
It follows a recent spate of violent incidents involving young people across the country, including the murder of 16 year-old Kayden Moy on Irvine Beach.
Before entering politics, Alex was a youth worker. During that time, he worked with a range of vulnerable young people, including those who had grown up in the care system and children who had been trafficked to Scotland.
Commenting ahead of the summit, Mr Cole-Hamilton said:
For the best part of twenty years, I was a youth worker, helping some of the most disengaged young people get their lives back on track.
That experience taught me that no child is inherently bad. Most of the time, they are just in need of some direction, a need that has only been fuelled by the isolating impact of lockdown.
That’s where youth work comes in: it provides young people with the direction they need and gives them a positive adult role model who is neither a teacher nor a parent.
It teaches teenagers to come out of their comfort zone, helps them rebuild their sense of self-worth and fosters a whole host of key life skills.
Since the pandemic, however, the SNP have presided over the quiet death of youth work. Budgets have been squeezed, services have struggled to survive, just when we need them the most.
While acts of violence require a strong response, punishing predominantly law-abiding young people cannot be our broader solution. We need youth work to pre-empt and prevent those acts of violence, to properly engage young people in society and lay the foundations for them to succeed in life.
Cole-Hamilton to Swinney: Do the right thing and give Fornethy survivors access to Redress
Ahead of a members’ business debate in the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has urged John Swinney to do the right thing and grant the Fornethy House survivors access to the Redress compensation scheme.
The Scottish Government’s Redress Scheme pays out up to £100,000 and offers support to those abused in residential care.
More than 200 women have now come forward alleging that they were sexually, physically and mentally abused in the 1960s and 70s at Fornethy House- an all-girls residential school in Angus.
Liberal Democrats call on Government to rule out cuts for frontline policing ahead of spending review
Winter Fuel Payments U-turn: a “debacle” causing “needless misery” and the Chancellor should apologise
Free school meals expansion: “victory” for campaigners and struggling families
Greene comments as cost of replacement ferry charter hits £22m
Jardine: Chancellor must apologise to Scottish pensioners for winter fuel mess
Lib Dems comment on ferries procurement news for Northern Isles
Liberal Democrats call on Government to rule out cuts for frontline policing ahead of spending review
Sir Mark Rowley, the head of the Metropolitan Police has warned Keir Starmer there will be “far-reaching consequences” if the Government makes cuts to policing in the upcoming spending review.
In response, the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Lisa Smart MP said:
Slashing funding for the police would be a serious mistake and likely worsen the epidemic of unsolved crimes across our country.
The Government must heed the advice of our most senior police officers and rule out any cuts to frontline policing ahead of the Spending Review.
Anything short of this would risk Labour abandoning their pledge to cut crime and keep local our communities safe.
Winter Fuel Payments U-turn: a “debacle” causing “needless misery” and the Chancellor should apologise
Responding to the Chancellor announcing that the changes to the Winter Fuel Payment thresholds will be in place for this winter with the new thresholds to be announced at the Spending Review, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:
This whole debacle has caused needless misery for millions of pensioners.
We will look at the details of the changes at the Spending Review next week. In the meantime the Chancellor should apologise to all those pensioners who had to freeze this winter because of this senseless policy.
Telegraph deal: stake promised to UAE before legislation approved “puts the cart before the horse”
With just weeks to go, 125,000 meters still need replaced
UK Government admits it doesn’t know how much Welsh Rail electrification would cost
Telegraph deal: stake promised to UAE before legislation approved “puts the cart before the horse”
Responding to reports that the Telegraph has agreed a deal with a US private equity firm but that the UAE will retain a 15% stake, Chris Fox, Liberal Democrat Lords’ Spokesperson for Business and sponsor of the fatal motion to block the legislation allowing foreign state stakes in British papers, said:
Promising a stake in the Telegraph to the UAE before Nandy’s legislation has passed Parliament puts the cart before the horse.
We don’t believe in letting overseas states buy their way in to influencing the news we read. We’ll move to block the law as soon as it reaches the Lords – and can win the vote if the Conservatives do the right thing and stand with us.
The new permissions for foreign ownership of newspapers simply don’t exist yet, and there’s many lawmakers who don’t believe they should.
Of course we want to see our iconic British papers survive, but editorial independence must be shielded from foreign sway – not just in the current case, but for all future deals cut on UK newspaper ownership as the media landscape continues to change beyond recognition.
With just weeks to go, 125,000 meters still need replaced
Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for Shetland Beatrice Wishart has called for urgent action to prepare for the Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) switch-off as she highlighted figures showing that with just weeks to go there are just under 125,000 meters still to be replaced but just 5,000 per fortnight are being replaced.
Health Foundation mortality report: must be a “wake-up call” for Government to turnaround these “unacceptable statistics”
Winter Fuel Payment: u-turn taking so long it puts “turning an oil tanker around to shame”
Jamie Greene taking on additional role as transport spokesperson
Lib Dems: UK Govt must ensure households compensated if worse off after RTS shutdown
Rennie: Decline in college staff shows SNP neglect of further education
McArthur comments on young offender death inquiry
Greene responds to Liberty Steel news
Cole-Hamilton presses SNP over failure to deliver Erasmus replacement
Health Foundation mortality report: must be a “wake-up call” for Government to turnaround these “unacceptable statistics”
Responding to a report by The Health Foundation, which revealed that by 2023, female mortality rates in the UK were 14% higher when compared with the median of 21 other high-income countries, with male mortality rates 9% higher, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said:
Preventing avoidable deaths and protecting the public’s health should be at the top of any Government’s priorities and to see it neglected in this way, bringing immeasurable suffering to people and their loved ones, should be a wake-up call to us all.
The Conservatives’ catastrophic mismanagement of the NHS and their savage cuts to public health support have brought us to this point but the Labour government has shown nowhere near the ambition required to repair these unacceptable statistics.
It is not good enough for ministers to sit on their hands and watch the NHS and the opportunity to live a healthy life decay in this way. We need to see the Government step in as a matter of urgency, to reverse the cuts to the public health grant and bring an end to these devastating deaths.
Winter Fuel Payment: u-turn taking so long it puts “turning an oil tanker around to shame”
Responding to the Chancellor’s comments that she will listen to concerns over the Government’s decision to cut winter fuel payments, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:
This U-turn is taking so long it puts turning an oil tanker around to shame.
The Government should feel embarrassed that it has taken a dire set of a local election results to realise what everyone has known from the start: this policy was doomed to fail and punished some of the most vulnerable.
DIY heating: More than nine in ten Scots using alternatives to central heating this winter
Cole-Hamilton: UK must stand strong against Putin three years on from illegal invasion
Labour should ditch plans for health “superboards”
Crown Estate Bill – Labour treating Wales with contempt
DIY heating: More than nine in ten Scots using alternatives to central heating this winter
Scots who are worried about the cost of heating have changed how they heat their homes this winter to help cut bills.
Scottish Liberal Democrats are calling for an emergency home insulation programme to help those in fuel poverty.
A shocking new poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed that 66% of Scots say they are worried about the cost of heating their home this winter, as they reveal the alternative methods they are using to keep warm this winter.
The poll reveals that a staggering 96% of Scots who are worried about the cost of heating their home this winter have made changes to how they heat their homes.
Of those, 46% have lowered the thermostat temperature and almost a third (29%) have reduced the number of rooms being heated.
To keep warm this winter, 66% of Scots have worn additional clothing, 56% have used more blankets and throws and 38% have been drinking more hot beverages.
Worryingly, 5% of those who are worried about heating costs have revealed they have visited a warm bank this winter. Warm banks are free, safe spaces where people can go to warm up if they can’t afford to heat their homes.
Around 34% of all households in Scotland are estimated to be fuel poor. The energy price cap is set to rise by 5% in April, increasing average annual household bills to £1,823 from April this year.
Liberal Democrat Scottish affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said:
Both the Scottish and UK governments are failing to support Scots with heating their homes during the difficult winter months.
After the UK Labour Government axed universal winter fuel payments, vulnerable pensioners were left to choose between heating and eating. Meanwhile, on the SNP’s watch, fuel poverty has soared to record levels and it could take ministers 100 years to heat eligible homes.
My party has been working hard to try and unpick some of that damage, and after our talks with the Scottish Government, we’ve ensured that all pensioners in Scotland will receive help with their heating bills next winter.
Ministers still have a lot more to do, which is why we want to see the Scottish Government rolling out a nationwide insulation programme. That’s how we can meet the scale of the challenge and provide a win-win of cutting emissions and energy bills.
Cole-Hamilton: UK must stand strong against Putin three years on from illegal invasion
Speaking three years on from Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has said that the UK must stand strong against Putin and boost support for Ukraine by seizing frozen Russian assets, working in close step with Europe and increasing defence spending.
Southport Inquiry: Must get us answers to avoid future failures
WASPI: More than 300,000 women in Scotland “betrayed” by Labour decision
Welsh unemployment rise: Labour must scrap their Jobs Tax
Cole-Hamilton: SNP have left A&E in state of perma-crisis
McArthur: Community orders should be credible solutions to prison overcrowding
Unemployment: Reeves must scrap jobs tax
Responding to the latest figures showing unemployment at 4.4%, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:
These latest figures are concerning. The government’s misguided jobs tax is already scaring off small businesses from hiring new people and being able to better serve our communities.
The Chancellor talks about growth but her Budget measures are acting as an anchor against just that.
After years of the Conservative Party’s economic vandalism we cannot see this new government repeat their mistakes. That is why Rachel Reeves needs to scrap her jobs tax to get our economy growing again.
Southport Inquiry: Must get us answers to avoid future failures
Commenting after Starmer’s press conference following the government’s announcement of an inquiry into the Southport murders, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:
The Liberal Democrats welcome this inquiry, which must not shy away from asking tough questions about what went wrong.
This was an utterly horrific tragedy. My thoughts go out to the bereaved families, who lost three young daughters to such brutal violence. We need to ensure that such a senseless attack cannot happen again.
We must learn from these events, and the inquiry must urgently get us the answers we need to avoid future failures.
WASPI: More than 300,000 women in Scotland “betrayed” by Labour decision
Speaking ahead of a Scottish Parliament debate on compensation for WASPI women, Beatrice Wishart MSP has said her party will “fight for WASPI women” as data from the House of Commons library estimated that an estimated 331,780 women in Scotland could be affected.
The ENDS Report is a UK online magazine that provides, in its own words, “intelligence for environmental professionals, delivering news, analysis and reference across the carbon, environmental and sustainability agenda.” Every year it publishes the Power List of 100 environmentalists who have made the greatest impact.
It normally excludes politicians from the Power List, but with an imminent General Election it has published a separate list of 50 politicians who have been notable changemakers, rebels and local environmental leaders. It includes a number of Lib Dems.
Bobby Dean Bobby is a councillor in Sutton and our PPC for Carshalton & Wallington. He founded Speak Change, a communications consultancy helping charities campaign on global poverty, health and education.
Pippa Heylings Pippa is PPC for South Cambridgeshire, and a councillor in South Cambridgeshire District Council, where she chairs the Climate Change and Environment Advisory Committee. She has represented local government at the UN climate talks.
Wera Hobhouse Wera is the MP for Bath. She is our spokesperson for Energy and Climate Change and Transport in the Commons.
Kate Parminter Kate is a member of the House of Lords, known as Baroness Parminter. Until recently she chaired the Lords Select Committee on Environment and Climate Change.
Beatrice Wishart Beatrice is MSP for the Shetland Isles. She is Party Spokesperson on Rural Affairs in the Scottish Parliament.
Note that some of these links are behind a substantial paywall.
Ed Davey statement regarding The Princess of Wales
“The system failed Kaylea, we cannot allow it to happen again”- Mid and West Wales MS Jane Dodds
Tory support in freefall – Rob offers London liberal choice
Scottish Liberal Democrats respond to publication of Fair Fares Review
Ed Davey statement regarding The Princess of Wales
Responding to the Princess of Wales’ video statement, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey MP said:
What sad news. My thoughts and prayers are with the Princess of Wales tonight.
Liberal Democrats join the whole country in wishing her a speedy recovery and hope the Royal Family will be given space and privacy at this difficult time.
“The system failed Kaylea, we cannot allow it to happen again”- Mid and West Wales MS Jane Dodds
This week in the Senedd, the Mid and West Wales MS Jane Dodds urged the Welsh Government to learn from the tragic case of Kaylea Titford and improve the child safeguarding system here in Wales.
The disabled 16-year-old passed away in 2020 after being found in conditions that were described as “unsuitable for an animal”.
Kalyea’s parents were both charged with manslaughter by gross negligence and are currently serving a combined total of 18 years behind bars.
On Sunday 20th November, Scottish newspaper the Sunday Post outlined the most horrific failures of several public services towards Adrienne McCartney, a victim of domestic abuse who died by suicide earlier this year.
The paper reports how the Police dismissed her calls for help and then arrested her, holding her in dreadful conditions, over a social media post. Then prosecutors did a deal with her husband to drop the most serious charges before failing to ask for a non harassment order. And then when she tried to get help for her deteriorating mental health, the NHS could not provide it.
Adrienne’s lawyer told the paper:
“In all my years working in the field of domestic abuse, this case is the worst. Adrienne was let down by every agency she turned to. It is unforgivable.
“She should be here today and the fact that she is not is an indictment of the system and how it addresses domestic abuse. What happened to Adrienne keeps me awake at night but tragically she is not the first and, unless there is dramatic change, she will not be the last.”
He also described his frustration on the night Adrienne was arrested:
“She eventually managed to get a phone call to me. When I told officers that I would happily bring Adrienne to the police station myself to answer any questions they had, I was told to ‘f*** off’. That is also currently the subject of an official complaint.
“So a young mother is taken from her home late at night, in front of her children, handcuffed, only to be released after several hours without any charge and this, it has to be stressed, is a documented victim of domestic abuse.”
This week’s Sunday Post had details of a letter Scottish Lib Dem Leader Alex Cole-Hamilton wrote to the First Minister after reading Adrienne’s story, alongside calls for action from MSPs from all parties. Alex repeated our call for a Commission to look at ways of ending men’s violence against women in all its forms:
Imagine you have just heard the news that every parent to be dreads – that you are losing your much wanted baby.
Then, you have to give birth, or support your partner giving birth on the labour ward in your hospital. You can hear the sounds of newborn babies crying and the associated sounds of joy, intensifying the agony you are going through.
When that happened to Louise Caldwell from Lanarkshire, she determined to change things. Her campaign for dedicated baby loss facilities has already been successful in her local hospital and the Gilbert Bain Hospital in Shetland where she also experienced the loss of a baby. The Scottish Government has said that all hospitals will have these facilities within two years.
Next week she’ll be in Westminster talking to MPs about her experience and her campaign in the hope that such facilities will be introduced across the UK?
Louise, from East Kilbride, told Lanarkshire Live : “I never imagined when I started the campaign that I, a mum from East Kilbride, would be speaking to MPs at Westminster.
“To achieve the new unit at Wishaw – which will hopefully open in the coming months – is a fantastic achievement but there is still so much to do – and I can’t do it on my own.
“I want to see the promise by the Scottish Government to have these facilities in hospitals elsewhere fulfilled and I want to see them replicated across the UK.
Shetland’s Lib Dem MSP Beatrice Wishart was the first to raise this issue in the Scottish Parliament and she recently talked about it during Baby Loss Awareness Week.
This week, the Scottish Parliament debated the horrible, painful, debilitating condition Endometriosis.
Shetland’s Lib Dem MSP Beatrice Wishart highlighted the distress this condition can cause and the impact it can have on women’s whole lives – and says that we must do better than the misogynistic dismissal of this condition that we so often see. Here is her speech in full:
I congratulate Rachael Hamilton on securing this important debate. So much has already been said about the impact that endometriosis has across all aspects of life, but I make no apology for repeating some of what has already been highlighted today.
I want to start by outlining exactly what is at the heart of this discussion: the lives of women and girls. Endometriosis is a condition in which tissue similar to that in the lining of the womb starts to grow in other places, such as ovaries and the fallopian tubes. Symptoms include, among others, painful or heavy periods, painful bowel movements and pelvic pain. An estimated 1.5 million women in the United Kingdom are affected, which is similar to the number of women who have diabetes.
However, as we have heard, it takes an average of eight and a half years to receive a diagnosis, which means eight and a half years of pain, of missing out, of uncertainty and of explaining. How tiring must all of that be? Relationships break down because the pain and struggle are too hard to comprehend. There is the misogynistic dismissal of so-called women’s issues and people saying that it is just painful periods or, even worse, that it is perfectly normal for women to experience pain.
There are long waiting lists and a postcode lottery for treatment. There is a serious problem with delays in getting an initial appointment with a consultant, and Covid has only made the long waits even longer. Non-urgent appointments have been delayed because of Covid, but, for patients, endometriosis is not non-urgent.
One person told me that, although their GP has been good, before being referred to a consultant, their daughter had to go through various other options to rule out cysts, irritable bowel syndrome and food intolerances. More than a year after their GP’s referral, they are still to receive an appointment.
I have also been told by women that endometriosis has made them infertile, and how the inability to have children has affected their marriages. As many as 30 to 50 per cent of women who are affected by infertility have endometriosis.
By Caron Lindsay
| Sun 28th November 2021 - 11:24 am
Thursday was White Ribbon Day, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. At Holyrood MSPs paused for a minutes silence to remember those women murdered by men over this past year.
Later there was a debate on ways to eradicate men’s violence against women. Beatrice Wishart, our MSP for Shetland, who has a long record of helping women who have suffered domestic abuse made a brilliant speech in which she called for a Commission to look at ways of ending men’s violence against women in all its forms. She drew attention to the way the media reports violence against women, often victim shaming and she talked particularly about how they talk about this awful practice of “spiking”, drugging someone’s drink in order to assault them.
I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests. I am a trustee of Shetland Women’s Aid.
I, too, pay tribute to Scottish Women’s Aid, Rape Crisis Scotland and other services and individuals across Scotland for the good work that they do, not just on international day for the elimination of violence against women, but every day. It is worth saying again that 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of the global 16 days of activism campaign. It has been 30 years, and, each year, the debate exchanges statistics that are unacceptable and horrific, as Pam Duncan-Glancy stated.
The World Health Organisation estimates that about one in three women worldwide will, in their lifetime, be subjected to
“either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence.”
It is a major public health problem and a violation of women’s human rights, and we know that Covid has impacted on women’s equality progress across the globe.
Earlier this year, Jess Phillips MP, the UK shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, read out the names of the 118 women who had been killed in the preceding year and in whose case a man had been convicted or charged as the primary perpetrator. It took her a little over four minutes and the list did not include the names of the women referenced in the motion, who were tragically killed after March this year.
The number of domestic abuse incidents reported by Police Scotland has risen for the fourth year in a row, with one in four women in Scotland experiencing domestic abuse in their lifetime. Domestic violence is a plague that not only affects women but impacts whole households. Children are tragically caught in it, too. It was seeing the lifelong impact of domestic abuse on children and the financial abuse of women that drew me into my voluntary trustee role.
I know that all speakers in the debate are striving to ensure that women and girls across the globe and closer to home can live their lives free from fear. Scottish Liberal Democrats have previously called for—and we do so again—the establishment of the new commission to look at ways of preventing men’s violence against women and girls in all its forms, to ensure a co-ordinated approach across all levels of government. Along with providing increased training for those who work in education and on the front line in public authorities, we can work together to build better public understanding of the drivers behind violence against women and take action to eradicate it.
Today is International Women’s Day. And if you are one of those people who find it necessary to ask if there’s an International Men’s Day, it’s 19th November.
So today, I’ll be making the occasional intervention on Mark’s day to report on what senior Liberal Democrats are saying about International Women’s Day.
Beatrice Wishart, Lib Dem MSP for Shetland got in early with her speech in the Holyrood International Women’s Day event last Thursday. She highlighted the problems women were facing juggling work and caring responsibilities during the pandemic. She also spoke about the exodus of young women MSPs who have found it too difficult to combine raising a family with their parliamentary duties. One of the women stepping down is Gail Ross, the SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross. If the Parliament had got its act together on hybrid proceedings before the pandemic, maybe she and others might have felt able to stay. Happy International Women’s Day, everyone!
Equality is one of the four founding principles of the Scottish Parliament.
It should be at the core of everything we do here.
And yet, 20 years into this Parliament, so many challenges remain. We undoubtedly still have work to do.
In November we spoke about problems around violence against women. The life ruining crimes. The hideous harassment. Problems that just have to be addressed, globally and closer to home.
Of course, those are not the only challenges women face.
Many have said that the pandemic “turned back the clock” on gender equality.
It is certainly true that negative impacts have fallen disproportionately on women.
Job losses and income reductions have been widespread. An International Monetary Fund report highlighted how women are more likely than men to work in social sectors including retail, tourism, and hospitality where lockdown has been most widely felt.
The true value of care has come into the limelight, both professionally and domestically.
And the responsibility to manage home schooling all hit women harder, without question.
Many people found themselves between a rock and a hard place, juggling impossible burdens and expectations.
These problems are not new. There is nothing unfamiliar in what I’ve just described.
The relationship between women and work has always been fragile.
By Caron Lindsay
| Tue 3rd September 2019 - 10:25 am
Amidst today’s drama, let’s not forget that Jane Dodds, our new MP for Brecon and Radnorshire and Beatrice Wishart, our new MSP for Shetland, take their seats today.
So not only are the Government content to shut down Parliament, they are now thinking of calling an election to silence MPs and enable a #NoDealBrexit.
These attempts to override MPs won’t succeed, we will continue the fight to take #NoDeal off the table. https://t.co/Xo4hEv70zk
I'm absolutely delighted to have been elected as the new MSP for Shetland. I am extremely proud of the positive campaign we have run. Thank you to the voters who put their faith in me. https://t.co/71UFNf5QMS
Shetland stood up to @theSNP invasion with activists from the central belt alongside @NicolaSturgeon (3 times), @JohnSwinney (2 times) and almost every single MSP and MP. But they couldn’t even match the yes vote from 2014. #Shetlandbyelection#winning
A by-election in your safest seat is a scary thing, particularly when your party has caused it when previous incumbent Tavish Scott left politics to go and work for Scottish Rugby. He had a huge personal vote and had always by his own admission fought as himself rather than as a Lib Dem.
The SNP threw the entire kitchen at this because they knew that if we lost the seat, we would lose our status a a group in the Scottish Parliament. SNP MPs from the central belt had been pounding the streets of Shetland. They put a lot of fire power our way but we still got almost half the vote even with a strong challenge from Independent Ryan Thompson who was the biggest gainer.
Jane is repaying the huge effort Sheffield put in to her win. Laura went to Brecon several times as did local party chair John Dryden to whom I am eternally grateful for the lift back from the Lib Dem Pint in Brecon. I wouldn’t have been able to go otherwise.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats have today announced Cllr Beatrice Wishart has been selected as the parliamentary candidate for Shetland.
I am absolutely delighted at this news. As Alistair Carmichael’s caseworker and as a local councillor, Beatrice knows exactly what she needs to do to improve people’s lives in Shetland. I’ve known her for the better part of 20 years and think she would be a fantastic MSP.
Beatrice is the Depute Convener of Shetland Islands Council, a trustee of Women’s Aid in Shetland and an active campaigner for the State Pension rights of women born in the 1950s.
Beatrice said:
I am thrilled to be standing as the Liberal Democrat candidate in Shetland. I’ve lived and worked in Shetland most of my life and I’m keenly aware of the issues that need to be addressed.
Islanders want to see fair funding for our ferries, more NHS services provided at home in Shetland, swift improvements to broadband coverage and all nurseries being given the resources and support they need to increase the amount of childcare available in our communities.
I will be a tireless champion for Shetland. It’s an honour to be given the opportunity to stand to represent my home.
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