Mike MacKenzie: Will the member take an intervention?
Mike MacKenzie: Does Murdo Fraser accept that some projects are of a scale or complexity that means that it would not be feasible for communities to take them forward on their own but it is perfectly valid for them to do so in partnership with commercial developers?
Mike MacKenzie: First of all, I thank my fellow committee members, the clerks, the advisers and everyone who gave evidence in this fascinating inquiry. I gained an understanding of what is actually a far more complex freight system than I had previously realised it is. In fact, I had never really stopped to consider how our freight transport system works. How do products end up on supermarket shelves from...
Mike MacKenzie: I am pleased that Government intends to refresh the national transport strategy, which will include freight transport. I must say before I close that I am, as a Highlands and Islands region representative, especially pleased that Transport Scotland—
Mike MacKenzie: —is conducting a review of freight fares across Scotland's ferry network.
Mike MacKenzie: Does Alex Johnstone accept that, on some of the west coast roads, such a speed limit would make it virtually impossible to overtake the goods vehicles, which are forced to slow down to 20mph on bends and hills?
Mike MacKenzie: Does Jackie Baillie agree with me and with Sir Ian Wood—a friend of the union—who said in his report on oil and gas that the fiscal regime and the regulatory regime had been extremely damaging for Scotland’s oil and gas sector?
Mike MacKenzie: Will the member give way?
Mike MacKenzie: In order to help to put this red herring to bed—if that is not too mixed a metaphor—can the minister offer any detail on the efforts that successive Administrations have made to achieve an exemption from the EU rules on tendering ferry services?
Mike MacKenzie: The minister has suggested that early withdrawal of the renewables obligation for onshore wind will have knock-on effects on other sectors. Does he agree that the uncertainty is having serious negative consequences for other renewables technologies, including wave power and tidal power?
Mike MacKenzie: What impact will the UK Government decision, announced this morning, to close the renewables obligations support for onshore wind a year early have on business confidence, consumer bills and climate change targets?
Mike MacKenzie: Does the member accept that, even if an inquiry was held, the Scottish Government has no powers to legislate to prevent such malpractices in future?
Mike MacKenzie: Will the member give way?
Mike MacKenzie: I am interested to hear Jim Hume talking about the global economy. International companies seem to manage perfectly well in working across numerous countries. Why should it be a problem for companies to work across the UK with different conditions in the rest of the UK from those in Scotland?
Mike MacKenzie: What I find depressing about the debate, which is essentially about the balance between the rights of workers and those of the bosses and business owners, is that we have been here before many times over many years. I remember the same debates taking place when I first began to become politically aware as a young teenager. At times—and I concede that they were under Labour Governments—we...
Mike MacKenzie: Will the member give way?
Mike MacKenzie: Will the member take an intervention?
Mike MacKenzie: 12. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how telehealth could assist in the delivery of healthcare across the Highlands and Islands. (S4O-04439)
Mike MacKenzie: Does the minister agree that those opportunities are severely limited by very poor mobile telephone connectivity, and will she join me in calling on the United Kingdom Government to address urgently the very poor 2G, 3G and 4G availability across the Highlands and Islands?
Mike MacKenzie: 9. To ask the Scottish Government what improvements it has made to the A82. (S4O-04422)
