John Mason: Thank you, Presiding Officer. It is a great honour to speak for the first time in this Parliament. I will be happy to take an intervention or two, if any come along. The theme of the debate is “taking Scotland forward”. I guess that all members agree that we want to take Scotland forward, and that any disagreement is only about how we might do that. First, I would like to look back a...
John Mason: Other people are probably better able than I am to answer that question in detail, but I will give members an example. I visited one project at the east end of the Clyde gateway area. In a section where 40 people worked, eight of them were local people who had been taken on specifically because they were local. Many of the contractors have committed to and are enthusiastic about doing that....
John Mason: Will the member give way?
John Mason: Does the member agree that significant investment made over the past four years—including, for example, the completion of the M74—has greatly benefited cities such as Glasgow, their outlying parts and the communities that sit outwith them?
John Mason: Does the First Minister agree that if we are going to attract business and jobs to Scotland, we need a whole package to do so, which includes good education, health and taxation systems? Does he agree with Jim McColl of Clyde Blowers Capital, whose company works around the world in many taxation systems and who says that it has no problem operating in those different systems?
John Mason: Is the member arguing that, in the long run, a private finance initiative approach makes better sense than the Scottish Futures Trust?
John Mason: Will the member give way?
John Mason: Does the member accept that PFI/PPP is an exceptionally expensive way of repaying and is considerably more expensive than a normal loan?
John Mason: Thank you, Presiding Officer. It is good to be the 15th speaker and not have had to stand up 15 times beforehand to get to speak, as they do at Westminster in one of the strange customs there. In one sense, the ideal would be not to have to borrow at all. If we look across the North Sea at Norway, we see that, in the good times, Norway saved money and then, when it hit the bad times, it had...
John Mason: I am saying that, at the last count, Norway had £300 billion in the reserves, or something along those lines, and other countries in the middle east have similar or larger amounts. The UK Government is one of the Governments that have failed and borrowed far too much. Individuals in our society have borrowed too much, too, which has often been because of irresponsible lenders. On Saturday, I...
John Mason: 8. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities regarding the implementation of a living wage for staff across local authorities. (S4O-00039)
John Mason: Does the cabinet secretary agree that if the minimum wage is kept as low as it currently is there will continue to be a longer-term problem, because local government is paying a higher wage rate than the private companies that are competing with it? Will he join me in expressing disappointment with both the Labour and the Conservative Governments at Westminster, which have refused to raise...
John Mason: Does James Kelly accept that seeking to delay the bill or such legislation sends out the message that sectarianism is acceptable?
John Mason: Thank you for the opportunity to take part in the debate. A number of members have asked whether the bill is too rushed. As a person, I tend to be on the cautious side of things—I want to consult, hear people’s views and sleep on a decision before I make it, which sometimes might upset my staff. However, there are times in life when we have to make a point, take action and show that...
John Mason: I disagree that we are acting for the sake of acting. We are acting because there is a real problem here and we all believe that we have to deal with it. A number of speakers have raised the issue of who has been fighting hard against sectarianism and who has not. We all have to share some of the blame for not always confronting it at different times. I think I am correct in saying that...
John Mason: As the member probably knows, I am not a Partick Thistle fan but a Clyde fan, so I would not want to go anywhere near Partick Thistle. The member is asking the same question that I am asking. I seek from the minister some reassurance about resources. The second point, which is raised in legal advice from the Christian Institute and elsewhere, relates to freedom of expression. Can the minister...
John Mason: I very much agree with what Christina McKelvie says about our commitment, and that we should be helping countries such as Malawi, even though we have a limited budget. I admit, however, that some of my constituents come to me and say, “Well, money’s tight—shouldn’t we just look after Scotland and forget about the rest of the world?” How would Christina McKelvie answer them?
John Mason: Clearly, one of the most difficult pieces of legislation that we will have is the next finance bill, with the question of the next budget for this Parliament. We face cuts from Westminster of £1.7 billion. It is easy for Jenny Marra to list some of the repercussions of that, but she did not point out that it was her party that got the economy into such a mess. Proportionately, we have even...
John Mason: I think that, at least, John Swinney’s regulation of the banks would have been considerably better than Gordon Brown’s. It is interesting to note that a small European country called Switzerland has such a strong economy at the moment that it is having to try to keep its currency down, as compared with the UK, which has such a weak economy that the pound has collapsed.
John Mason: Excuse me a minute, but I think I need to say something. I have only read three lines. One thing that we can be sure of is that there are few lessons to be learned from Westminster. As we have gathered over recent days, the previous Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer were squabbling over the budget until the last minute. It is clear that our budget process will be handled a lot...