Hugh Henry: ...been too busy going out to meet people who really mattered. She said that that had prevented her from coming to the Parliament to discuss the key issue of housing. Apart from showing a fundamental contempt for the Parliament—to be honest, she is not alone in the SNP Administration in that—the minister’s explanation represents a profound statement of what the SNP’s priorities are....
Hugh Henry: ...the Scottish National Party Government. They have been treated like second-class citizens compared with our universities, and it is as if their product is not as highly valued. Worse still is the contempt that has been shown to staff and students, who were told by Mike Russell—aided and abetted by Alex Salmond—that funding was increasing when it was actually being cut. Mike Russell and...
Hugh Henry: Presiding Officer, there should have been a full statement by Mike Russell. To apologise in this way shows a real contempt for the Scottish Parliament. Presiding Officer, I ask you to release to MSPs the original letter of apology that was sent to you by Mike Russell. The ministerial code—
Hugh Henry: ...SNP’s case and perhaps fatally wounding its proposition, but a lot of what has happened in the past week leaves me profoundly sad. It demonstrates that the First Minister holds the Parliament in contempt. He really does not care about the Parliament’s workings or the way in which it operates. He feels that he can say anything, even though it does not resemble the facts, and no one will...
Hugh Henry: No. I will do so in a couple of minutes. The First Minister’s contempt is contempt of the highest order. We are seeing a number of people who have had principled views on independence for many years and who passionately believe in it prepared to put aside all their other principles and their integrity in order to bolster the First Minister’s fading credibility on something on which he has...
Hugh Henry: ...they said. It was grossly unfair and was unhelpful in the context of the debate. On the one hand, it showed that she did not fully understand what was being discussed and, on the other, it showed contempt for all those who volunteer in many capacities that go beyond the very narrow one that Sandra White sought to define.
Hugh Henry: ...—in the overall interests of justice—it is correct, in certain circumstances, that the media should not report certain things at certain times. Such matters are dealt with generally under the Contempt of Court Act 1981, but there are other specific provisions that relate to criminal proceedings in which children are involved, for example. Members will have personal views on the merits...