Following the announcement of the Scottish National Party-Green Government’s latest budget, NHS Highland has been forced to put on hold development of the much needed and already delayed replacement for the Belford hospital in Fort William. The current building will be 60 years old next year, and patients, staff and pretty much everyone—except, clearly, the Scottish Government—recognises the urgent need for a new hospital.

Can the First Minister tell me when the people of Lochaber, who have been campaigning for decades for a new Belford, will get the new hospital that they have been promised?

We will provide the chamber with an update on our capital projects, including health capital projects.

I say to Jamie Halcro Johnston that, in the face of not just a real-terms cut to our resource budget but a real-terms cut to our capital budget of 10 per cent over the coming five years, we are continuing to ensure that our national health service gets a pay uplift. That is in stark contrast to a Conservative United Kingdom Government that has prioritised tax cuts for the wealthy over prioritising spend in its NHS.