First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 25 April 2024.
Humza Yousaf
Scottish National Party
Tuesday.
Alex Cole-Hamilton
Liberal Democrat
The two partners to the failed agreement are at each other’s throats. They are now trying to blame each other, but in reality they have both failed the people of Scotland. Together, they have cut our national health service off at the knees, butchered the housing budget, junked climate targets and made life harder for business. Islanders still do not have the ferries that they desperately need, and Scottish schools are tumbling down the international rankings.
The First Minister is ditching things left, right and centre. Two clowns have left the clown car, but the circus continues. [ Interruption .] We do not just need—[ Interruption .]
Alison Johnstone
Green
Mr Cole-Hamilton, I remind you of the requirement to treat all members with courtesy and respect.
Alex Cole-Hamilton
Liberal Democrat
I apologise, Presiding Officer.
We do not just need an end to the Bute house agreement; we need an end to this entire Government. When will Humza Yousaf finally look himself in the mirror and say, “I am the problem. It is me”?
Humza Yousaf
Scottish National Party
I saw that that got a thumping endorsement from the four Liberal Democrat MSPs in the chamber. Maybe I should listen to what Alex Cole-Hamilton has to say because, if there is a lesson in relation to coalitions and co-operation agreements, we should probably remember the lesson of the Liberal Democrats. When they entered into a disastrous coalition with the Conservatives, they ushered in 14 years of austerity, and to this day, people are suffering the consequences. That is why Alex Cole-Hamilton leads a party that could not even field a five-a-side football team.
What we have achieved as part of the Bute house agreement in the past year, but also through 17 years in government, is that Scotland is the only part of the United Kingdom to have avoided pay-related strike action in the NHS. We have delivered a council tax freeze that is helping households up and down the country. We have removed peak fares on our railways and invested record amounts in the NHS and, through our actions, we are lifting 100,000 children out of poverty.
When the General Election is called by the Conservatives, we will take our record proudly to every single doorstep in the country. I do not think that Alex Cole-Hamilton can do the same.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
In a general election, each constituency chooses an MP to represent it by process of election. The party who wins the most seats in parliament is in power, with its leader becoming Prime Minister and its Ministers/Shadow Ministers making up the new Cabinet. If no party has a majority, this is known as a hung Parliament. The next general election will take place on or before 3rd June 2010.
The Conservatives are a centre-right political party in the UK, founded in the 1830s. They are also known as the Tory party.
With a lower-case ‘c’, ‘conservative’ is an adjective which implies a dislike of change, and a preference for traditional values.
