Jackdaw is a welcome, pragmatic decision good for jobs & energy security and signals we are in the North Sea, with the workforce in years to come. The £2 billion transition package is vital. We need the skills & supply chain to build renewables at scale using our own workforce.

Energy can be the sector that powers economic growth and secures well paid jobs in Scotland. Jackdaw is a key development in Scotland’s reindustrialisation. This is a pragmatic decision that puts industry before ideology. It’s the right decision.

Euan - I say this gently as an SNP member. The public are with Torcuil here. And your constituency was one of the few that voted Labour in May. Perhaps time for local SNP activists to wake up and look to what the rest of us are doing to beat Labour?

Such a tribute, @Jamie4North is a gent and it’s good to see him back on the benches, instilling some Highland common sense in the LibDem ranks.

On Monday evening I have a Commons debate proposing the UK government support the restoration of the Mack, Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s fire-ravaged masterpiece.

Andy Burnham is putting problem solving over point scoring. That's what the people of Scotland deserve. That's what everyone across our United Kingdom deserves.

Devolution was never meant to stop at Holyrood. The PM is right to offer to work with the Scottish Government to push power out into Scotland’s regions. That must include the Highlands and Islands where we have felt the impact of SNP centralisation over the last two decades.

Mark was the first person to contact me after the election and it has been a privilege to work with the Mark Sommerville Foundation on the need to improve investment in MND research. This afternoon, the Prime Minister @andyburnham met with Mark to hear from him directly.

Power goes further when it's distributed not hoarded. A genuine offer from the @andyburnham to rewire Scotland. I hope @theSNP will seize the offer to grow Scotland today.

RT @melanie_ward: Following yesterday’s debate in Parliament, I’ve written in @TheScotsman on why it’s time for the SNP to modernise their…

Let’s give local people the tools to shape their own future.

Thank you to @UKHofficial for announcing 100,000 new jobs for young people not in education, employment or training over the next few years. This comes on top of a similar agreement reached last month with UK retail. theguardian.com/society/2026…

We will get a lot of chancers with no background in local governance jumping on the bandwagon offering 'expertise' now this issue appears on the agenda. But Keith Yates really is expert with vast experience. This should be read, he should be heard. sceptical.scot/2026/10/scott…

RT @melanie_ward: And @D_G_Alexander is in India now with @jreynoldsMP and Scotch whisky industry representatives to build on our UK trade…

A very good and timely conversation with UK Prime Minister @AndyBurnham. Thank you for the support and for your condolences to all those who have lost loved ones because of Russian attacks. I briefed the Prime Minister on such Russian strikes that have continued unabated throughout the day today against various Ukrainian cities – aerial bombs, “shaheds,” ballistic missiles. Air defense is, of course, the first priority. And, importantly, there should be real decisions to protect lives in Ukraine and to support our joint work in Europe for security. British leadership is always significant, and it matters that the UK will continue to ramp up sanctions pressure on Russia for its escalation. We discussed this and what could truly help diplomacy work. We are preparing the right joint steps and a meeting. Thank you.

Congratulations to Sagal Abdi-Wali, Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras!

For years, we've rightly focused on the military and political threat posed by Putin's Russia. But there's another cost that receives far less attention. A hidden cost paid by British taxpayers, businesses and public services. It's called the Putin Tax. 🧵

Boasting about your “ambition” on the exact same morning the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published a devastating report confirming that 21% of Scottish children are trapped in poverty on your watch is breathtakingly shameless. The Scottish Parliament passed legally binding statutory targets to reduce child poverty below 10% by 2030. The JRF confirmed today that your government has already missed its interim targets and is set to miss the final target “by miles”. Tweeting out slick PR graphics demanding Westminster copy you while you fail your own legal benchmarks is utter delusion. Furthermore, claiming “independence” is the answer would be economically illiterate. The Scottish Child Payment is only affordable because Scotland receives over £2,500 more per head in public spending underwritten by the UK Treasury. If Scotland became independent tomorrow carrying an 11% structural deficit, you wouldn't be expanding welfare, you'd be forced into immediate, austerity that would wipe this payment out on Day 1.

This is a masterclass in statistical lying to manufacture a constitutional grievance. You claim the Prime Minister is taking “up to £4bn from Scotland's pensioners to pay for social care in England”, but your own Deputy First Minister’s letter admits that £4bn figure is an unadjusted cash-terms extrapolation for 2049–50, nearly a quarter of a century away. Terrifying pensioners today with compounding spreadsheet projections for 24 years in the future is cynical politics. More importantly, the claim that Scottish money is going south to fund English care is completely fabricated. Social care is fully devolved. If the UK Government invests money into an English National Care Service, the Barnett formula automatically triggers massive, proportional block grant windfalls straight into Holyrood's bank account. Scotland doesn't pay for English care; Holyrood gets a cash payout because of it. The ultimate irony is that Scotland’s population is ageing faster than the rest of the UK. Scottish pensions are currently underwritten by a 68-million-strong UK tax base and an annual £25.3bn UK Treasury fiscal transfer. If Scotland were independent, facing a 10% structural deficit without a central bank, you couldn't maintain existing state pensions on Day 1, let alone in 2050. Honest John?😂

Here’s what our plan means 👇