Congratulations to our North East Scotland MSP Yi-Pei Chou Turvey who has won the rising star award at the 50th anniversary ALDE Congress!

The SNP have made a pig’s ear of teacher training. They are completely failing to train enough teachers for important secondary school subjects, particularly those in STEM. The government need to address the teacher training crisis as a matter of urgency.

Coastguard Rescue Officers play a vital role in keeping people safe. Removing the modest payment they receive for training and operational duties risks making it harder to recruit and retain volunteers, ultimately weakening a service coastal communities rely on.

In England, when water companies dump sewage more frequently than the rules allow, they get hit with massive fines. In Scotland, it seems there are never any consequences for sewage dumping under the SNP. We want to see a Clean Water Act to take the sewage scandal seriously.

"I believe that the changes that are being introduced following on from the recent court of appeal judgement risk hollowing out a crucial emergency service." @amcarmichaelmp.bsky.social

The SNP government has never once met the cancer waiting times target in the 13 years since it was introduced. Getting seen in good time can be lifesaving in cancer cases, so the failure to meet this target is doubly concerning. We urgently need to turn this situation around.

Our schools should be a safe place for pupils and staff alike. The Scottish Government previously produced an action plan on behaviour in schools, but is clear from these increasing figures that it is not working.

Sexual crime is the highest it’s been since 1971. Many of those assaults will have been committed by a partner. Yet the domestic abuse protections that this parliament agreed to five years ago are still not in place.

Andy Burnham must commit to dropping Labour's harmful red lines on Brexit. It is costing the UK £90bn a year. It's time for a bold new deal with Europe to boost growth, create jobs and keep our country safe.

Scottish Liberal Democrats stood in the way of the business rates wrecking ball and secured £178m in the budget to help linchpins of the high street like pubs and restaurants. It’s a start, but we absolutely need to go further and reform business rates.

We shouldn't be stuck with the terrible Brexit experiment that the Conservatives and Nigel Farage lumped us with. It's costing the UK £90bn a year. We need a bold new deal with Europe, that means joining the Single Market, a new customs union and deeper co-operation on defence.

After ten years of the Conservatives’ Brexit experiment, the British public have had enough. Nigel Farage pocketed a £5 million ‘reward’ for the damage he’s caused, while the rest of us are paying for it dearly. It’s time to end the chaos and fix our broken relationship with Europe.

The authors of Brexit, including Nigel Farage, are costing us £90bn every year. If Malcolm Offord is the serious businessman he claims to be he would be honest about this damage. Our plans for a Growth and Defence Partnership with the EU would stop the chaos and end the crisis.

People across Scotland are sick of being let down by an endless merry-go-round of Prime Ministers, while nothing really changes for them. Whoever becomes Prime Minister needs to end the chaos and focus on getting the country back on track.

"If we are going to kickstart our economy and trade then we need to focus on what works – and what does not. Just this week another report by the Centre for European Reform confirmed that Brexit had reduced trade in almost every sector of our economy." @amcarmichaelmp.bsky.social

This week marks the 9th anniversary of the Grenfell fire. Across Scotland, there are almost 1,000 buildings suspected of having dangerous cladding. Yet the Scottish Government has only got around to investigating 149 of them.

Scotland is still reeling from the failed Brexit experiment masterminded by the likes of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson. It’s costing taxpayers £90bn a year. That’s why we are calling for a bold new deal with Europe to boost growth, create jobs and keep our country safe.

Many highland schools are struggling to recruit permanent staff, yet at the same time the conditions that PSAs face are terrible. If we want people to make their lives in the highlands, then there need to be permanent contracts and affordable housing for key workers.

"The Scottish Government has a broken relationship with rural Scotland. The Lib Dem results in the Highlands are a reflection that this government doesn’t get rural Scotland and hasn’t been present." @davidgreen4csr.bsky.social

The case for a parliamentary inquiry into the facts of who knew what and when about the Murrell scandal is unanswerable. These unanswered questions remain:

We are pleased to have secured an independent chair for the review into maternity services. It would not have been right for ministers to mark their own homework. This review must put first the voices of families across the Far North.

The violence seen in recent days is born of a hatred stoked by bad actors online and amplified by voices in the chamber of the Scottish Parliament. If they seek to gain political advantage by trying to divide then they underestimate the people of Scotland and they will fail.

A leading education expert warned this week of a ‘persistent and worsening shortage’ of specialist teachers in Scottish schools. Our new research shows that over 500 teaching jobs had to be re-advertised due to shortages. Posts have been left unfilled for as long as 2 years.

There are places where highland roads are more like the surface of the moon. The Scottish Government ultimately hold the purse strings for local councils. They need to make sure that the highlands is properly supported to deliver a well maintained road network.

Far too often the approach of Scotland's SNP government, its state-owned water company and its light touch regulator is that Scotland's sewage crisis is out of sight and out of mind. Scottish Liberal Democrats want to see a Clean Water Act to take the sewage scandal seriously.

The biggest event of the week has arrived: the Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesperson line-up is here. With this hard working team Scottish Liberal Democrats will be fighting for change with fairness at its heart every single day.

📺️ You can now watch the maiden speeches for all our new MSPs in one place 👇️ youtu.be/hJJBY4uUuKY

"The reality of the situation is stark. This is a crisis because too many people have died since promises were made. If we want to be ambitious for Scotland, let us start with our children." Duncan Dunlop

Scottish Liberal Democrats are determined to use our strengthened position in parliament to restore some trust in politics. That means holding the powerful to account, which is why we would support a parliamentary inquiry into the Peter Murrell scandal.

Our Edinburgh Northern MSP Sanne Dijkstra-Downie made her first speech as an MSP today. Her speech focused on her constituency and what Liberal Democrats would do to help people in Edinburgh Northern with their energy bills.

During the Easter holidays, at least 8 ferries were out of action at the same time. Then last week, the Waverley paddle steamer stepped in for a stricken CalMac vessel. John Swinney must have winced with embarrassment. Is Scotland’s ferry fleet ready for the summer?+

Our North East Scotland MSP Yi-pei Chou Turvey made her first speech as an MSP today. Her speech focused on childcare and how getting the right provision in place is vital for growing the economy, as well as the impact on local government budgets.

📺️ Tune into BBC Scotland and iPlayer at 21:00 tonight, or BBC 1 Scotland at 22:40 to catch Adam Harley, our new MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, on BBC Debate Night

This reveals the brutal extent of Scotland’s mental health crisis, a crisis which the SNP have spent the last two decades ignoring. Action is long overdue. Making children wait over a year for help risks problems spiralling.

Our South of Scotland MSP Duncan Dunlop made his first speech at Holyrood today. His speech focused on the failure of the SNP Government to fulfil the Promise to care experienced young people and the need to overhaul the care system in Scotland.

The fact the SNP think independence is the most pressing thing Parliament could debate suggests the government is set to waste the next 5 years. We need to be focussed on fixing the NHS and care, helping people with the cost-of-living crisis and fixing the roads and the ferries.

It took NASA 11 years to put a man on the moon, but the SNP still haven’t come good on a near 20-year-old promise to dual the A9. We need to look to what more Parliament can do to hold the Scottish Government's feet to the fire to finally dual the A9.

It is an extremely telling reflection of the state of the west coast ferry network that a 1940s paddle steamer had to come to the rescue. Scottish Liberal Democrats have laid out clear plans to end the ferries fiasco for good, including by introducing a new Ferries Bill.

"I was sent to Holyrood to champion the issues that matter to local people, and I am not waiting around. That is why it was important to use my first day as an MSP to question ministers about maternity services in Caithness." David Green MSP

This decision to water down sanctions on Russia is an utter betrayal of the fighting men and women of Ukraine. Their brave fighters are making huge sacrifices every day and civilians are facing aerial bombardment from Russia. The UK Government must reverse these weak waivers.

It is clear that our victories in seats like Caithness, Sutherland and Ross and Strathkelvin and Bearsden denied John Swinney the majority he craved. We are now raring to go to deliver change with fairness at its heart for our constituents.

This vote is an opportunity to make the case for a liberal vision of Scotland. Scottish Liberal Democrats want a government that is focused every single day on fixing the NHS, on addressing the cost-of-living crisis, on getting Scottish education back to its best.

10 MSPs sworn in. ✅️ Now to get to work, fighting every day for change with fairness at its heart.

We secured support from MSPs in the last parliament for an independent review of maternity services in Caithness. That review has yet to be confirmed. It must include an independent chair from outside NHS Highland’s leadership and beyond Scottish Government oversight.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats are back. Our new group of 10 MSPs are ready and raring to get to work in the new Parliament.

📺️ Relive the moments our newest MSPs were elected on Friday (and even early Saturday morning!)

🔶 Ready to get to work 🔶

It is clear that our victories in seats like Caithness, Sutherland and Ross and Strathkelvin and Bearsden have denied John Swinney a majority. Our new MSPs are now raring to go to deliver change with fairness at its heart for their constituents.

Right across Scotland we have made a huge leap forward at this election. That includes some monumental swings, starting with the stunning 21.1% swing in Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch for Andrew Baxter 👇️ (1/10)

🚨 LIB DEM GAIN - Highlands and Islands Congratulations to Morven-May MacCallum on being elected as the Liberal Democrat MSP for the Highlands and Islands! Our 10th MSP elected!