Goooood Morrrrning! A glorious sunrise before the storm ahead. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to speak with me this week. #election #scotlibdems

The fishing sector is under real pressure from a lack of workers, spatial squeeze and increased fuel costs. I will keep working to find solutions to these challenges.

Nine in ten newly-qualified primary school teachers can't get a full-time permanent job, leaving too many with only part-time or temporary work or struggling to get a job at all. This is just one example of the SNP's failures on education.

Margaret Thatcher built more boats on the Clyde than the SNP ever have and now the Islanders, shipyard workers and taxpayers are paying the price. #ferries #scotlibdems #elections

Day 6 - a huge reduction in modern languages since the SNP promised an expansion. #scotlibdems #Elections #schools

Day 5 - what have the Lib Dems done for colleges? #Colleges #scotlibdems #elections

A wonderfully upbeat launch of my local re-election campaign launch in Cupar. #scotlibdems #elections

Day 3

I attended a hustings organised by COSLA today to answer questions and set out the Scottish Liberal Democrats' ideas for the future of local government.

I was in Edinburgh this morning for the launch of the Scottish Liberal Democrat election campaign. We are ready to go and to speak to people across Scotland. 1/2

Over the last five years a total of 17,811 children were trapped in temporary accommodation for longer than a year. That represents a catastrophic failure by the SNP and whoever is in government after the election needs to commit that it won't happen again.

I questioned the agriculture minister about the deep concern of farmers in North East Fife about the rising cost of fuel and fertiliser, asked what work the Scottish Government is undertaking to gather evidence and make representations to the UK Government.

There is strong evidence for the damaging impact that phones have in schools and I support the Scottish Government moving towards a national ban, but we also need to consider the roll out of school-issued digital devices which has been introduced in Fife and other areas of Scotland. 1/2

I spoke in the final debate on the Visitor Levy Bill, which gives local councils the flexibility to implement the levy as a flat charge. I talked about the strengths of the tourism industry but also urged caution on the part of councils which are considering implementing the measure.

The bill on the use of restraint and seclusion in schools is the result of over a decade on tenacious campaigning by Beth Morrison and others. It will bring guidance onto a statutory footing and give it the priority that it deserves.

I joined the Tayport Walking Football Club for one of their winter sessions in Dundee last week. It was great to see the good work of the club and the benefits of the sport first hand.

The Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) Bill which was passed by MSPs last week will not on its own be enough to keep the Promise that was made to care-experienced people, but it was an important step.

I raised Scottish Water's decision to delay work on the West Shore sewer network in Pittenweem until 2028 at the earliest in the Scottish Parliament.

Yesterday I passed an amendment to the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) Bill to require the Scottish Government to report annually on the deaths of looked-after children. This is an important step to improve transparency and to reduce preventable deaths.

MSPs have been united in calling for better funded and expanded palliative care. I asked the finance secretary what plans the government has to take this forward.

Households and businesses across the country are already feeling the impact of increased fuel costs following Donald Trump's decision to launch a war against Iran. I raised the particular challenge this poses to the fishing industry.

The Scottish Government put MSPs in a difficult position by presenting a flawed bill to fund the remediation of dangerous cladding. It risks further hampering much-needed investment in housing and so I set out why I couldn't support it.

The SNP government has failed to get a grip of the crisis in NHS dentistry and services are still struggling. Ministers were slow to recognise the scale of the challenge and have been reluctant to accept responsibility.

There were positive measures in the government's child-poverty statement yesterday. While it was disappointing that the social justice secretary wasn't upfront about the government's missed targets, I welcomed the expansion of relational mentoring and the RISE work being undertaken with colleges.

I support a franchising model for bus services in Fife, to prevent companies from constantly changing routes and picking and choosing the most profitable. Local people need stable services they can plan their lives around.

This morning I attended a conference on Additional Support Needs for teachers and practitioners from across Scotland. It was a chance for them to share best practice and build on each other's experience.

The replacement of the SQA with a new body, Qualifications Scotland, was supposed to address the disjointed transition from the earlier years of secondary school into preparation for qualifications. I asked questions at the education committee about whether this is working in practice.

I raised the work of the charity ELibraries for Schools who are creating a national children's digital library with the culture secretary and asked him to facilitate the charity's discussions with partner organisations.

The EIS teachers union has announced strikes over its dispute with the SNP government and COSLA regarding teacher's class contact time. The SNP promised a reduction of ninety minutes per week in 2021 but ministers have failed to deliver.

The SNP promised in its 2021 manifesto to create an exchange programme to replace Erasmus scheme, which the UK left as a result of Brexit, but they failed to deliver anything more than a pilot scheme.

I visited the Community Trade Hub in Leven which does a fantastic job providing practical training to pupils from across Fife. I strongly support opportunities like this, giving young people skills and experience which will prepare them for work.

Liz Smith, Michael Marra and I met with the First Minister today to discuss NHS Tayside lifting the time bar which prevented former patients of Sam Eljamel from bringing claims for what they suffered. We also raised the need for individual patient reviews to be carried out as swiftly as possible.

A lack of access to social care leaves people stuck in hospital or going without the support they need. The SNP government wasted much of this session of parliament pushing a failed plan to centralise control of local services, but the need to bring in practical measures to fix social care remains.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats used our debate in Holyrood today to hold the SNP government to account for its failure to close the poverty-related attainment gap, ten years after Nicola Sturgeon set this deadline and asked to be judged on this issue.

Willie is absolutely right: Island crofters and farmers were supposed to be targeted as beneficiaries of FFIS, but Shetland businesses were awarded less than 1.9% of the first round funds, and the Western Isles a miserly 0.2%. The SNP will not improve until they admit what went wrong the first time.

Funding for a second round of the Future Farming Investment Scheme is welcome, but the SNP government needs to learn from the mistakes it made in the first round.

I met with Ramblers Scotland, the British Horse Society and ScotWays at the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference to discuss their work supporting access to the outdoors and improving paths and tracks across the country.

I was delighted to join Wendy Chamberlain and other parliamentarians at the launch of the Newburgh Train Station Campaign's public display on Friday. They have transformed a previously derelict shopfront into a display that clearly communicates the progress of the campaign to residents and visitors.

Many thanks to @jennygilruthmsp.bsky.social @ross-greer.bsky.social @willierennie.bsky.social Miles Briggs MSP.

Today we held a College Hustings @edinburghcollege.ac.uk which brought together spokespeople from each main political party for a debate on their priorities for colleges, students in the next Parliament @benmacpherson.bsky.social @ross-greer.bsky.social @pfokane.bsky.social @willierennie.bsky.social

Colleges are vital to getting people the skills they need to thrive and to grow the economy. The Scottish Liberal Democrats engaged constructively in the budget process and secured a 10% uplift in funding. However colleges need certainty about the future direction of funding.

I'm grateful to Colleges Scotland for organising a hustings with education spokespeople on Monday. It was an important opportunity to discuss the future of a sector which is vital giving people the skills they need to thrive and to growing the economy.

There was consensus in the Scottish Parliament last year that an independent national review of maternity services was necessary to address the serious failures which were highlighted and to restore confidence. Now however the Scottish Government is pulling back.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats engaged constructively in the budget process and secured £300 million for our priorities, including £70 million for colleges. 1/2

The Scottish Government's home energy scheme is six times more expensive to administer than the equivalent scheme in England and Wales, while also leading to a stalling number of green energy installations. 1/2

The closure of the ExxonMobil plant at Mossmorran has been a blow to the workers and community there. I have been encouraged to see the constructive work between Fife Council and the UK and Scottish governments, but that needs to be built on to secure future opportunities at the site.

The Scottish Parliament's education committee heard evidence from the Scottish Council for Independent Schools on the effect of the UK Government's decision to introduce VAT on their fees. I asked about the effect on the continuity of education for children from families with modest incomes.

I was glad to join Ed Davey and other Liberal Democrat parliamentarians last week for a day of discussions with businesses from across Scotland, covering energy, housing, skills, food and drink, fish and more.

It was great to visit St Andrews Aquarium at the weekend with Wendy Chamberlain and Daisy Cooper. We heard about their work with volunteers, community projects and their plans for the future.

I have heard the concerns of self-catering businesses about the business rates revaluation. My Scottish Liberal Democrat colleagues and I have engaged with the Scottish Government through the budget process and have secured a new... 1/3