Speaking plain English at FMQs
- Published
There are few certainties in life. Even fewer in the sub-division of existence known as politics. However, I had thought I was on a reasonably sure thing in predicting Labour's choice of topic for questions to the first minister.
In advance, I had anticipated that Richard Leonard would seize upon the report out today which discloses that one million people in Scotland are living in poverty, including 230,000 children; an increase on the last set of statistics.
Foolish, foolish Brian. Mr Leonard chose instead to follow up on his question last week anent agency fees extracted from workers on public sector projects.
To be clear, this is a valid topic. However, the exchanges did not go particularly well for the Labour leader. Indeed, he walked into a volley of scorn from the first minister.
At one point, Nicola Sturgeon declared: "I think I am speaking English". Her apparent exasperation was, of course, ever so slightly exaggerated for effect.
But her point was that Mr Leonard seemed determined to plough on with his arguments, when evidence to the contrary had already been tendered.
Mr Leonard's initial complaint, as last week, focused upon the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route. Not familiar with it? It's a mythical location, bearing a strong resemblance to Atlantis or Brigadoon.
Ach, behave, Brian. You know perfectly well that it's a big, posh road around the Granite City, designed to relieve congestion at the gloriously-named Haudagain Roundabout.
Except it's not finished. Today we received an "update" from the Transport Scotland. Guess what? It's delayed again.
There had been rash talk of finishing by Spring this year. Since the snow vanished, this is now officially Spring. Still no AWPR. Summer then? Nope. The forecast now is Autumn. So which do you reckon will arrive first: the AWPR or the Christmas lights in Union Street?
The session did not go particularly well for Richard Leonard
Anyway, enough cheek. Back to Mr Leonard. Last week, he raised, entirely reasonably, the issue of agency fees extracted from workers on the Aberdeen project.
Ms Sturgeon expressed her dismay and promised to investigate. Mr Leonard tried again today - and seemed slightly discomfited when the FM disclosed that she had acted in the interim. Indeed, immediately after the questions were lodged last week.
She had established, she said, that workers did not need to be paid through an agency. They could get their wages directly from the sub-contractor on the project.
Aha, said Mr Leonard, but you didn't contact the relevant trade union. Ms Sturgeon promised to do so - all the while suggesting that it was perhaps more important to address the problem, as first minister.
Later, Labour issued a statement, citing union arguments that the FM was mistaken. However, that arrived too late to assist Mr Leonard in the chamber, when he needed it.
Wavering on Waverley
From Aberdeen, Mr Leonard shifted ground, like the ghost in Hamlet. There was a comparable issue, he said, with the Waverley Station upgrade project, just a short distance from parliament.
With mock weariness, Ms Sturgeon noted that the station might be but yards from Holyrood - but it was decidedly remote in terms of political control.
The Scottish government doled out the cash. But the project was controlled, the contracts awarded, by Network Rail - "a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK government."
Mr Leonard persisted - prompting Ms Sturgeon to ponder whether she had been speaking the lingua anglica, whether her import had been understood.
The exchanges closed with the first minister seriously - but with more than a hint of satire or irony - challenging Mr Leonard as to whether he favoured the devolution of powers over Network Rail. And also employment law.
Reply there was none. Mr Leonard had already exhausted his quota of questions for the day.
Ruth Davidson pressed the topic of the attainment gap in schools
Earlier, Ruth Davidson of the Tories pursued the FM over the topic of attainment in schools. Valid topic, vital indeed. However, on the day, the exchanges produced relatively little. Ms Davidson voiced concern that cash devoted to raising attainment may have, on occasion, been diverted into other projects.
Ms Sturgeon demurred, noting that it was up to head teachers who had, by a large majority, voiced confidence that the cash spent was already working - or would work. The scheme, I suppose, will be judged in the longer term, by results. Rather like an end of term exam.
Somewhat mischievously, Ms Sturgeon suggested that - while the Tory topic was perfectly reasonable - it had perhaps been chosen as being remote from the subject du jour, if not de la semaine. Fish.
However, if let down slightly by her Tory opponent, the FM could rely upon James Alexander Stewart Stevenson, he of the gaudy galluses (I know, I know, pot, kettle).
Mr Stevenson said Scottish fishermen were "very, very angry". In case that did not sufficiently convey their fury, he said it again, this time with more gusto. They were "VERY, VERY ANGRY".
The cause of this sea-borne ire? They had been promised by the Tories that Britain would be out of the Common Fisheries Policy at the moment of Brexit. Now CFP rules were to continue into the transition period.
We then experienced a slightly surreal moment. Instead of answering her chum directly, Ms Sturgeon glared at the Tories, while heaping contumely upon their heads.
All the while, the Conservative benches yelled at Ms Sturgeon, Mr Stevenson and anyone else of a Nationalist persuasion in their sights. The precise content was difficult to discern - but you can bet it was to the effect that the SNP would rejoin the European Union and thus the CFP.
Norway style
See my post from yesterday but the SNP answer is, variously, that: they would not join the CFP; or they would transform the CFP from within; or they would not join the EU unless the CFP deal suited.
After questions were over, one senior Nationalist muttered to me that the party needed to sort this one out, sooner rather than later, by backing membership of the EEA, Norway style.
But back to questions. Patrick Harvie of the Greens voiced discontent with anti-pollution plans in Glasgow. Did not go remotely far enough. Ms Sturgeon dissented from his version of events.
For the Liberal Democrats, Willie Rennie wished the FM well on her forthcoming trip to China. Well, actually, he condemned what he believed was a pusillanimous approach in challenging the Chinese authorities over human rights.
Ms Sturgeon was less than pleased. She insisted she would raise issues of human rights. But she would also push the case for Scottish trade, meaning Scottish jobs. Unlike, she said, Mr Rennie who was "talking Scotland down".
After these acerbic exchanges, we were back to school attainment. Liz Smith of the Tories had tabled a question, asking pretty much the same things as her leader had done at the outset. She got pretty much the same reply.
In our end is our beginning.