This week in the Scottish Parliament the Air Departure Tax Bill had its Stage One reading. I am supporting the draft Bill at Stage One as it is an enabling Bill to give the parliament devolved powers over Air Passenger Duty as was agreed through the Smith Commission on further powers for Scotland. However, […]
The Tories brought about Brexit in order to try and sort out their own internal rows over Europe and deal with the UKIP threat to their vote. The Tories have created wider inequality and deeper poverty across our country since taking power in 2010. A Tory hard-brexit is a threat to workers wages, […]
This week I spoke in the debate in Parliament on Scotland’s Choice over a second independence referendum. I wanted to emphasise the point that we can have a discussion in Scotland about the future direction of our country and people can disagree without being nasty or vicious to others. We must categorically treat each other […]
I met with a group of Unite campaigners who came through to Parliament before my Member’s Debate on local government finance and the state of the debt. In the debate I called for a debt amnesty on pre-devolution council debts owed to the UK Treasury. I have to say the SNP Government response to this […]
I was pleased to speak in support of the Safe Drive, Stay Alive project in a Members’ Debate in Parliament. It is fantastic work that is undertaken by the central safe drive group, and their achievements deserve to be recognised. It is especially important to raise awareness of the vital work undertaken in the […]
Parliament motion recognising gymnastic clubs achievements Fife MSP Alex Rowley has described the achievements of local gymnastic club Acrobay as ‘outstanding’ and has submitted a motion to the Scottish Parliament highlighting their achievements. The club has gone from strength to strength since opening their new facilities in Rosyth and now has approximately 1,000 members. […]
History was made in the Scottish Parliament by setting income tax rates and bands for the first time. I believe that politicians should not take that lightly because there is a great responsibility on each of us when we are making decisions that have significant impacts on the people of our country. In Scotland we […]
I recently spoke in the debate in the Scottish Parliament following the launch of the Scottish Government’s consultation on the future of the Scottish planning system. I have been supportive of the fact that planning reform is long overdue and it will be important to try to consult as widely as possible if we […]
Please see below a copy of the speech delivered by Alex Rowley MSP at the launch of the Scottish Labour Local Government Manifesto “I would like to welcome everyone here today and wish you all the very best for 2017. In just 4 months’ time we will be asking people across Scotland to […]
In a debate on taxation in the Scottish Parliament this week, Richard Leonard MSP made the point that we did not fight for, and we did not create the Scottish Parliament simply for it to act as a conveyor belt for Tory austerity. The Scottish Parliament has to be more than this.