Martyn Day SNP

At Westminster the chaos continues. We are now waiting for the seventh UK Prime Minister in just ten years, and yet another one who will enter Downing Street without their own electoral mandate. And before he has even taken office, Andy Burnham is already telling Scotland what we cannot do. He has ruled out another independence referendum, despite Scotland electing a Parliament with a clear mandate for one.

This week Martyn Day MSP raised the vital Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme in Parliament, asking what progress has been made on funding and what role major industrial companies should play in contributing to the cost.

The Scottish Government confirmed it has provided a further £1.6 million to Falkirk Council this year to support the next stage of the scheme, on top of £23 million already provided since 2016-17.

Martyn welcomed the work already done by Falkirk Council and highlighted the scale of what is at stake: protecting 6,000 people, 2,760 homes, around 1,200 businesses and 23 kilometres of roads from major flood events.

The key takeaway was clear: this is a scheme of national importance. With climate change increasing flood risk, residents and businesses must be protected, and those major companies who will benefit from that protection should be part of the discussion on funding it.

Martyn Day MSP used his first question at First Minister’s Questions to raise the pressure facing small businesses from high fuel and energy prices.

The Federation of Small Businesses has called for Westminster to act with a time-limited 5p cut in fuel duty, and Martyn pressed the First Minister on what engagement the Scottish Government has had with the UK Government.

in an energy-rich country, households and businesses should not be paying punishing energy costs. Scotland will only get the full benefit of our energy resources when Scotland’s energy is in Scotland’s hands.