I’m generally based in London during the week - undertaking some of the key roles of an MP: scrutinising legislation, holding the UK government to account through questions and debates, taking part in committees and meeting relevant organisations and stakeholders. I am the SNP's Constitutional Affairs Spokesperson in Westminster.
Matters currently reserved to the Westminster Parliament include foreign and defence policy, fiscal and economic policy, immigration and nationality, energy, broadcasting, Post Offices, social security, Child Support Agency, Tax Credits and pensions.
Below are some of my most recent spoken contributions in the House of Commons and information about Westminster related campaigns. You can also read my contributions to the House in Hansard or watch them on Parliament TV. You can see the Written Parliamentary Questions I have asked here.
UK Parliament image: commons.wikimedia.org Author Mbeckwith
PRESS RELEASE: SNP SLAM CABINET OFFICE FOR APPEALING SECRET UNION POLLING
PRESS RELEASE: SNP SLAM CABINET OFFICE FOR APPEALING SECRET UNION POLLING For Immediate Release: Tuesday 13 July 2021 SNP SLAM ...
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Debate on the Misuse of Drugs Act
50 years on and the #MisuseofDrugsAct is not fit for purpose. Watch my full speech from the House of Commons ...
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PRESS RELEASE: UK GOVERNMENT ORDERED TO RELEASE SECRET UNION POLLING
PRESS RELEASE: UK GOVERNMENT ORDERED TO RELEASE SECRET UNION POLLING For immediate release: Tuesday 15th June 2021 UK GOVERNMENT ORDERED ...
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Debate on Israel/Palestine
Three mins is not enough time but here’s my contribution from today’s Israel/Palestine debate. The real tragedy is that this ...
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May News – Westminster
Parliamentary Business I have been inundated this month with emails about the ongoing situation in Palestine and Israel. Regular readers ...
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Their Scottish Lordships
Their Scottish Lordships Report 2021 This week I published my 2021 report into the Scottish Lords. The report - titled ...
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March News – Westminster
Parliamentary Business Regular readers will know that I have been campaigning for the reform of our drug laws for the past ...
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Bill to decriminalise drug use and legalise drug consumption rooms published
Today I published my Private Members’ Bill to enact the recommendations of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee inquiry into problem ...
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Debate on Scotland’s Constitutional Future
I opened today’s Commons debate for the Scottish National Party (SNP) on Scotland’s constitutional future. Scotland’s future is for the ...
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Call for long-term support to help Edinburgh’s Festivals recover
The recovery of Edinburgh’s festivals from Covid-19 may take years, not months. In today’s debate I called for support with ...
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February News – Westminster
Parliamentary Business The big change for me during February was a change in my role in the SNP Westminster team ...
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January News – Westminster
Parliamentary Business Before I share some of my activities from January you may remember that parliament was recalled between Christmas ...
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Business Questions again – I’ll keep asking the same question until I get an actual answer
I’ll keep asking Jacob Rees-Mogg the same question until he actually answers it. This week I also asked about visas ...
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A new year but the same inability to answer the question
It’s a new year but I’m still trying to get Jacob Rees-Mogg to say whether the UK government will respect ...
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Parliament suspends Westminster Hall debates and Sitting Fridays
Lat night the House rightly agreed to suspend Westminster Hall debates (which could only take place in person) and sitting ...
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Rees-Mogg remains consistent and fails to answer my final question of the year
I had my final attempt of the year at getting Jacob Rees-Mogg to answer a question at today’s Business Questions ...
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The people of Scotland have the right to decide their own future
At this week’s business questions I asked about Brexit and about the right of the people to decide their own ...
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November News – Westminster
Parliamentary Business At the start of the month, the Chancellor finally decided to extend furlough until March. After months of ...
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Parliament should debate change to public sector pay and overseas aid
At today’s business questions I asked for a full debate and vote on the decisions announced by the UK government ...
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In a democracy people have the right to change their mind
No one is denying the result of the 2014 referendum. But in a democracy people have the right to change ...
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October News – Westminster
Parliamentary Business Work in parliament has continued with Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg continuing to act as if all ...
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September News – Westminster
Parliament returned at the start of September and after six months of contributing virtually, I returned to London. While parliament ...
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UK Government told to decriminalise drug possession and declare health emergency to save lives
Today I presented a Ten Minute Rule Bill on Problem Drug Use. It came about after the UK government dismissed ...
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A message to Rishi
A message to you Rishi There’s lies, damned lies, and chancellor’s statements. I sat through Rishi Sunak’s statement at the ...
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Parliament must lead by example and expand virtual participation
Last night I contributed to a brief discussion on a motion about Proxy Voting. While the motion was agreed without ...
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The UK government must act to support those falling through the gaps in Covid-19 support
Back Bench Debate on Support for Self-employed and Freelance Workers This afternoon I raised the cases of just a few ...
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The Internal Market Bill is an affront to the people of Scotland
The proposals in the Internal Market Bill are an affront to the people of Scotland who voted overwhelmingly for devolution ...
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I challenge the UK government on their respect for devolution… again…
Seems we're now being told that we should welcome the UK government interfering with and overriding the devolved administrations. Watch ...
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Impact of Covid-19 on Tourism industry
The impact of Covid-19 on tourism in Edinburgh. All of us who are fortunate enough to live in this wonderful ...
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I challenge the UK government on whether they’ll press ahead with internal market bill without the consent of the devolved administrations
At today's business questions I asked the UK government if they would press ahead with the internal market bill without ...
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Tory assault on devolution ramps up as UK Gov publishes the Internal Market Bill
Make no mistake, clause 46 of the UK government's internal market bill is a full frontal assault on devolution. The ...
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Devolution power-grab: smoking ban, free tuition, minimum alcohol pricing could have been stopped by UK under planned changes
For my sins I lead for my party against Jacob Rees-Mogg every Thursday morning in parliament. You’ll most likely not ...
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The Tories ramp up their assault on devolution
As the Tory assault on devolution ramps up, Jacob Rees-Mogg won't even do us the courtesy of answering questions: ...
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Rees-Mogg avoids the question again
It's hard to know whether Jacob Rees-Mogg is just avoiding my questions about devolution powers or if he really doesn't ...
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Instead of answers Rees-Mogg provides insults at this week’s business questions
Instead of answers Rees-Mogg provides insults At today's business questions I raised some really serious issues with Jacob Rees-Mogg. In ...
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Rees-Mogg continues to evade questions
Rees-Mogg continues to evade questions Another week of business questions - I asked again when Parliament would debate calls to ...
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Westminster Parliament returns with MPs appearing by video link or observing social distancing
Parliament’s back. Did you miss us? For those who take an interest in these things history was made this week ...
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The law must change on drugs
As the UK government's drugs summit takes place in Glasgow, during Business Questions I asked the Leader of the House ...
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PM leaves door open for drug consumption rooms
At today's PMQs I sought a commitment from Boris Johnson to consider a pilot scheme of supervised overdose prevention facilities ...
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Their Scottish Lordships
We are in the midst of a sustained and serious constitutional crisis. A central feature of the broken Westminster system ...
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A tale of two elections
Is it just me or does last month’s election already seem a long time ago? That last week in parliament ...
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SNP Members unanimously back drug decriminalisation
Delegates at the SNP conference voted unanimously to devolve drug laws and support decriminalisation of the possession and use of ...
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We Need to Talk about Drugs
We need to change the law on drugs. In fairness, that’s always been my view. But until now I’ve done ...
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