Melanie Ward MP: speeches

Speeches

• 13 Oct 2025 · Security Update: Official Secrets Act Case · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the Minister for his absolute clarity today. Will he provide further details of the measures he has announced today and how they will protect parliamentarians, councillors and those in public life across the UK from foreign interference?

• 13 Oct 2025 · Manchester Terrorism Attack · Hansard source

  More

  My condolences and solidarity and those of my constituents are with the Jewish community in Manchester in the wake of this terrible terrorist attack. The Home Secretary mentioned regulators. Regulators such as Ofcom have a hugely important role in tackling antisemitism, not least online harm and hatred, as raised by the Antisemitism Policy Trust. Can she give an assurance that the Government have a plan to ensure that regulators are playing their full role in addressing the poison of antisemitism?

• 10 Sept 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Q2. After almost two decades of the SNP—

• 10 Sept 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Thank you, Mr Speaker. After almost two decades of the SNP and 14 years of the Tories, Kirkcaldy High Street has been in a state of decline. That is why the Chancellor was right to prioritise Kirkcaldy for multimillion-pound regeneration funding from the new growth mission fund, to build on the enormous potential of our town and its beautiful sea front. Does the Prime Minister agree that investment over decline is key for this Labour Government, and will he ask the new Business Secretary to meet me to discuss the funding?

• 10 Sept 2025 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access · Hansard source

  More

  I beg to move, That this House has considered humanitarian access to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. We meet today almost two years in to the devastating war on Gaza. Over 63,000 Palestinians have been directly killed—44% of them women and children.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access · Hansard source

  More

  I completely agree with my hon. Friend, who does hugely important work on this topic. Journalists, aid workers and others being able to see and report on what is taking place is massively important, and there are undoubtedly horrific attempts to stop that. Bombing a hospital to kill a journalist is absolutely disgraceful. There were 940 incidents of attacks on healthcare in Gaza in 2024, more than the total number of health attacks in Ukraine and Sudan put together for that same year. The corresponding figure for the west bank and East Jerusalem is 418 in one year. I want to give an example of what we mean when we talk about aid workers being attacked. On 18 January 2024, an Israeli F-16 fired a 1,000-lb smart bomb that struck a Medical Aid for Palestinians and International Rescue Committee compound housing aid workers in Gaza’s supposed safe zone of al-Mawasi. It almost killed my then colleagues, including four British doctors. We had to evacuate the doctors, disrupting a lifesaving emergency medical programme, and Palestinian colleagues were traumatised and terrified. The Israeli military knew who that compound belonged to. I know that because it was personally confirmed to me, as the then chief executive officer of Medical Aid for Palestinians, on 22 December 2023 by the British Embassy in Israel that the IDF knew of our location and had marked it as a humanitarian site. That should have protected us. The IDF knew, too, that our staff were there, having come back to rest from the hospital the previous evening, their movement having been logged properly through the supposed deconfliction system. After bombing us, the Israeli regime provided six different explanations to the then US and UK Governments and to me for why they had bombed our compound. Those explanations, sometimes provided by and to the very highest levels of Government, ranged from the Israeli military being unaware of what had happened to denying involvement; accepting responsibility for the strike, which had been attempting to hit a target adjacent to our compound, despite the fact that the compound was not close to any other building, which was one of the reasons we selected it; accepting responsibility for the strike and asserting that it was a mistake caused by a defective tail fin on the missile that was fired; and accepting responsibility and advising that what hit the MAP-IRC compound was a piece of aircraft fuselage that had been discharged by the pilot of the Israeli fighter jet. The variety of responses was both farcical and frightening. I think it is reasonable to assume that someone cannot just get in an Israeli fighter jet, take it for a fly and fire at whatever they like. The targets, as we are often told, are very carefully selected. I highlight, too, the targeted drone attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy—also in a supposedly deconflicted zone—that killed seven aid workers on 1 April last year, the week before I was last in Gaza. That concluded with a hurried internal Israeli investigation where no one was held accountable for murdering humanitarians. On 3 August, just last month, the Israeli military attacked the headquarters of the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Gaza, killing one of its staff in a building that also was known to the Israelis and clearly marked. Their military told the BBC that they were “reviewing the claim” of the PRCS. Evidence shows that United Nations Relief and Works Agency staff have been killed, faced abuse and been detained on a regular basis, and subjected to sleep deprivation, beatings and attacks by dogs. Time and again, the Israeli military attack aid workers then refuse to properly investigate what happened. The only conclusion we can reach is that they are doing this deliberately—these are war crimes.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access · Hansard source

  More

  I absolutely agree that it is time to take the historic step of recognising a state of Palestine. I have some questions for the Minister, but first I want to put one more thing on the record; it points to one of the reasons why the Israeli Government do not want people to see what is taking place. An aid worker who I know very well—a very experienced aid worker in Gaza—told me about a situation that he witnessed in the north of Gaza, in Gaza City, after an Israeli siege of the main hospital there. After the siege, he was one of the first people to enter the compound of the hospital. He told me that what they saw were the remains of many half-buried bodies. In all but one case, it was impossible even to identify the sex of the dead body. The only person they could identify was an old man who had his wrists bound. This aid worker told me, too, that there was a huge pile of clothes in the compound of the hospital and that when the aid workers entered the compound, many of the people who lived around about the hospital came in and began sifting through the pile of clothes. Because they could not identify the bodies of any of the dead people, the relatives were looking through the pile of clothes to see whether they could identify any of the clothes that had belonged to their loved ones, which would mean their loved ones might be among the dead. This is why we need proper justice, investigations and accountability for what is happening in Gaza. Does the Minister agree that it is time for an independent investigation into these incidents and others like them? Will the Government support full accountability for these and other war crimes against aid workers, and will he personally take up the case of the MAP-IRC compound bombing with the Israeli Government? Can he share what the Government have done to stop the new restrictions on aid agencies? Will the Government make it clear to Israel that if it proceeds and aid agencies are denied access, it will pay a price for doing this? Finally, I know that the Minister will not commit to this today, but will he agree to go away and examine expanding the UK sanctions regime to cover all those involved in violations of IHL? The Government have rightly sanctioned violent settlers in the west bank, but they should also target those instructing the blockade of aid and involved in the targeting of aid workers in Gaza, for example. Will the Minister agree to look into that and write to me about it? What happens in Gaza does not stay in Gaza. In June, a British aid worker was killed in a drone strike in Ukraine. In Sudan, refugee camps are being continuously targeted, with children and aid workers being killed. Only 10 days ago, the Houthis in Yemen arrested 19 UN staff, adding to dozens of UN staff already arbitrarily detained since 2024. Last year was the worst year on record for attacks on healthcare, and this trend is worsening. Such attacks violate international law, and the more they are allowed to continue with impunity, the more they incentivise malign actors in other conflicts to do the same. Accountability is essential.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access · Hansard source

  More

  It is clear from the sheer number of hon. Members who have spoken in the debate how much this issue matters to us and our constituents—how much horror and disgust constituents across the whole country feel when they see what is being done in Gaza. It was striking that a number of hon. Members, including the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East (Andy McDonald), raised links that their constituencies have with different local charitable organisations that operate all across our isles to try to get help to people in need. I want particularly to mention my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham), because I know that the World Central Kitchen attack was particularly felt by people who lost loved ones—I do not like to say “lost”: they had loved ones killed in that attack. We send our solidarity to her constituents, who are trying to deal with that still. The Minister ran out of time before he was able to answer my very specific questions about the restrictions placed on humanitarian NGOs, including British NGOs. Will he write to me with answers to those detailed questions as soon as he is able? That would be appreciated by the many charities, including here in the UK, that are deeply concerned about the future of their operations, as well as their supporters all across our country. I want to highlight a couple of other speeches—I do not have time to go through loads. First, my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) made some important points about international law, including that Israel, as the occupying power in Gaza, has the legal duty to ensure that the needs of civilians are met, which it is clearly not, and that the ICJ provisional measures included the need for aid to get in. Another Member raised the need for the Government to bring forward their response to the ICJ’s advisory opinion, which of course was given more than a year ago. I also mention the contribution of my hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Laura Kyrke-Smith), who is a former aid worker. She knows what she is talking about and does so much important work on this and related issues across the House. Finally, the Minister was right when he said that we need to bear in mind how history will view what we are all doing in this moment. The Minister knows the gravity of the moment we are in—famine, ethnic cleansing and genocide. He knows that our actions must be equal to the scale and the gravity of the moment. Members across the House urge us to truly do everything we can in this moment to bring these horrors to an end. Question put and agreed to. Resolved , That this House has considered humanitarian access to the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access · Hansard source

  More

  I agree with my hon. Friend, and I will have much more to say about that. Thousands more are likely dead under the rubble as well. There is man-made famine. Schools, hospitals, mosques, homes—the very fabric of life is being destroyed by the Israeli Government. Almost 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the west bank in the last two years also. I am sure that all of us here will agree that the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas were an outrage, and the Israeli hostages must be released. Attacking civilians is never justified. I know there is so much to say about the situation in Gaza in particular, which global experts increasingly assess as a genocide, and that will especially be the case given the Israeli President’s visit, and Israel’s unacceptable attack on Qatar yesterday, clearly designed to scupper any chance of a ceasefire.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend makes an important intervention. Indeed, this topic is riddled with misinformation and errant nonsense, put out there for political reasons; I am sure that we will hear some more of it later on. The issue of access for aid workers has received much less attention than that of aid not being allowed into Gaza in the first place, but, to state the obvious, it is no use getting malnutrition treatment into a warzone without the skilled staff—whether local or international aid workers —who know how to use it. Being able to reach starving children is obviously essential to saving their lives. There are many ways of denying humanitarian access: visa and permit restrictions that deny entry; failing to grant movement permission, which means not agreeing to give safe passage to humanitarian workers; putting in place requirements to hand over sensitive information about local staff and clients; threatening to close down banking; and making it simply too dangerous to work in an area. The Israeli Government are using every one of these tactics to shut down legitimate humanitarian operations in Gaza today. It is not Hamas that pay the price for that; it is starving children. The Israeli Government have a new front in their war. It is against NGOs, including humanitarian aid charities, some of them British. As of yesterday, the Israeli Government have introduced new restrictions on NGO registration, which require international NGOs to share sensitive personal information about Palestinian employees or face termination of their humanitarian operations across the OPT. NGOs such as Medical Aid for Palestinians have made clear that such data-sharing would put lives at risk in such a dangerous context for aid workers, especially given the fact that 98% of aid workers killed have been Palestinian nationals. One month ago, on 6 August, UN agencies and others issued a warning that, without immediate action, most international NGOs faced deregistration, which would force them to withdraw all international staff and prevent them from providing critical lifesaving aid to Palestinians. The deadline of 9 September passed yesterday; the evidence so far suggests that the staff of aid agencies that speak out about what they witness are being particularly targeted. As a former aid worker who has worked in a range of war zones, including Gaza, I know that advocacy about what we see is vital in trying to bring change. The move to block international NGOs from operating in Gaza has been compounded since the chilling arrival of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in May. Let us call it what it is: a bunch of mercenaries, and a disgrace. Since the GHF was set up, more than 2,000 people have been killed in Gaza while seeking aid, in what has been described by Médecins Sans Frontières as “orchestrated killing”. A recent MSF report says that the majority of people attending their clinics after being shot at GHF hubs are “covered in sand and dust from time spent lying on the ground while taking cover from bullets.” It quotes one man as saying of the site: “You find what seems like two million people gathered around five pallets of food. They tell you to enter, you go in, you grab what you can—maybe a can of fava beans, a can of hummus. Then a minute later, gunfire comes from every direction. Shells, gunfire—you can’t even hold onto your can of hummus. You don’t know where the gunfire is coming from.” Three months after the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began its operations to supposedly provide humanitarian relief in Gaza, the integrated food security phase classification confirmed that Gaza was in famine for the first time. That is the grim reality of a situation where Israel attacks independent aid workers while its own so-called aid workers attack civilians. At least 531 aid workers and 1,590 health workers, overwhelmingly Palestinian nationals, have been killed in Gaza in the past two years.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access · Hansard source

  More

  I agree on both points. We have to remember that Qatar was asked by the international community to undertake the hugely important role that it plays in trying to bring about peace and a ceasefire through negotiations. The focus of today’s debate, however, is humanitarian access to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and the ways that aid workers are increasingly being prevented from doing their job, which is to serve civilians in need. Aid workers serve humanity. When they are prevented from doing their jobs, it is humanity that suffers. In the aftermath of the atrocities of world war two, the main bodies of international humanitarian law were drawn up—what are often called the “laws of war”. Part of their purpose is to ensure that humanitarian aid can reach those in need, and that aid workers can do their jobs safely, in line with humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. I am sure that the Minister has heard what she said, and I have a lot more to say about how we can protect civilians and aid workers, too.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is absolutely right; I will come on to say more about that issue.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Access · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend knows exactly what she is talking about. I agree completely, and I ask her to convey our solidarity to the Palestine director of the World Food Programme when they meet shortly. To state the obvious: to alleviate the suffering of a population in humanitarian need, aid workers need to be able to reach them. Too often across the world today we see aid workers being restricted from reaching people in need, something that is in violation of the laws of war. Gaza is ground zero for that. We are all familiar with the barriers that Israel has put in place to stop aid entering Gaza. Indeed, the shadow Foreign Secretary, the right hon. Member for Witham (Priti Patel), has said that creative solutions, such as floating piers, are needed to get aid into Gaza. We also know that aid drops are deeply flawed. However, the solution to getting aid into Gaza is simple—Israel must open the gates and let it in.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  At the peak of summer this year, at the height of tourism season, beaches in Kinghorn and Burntisland were closed because sewage spills made the water unsafe to enter. My constituents have been let down by the SNP Government’s failure to invest in our sewerage network and by publicly owned Scottish Water, whose chief executive said—astonishingly—that concerns should not be overblown. Does the Leader of the House agree that clean water is the least that the people of Fife deserve, and will she make time for a debate on this subject?

• 3 Sept 2025 · Property Taxes · Hansard source

  More

  Here we are, with another Opposition day debate and another tedious motion from the Conservatives that completely ignores the catastrophic economic inheritance they left for this Labour Government coming into power. Their decision to put Liz Truss into Downing Street is something they will never quite live down. It really does stick in the craw to be lectured on sound economic management by them. We have had some fine examples of that today, with the hon. Member for Bridgwater (Sir Ashley Fox) stating his belief that speculation about future measures damages the economy. Why, then, have the Conservatives today put down a motion that is entirely about speculation? It makes no sense, even on their own terms. In government, the Conservatives did untold economic damage to the UK’s public finances, and the Chancellor is right to prioritise investment in our infrastructure and public services while ensuring sound economic management. The Conservatives talk of wanting to put more money in people’s pockets, yet they presided over the worst pay growth of any Government for a century. Had the Conservatives—and, we must not forget, the Liberal Democrats for a while—grown wages between 2010 and 2024 at the same pace as the previous Labour Government, the average worker would be £117 a week better off. [ Interruption. ] Opposition Members may heckle, but that is real money that could be in my constituents’ pockets which is not because of what their Government did. It is this Labour Government who are putting money back in people’s pockets. Our increase to the national minimum wage means that wages are rising faster than prices, and 8,000 low-paid Fifers this year received a pay rise, including thousands in my constituency of Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy. Let us not forget that the Leader of the Opposition said that the minimum wage is a burden and that maternity pay is excessive. It is the Labour Government’s stewardship of the economy that means interest rates have fallen five times and average mortgages are now £1,000 a year less than when the Conservatives were in power. Again, that is real money in the pockets of my constituents. My constituents know that it is this Labour Government and this Labour Chancellor who have prioritised Kirkcaldy for multimillion-pound regeneration funding as part of the growth mission fund, beginning the transformation of our town centre, which was neglected for a decade and a half by the Tories, and for almost two decades by their enablers in the Scottish National party. The old cliché that to govern is to choose is correct. All politics is about choice, and the difference between this Labour Government and the Opposition is that we have chosen to invest in our communities, in our public services and in increasing economic activity and wages, after they failed to do so under five Prime Ministers and seven Chancellors.

• 1 Sept 2025 · Middle East · Hansard source

  More

  The Foreign Secretary will be aware that increasing numbers of human rights experts and genocide scholars assess that Israel’s actions in Gaza equate to a genocide, with famine being deliberately created and hospitals being bombed to kill journalists. Against that backdrop, the Government are right to recognise the state of Palestine and to do so in a way that tries to drive change on the ground. Does he share my deep concern at the unacceptable new restrictions on visas and registration that are set to shut down the work of the most effective international humanitarian organisations in Gaza? What action are the Government taking to try to prevent that?

• 22 Jul 2025 · Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment · Hansard source

  More

  It is a great pleasure to speak in this summer Adjournment debate and to remember the star of the show in years gone by, Sir David Amess, whose plaque sits behind us. I also remember today my dear late friend, Jo Cox. Jo and I served together on the board of the Labour Women’s Network, and I often think of her. I know that we are significantly poorer in this place for the absence of her experience and her voice of real moral authority. I have to say something about the horrific situation in Gaza. Hon. Members may know that I was there in April last year, in my former role as an aid worker. Even as I have been sitting in this debate, I have had an update on my phone saying that 15 people have died of starvation there in the last 24 hours. Since I heard that the Israeli military is now attacking Deir al-Balah, I have been thinking of a lovely former colleague there who has a disabled daughter. Where are they supposed to flee to? The former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says that his country plans to set up a “concentration camp” in Rafah. The noble Baroness Kennedy said just last week that genocide is taking place. The world must stop these atrocities. Our Government have taken important action, but more is desperately needed, and quickly. Let me turn to my constituency. Yesterday I had the great pleasure of attending the Burntisland highland games, the second-oldest highland games in the world. It was a pleasure to join the parade behind the Burntisland and District pipe band, to hear the chieftain declare the games open and to enjoy some of the fine highland dancing on display. I congratulate the games committee on a very fine event. I will continue to work on improving accessibility at Burntisland train station—an issue that I have raised directly with both Network Rail and the Secretary of State for Transport. Frankly, Network Rail needs to get on with it, because the community has been asking for an accessible station for many years and has waited for long enough. We need action to make Kinghorn and Cowdenbeath railway stations accessible too. In such a beautiful coastal constituency, the work of our lifeboats is hugely important. This year, Kinghorn’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat celebrates its diamond jubilee, and I take this opportunity to wish the crew and the committee enormous congratulations and to thank them for the lifesaving service they provide to our community. They have already responded to 70 shouts this year alone. Sixty years of lifesaving service is an incredible achievement. Turning to Cowdenbeath, I congratulate Cowdenbeath Rotary club on its centenary, and draw attention to the wonderful mining plaque that was unveiled in Brunton Square on Tuesday. That plaque commemorates Cowdenbeath’s proud mining history and the key role that the area played in powering our nation. Of course, it also commemorates the miners who tragically lost their lives in the pits. Over in Kirkcaldy, I pay tribute to all those who played such a vital role in organising this year’s inaugural Lang Toun Fest. The work of all involved deserves recognition—they have given the town a cultural, musical, educational and artistic spring in its step in recent weeks, and I am already looking forward to next year’s Lang Toun Fest. I hope to work with all the organisations in Kirkcaldy that I have mentioned as we provide input and ideas on regeneration to Fife council, which will decide how to spend the Chancellor’s multimillion-pound investment through the new growth mission fund on Kirkcaldy’s town centre and seafront. I am hugely proud that our Labour Government recognise the potential of our town and are investing in our place and our people after years of SNP and Tory neglect. I have created a survey on my website that has already been signed by over 350 local residents, and over recess I will be holding meetings, surgeries, roundtables and pop-up events to hear more from constituents, businesses and community organisations about what they want to see. I will pass their views on to Fife council. At the same time, I promise that I continue to press the Treasury to secure as much funding as possible. I congratulate Growing Kirkcaldy on being nominated for a Britain in Bloom award for the best town or city centre—the only Scottish town in that category. It makes our town more beautiful, and we will all be holding our breath on 15 August as the two-hour judging walkabout makes its way around the Lang Toun. I wish Growing Kirkcaldy the very best of luck, and I wish every Member here a peaceful recess and thank the House staff for all their support.

• 22 Jul 2025 · Changing Places Toilets · Hansard source

  More

  The Minister is talking about the importance of a single integrated app that would bring together accessible toilet facilities and transport. Does he agree that we need this across the whole of the UK so that my constituents in Fife and constituents in Scotland can travel across the UK? We are, after all, one country, and we need these facilities to be integrated and open to all our constituents. Will he join me in congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) on his amazing campaigning on issues like this?

• 17 Jul 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  I am not the only Member who is deeply concerned by reports this week of armed police in Kent threatening a peaceful protester with arrest for holding a Palestinian flag and having signs saying, “Free Gaza” and, “Israel is committing genocide”. Many people across our country, and Members across the House, are rightly horrified by Israel’s actions against Palestinians, which this morning appeared to include bombing Gaza’s only Catholic church, where people with special needs were sheltering. People want to exercise their legal right to protest against what is happening, and they must be free to do so without police harassment. Will the Leader of the House please ask Home Office Ministers to meet with concerned MPs about this?

• 17 Jul 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my right hon. Friend for his important update. It is clear that Russia’s growing aggression undermines our security at home. Does he agree that the outcome of the war in Ukraine matters deeply to every one of my constituents in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy, as much as it does across the whole country and, indeed, all of Europe? Can he update us any further on the measures he is taking to counter Russian aggression?

• 16 Jul 2025 · Sudan · Hansard source

  More

  The humanitarian situation in Sudan is horrific, with the growing perpetration of atrocity crimes against civilians. This is part of a growing pattern of mass atrocity crimes being perpetrated across the world, but the UK Government’s strategy on prevention of and response to mass atrocity crimes has not been updated since 2019. Does the Minister agree that it is time for a fresh approach to this vital issue?

• 16 Jul 2025 · Further Education Institutions · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend for being so generous with her time. Fife college in my area does hugely important work, but it has had its budget slashed by 20% over the last three years by the SNP Scottish Government, who are actively moving funding out of my area and into Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Does she agree that such a cut is unacceptable, and that people in my area deserve the same opportunities to learn new skills as those in every other part of Scotland?

• 15 Jul 2025 · Taxes · Hansard source

  More

  The shadow Chancellor talks about interest rate rises. Will he enlighten us as to why he thinks we should take lectures on economic competence from his party, which has a shadow Cabinet with 16 members who served in the Government of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng?

• 15 Jul 2025 · Taxes · Hansard source

  More

  Like many of my constituents, I welcome the investment that was announced by the Chancellor at the time of the spending review for the long-awaited regeneration of Kirkcaldy town centre, a town centre that went only one way under 14 years of Conservative rule and 18 years of the SNP. They talk about support for small businesses, but what really happened is clear. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it has only been possible to do this because of the decisions that we have made to raise revenue?