Labour Party MP for Stirling and Strathallan since (elected). An MP continuously since .
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Entries on this tracker
94
Each filed under the party they sat for that day
Register entries
2
As currently published
Declared while sitting for Labour
£0
0 of 2 entries state an amount
| Party | Office | Area | Period | Began | Ended | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | MP | Stirling and Strathallan | – present | elected | — | Party history |
Parliament's party history for this member: Labour ( – present).
Every entry the member has in the Register of Members' Financial Interests, as Parliament currently publishes it. The wording and values are the member's own declarations; nothing here has been assessed by this site.
Totals add only the entries that declare an amount received: payments for work, donations, gifts, and funded visits (register categories 1.1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). Ongoing employment is listed but not added, because its figure is a rate rather than a sum received. Each entry is dated by when the benefit happened, not when it was registered, and placed under the party the member sat for on that date. A member who changed party therefore has a separate total for each.
| Date | Category | Entry | Declared value | Sitting for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| date registered | 8. Miscellaneous | Unpaid Director with Bee Herd Media Ltd. | — | Labour | Register record |
| date registered | 7. Shareholdings | Shares in Bee Herd Media Ltd | — | Labour | Register record |
<Question HRSContentId="{98E0C81E-8F1A-4ABA-9376-2A3F5135AC96}">24. <QuestionText HRSContentId="{EAA79049-7165-4AC9-B3D0-FA44A00A9B18}">What steps he has taken to support economic growth in Scotland.</QuestionText></Question>
Small and medium-sized family businesses in the retail sector create jobs on our high streets and keep money circulating locally. In my constituency, these businesses include Pembertons sewing machines, the Radio Music Store in Bannockburn, Michael More the butcher in Cambusbarron and countless others. I welcome the Chancellor’s Budget support for high streets in England, including the two-year, real-terms business rates freeze. Does the Minister agree that Scottish businesses deserve the same, that the SNP should match this freeze in its Scottish Budget and that failure to do so would mean thousands of Scottish businesses missing out on much-needed relief?
As the parent of a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old—sorry, that was a while ago. As the parent of a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old, I have been speaking about this for so long. Does my hon. and learned Friend agree that we should give young people more credit for their ability to understand and articulate the challenges they face online? They are not simply passive users of social media, and their views deserve to be taken seriously in this debate. It is important that we get across to everyone listening that we want to do things together. We do not want to do things to young people; we want to do things with young people.
I agree with an awful lot of what my hon. Friend is saying, but is one of the problems not that we need to recognise that young people are not a single homogeneous group, and that what is good for one is not good for another? That is what the Government are wrestling with, and I have huge sympathy for what they are trying to do. While we are hearing young people’s voices, one thing that is closer to a homogeneous group is parents, who want the best for their kids. We have to try to grapple with this issue and find a way through that works. Does he agree that that is what we are trying to do and hopefully we will get there together?
For many of my constituents in rural Stirling and Strathallan, energy security also means being able to afford the heating oil they rely on to live and to run businesses from home. What discussions has the Secretary of State had with Cabinet colleagues about ensuring that support for jobs in the oil and gas sector is mindful of the need to deliver the affordable and secure energy that many rural homes and jobs rely on?
It is great to hear my hon. Friend mention the titans of the brewing industry; I have enjoyed a few pints from his constituency in my lifetime. In my constituency, traditional brewing skills are being kept alive by small, independent businesses, often driven as much by a love of the product as commercial considerations. Brewers such as the Allanwater Brewhouse in Bridge of Allan, Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing Brewery in Dunblane and Brewing at the Fintry Inn all bring their own character and creativity to a local brewing tradition. I must also mention what went on in Alloa, my neighbouring constituency, over many years. Does my hon. Friend agree that preserving that cultural heritage is about protecting not just traditional skills, but the diversity, innovation and passion that smaller producers bring to the industry?
I want to offer a Scottish perspective on the subject. In May 2024, the Scottish Parliament declared a national housing emergency. That was a significant admission, but declaring an emergency is not the same as resolving one. More than two years later, the figures make uncomfortable reading. Across Scotland, more than 10,000 children are living in temporary accommodation. That is the highest number on record. There are almost 35,000 open homelessness cases, which is also a record high. Last year, there were more than 21,000 recorded instances in which local authorities failed to offer temporary accommodation to households entitled to it, an increase of almost a third. Those figures come from the Scottish Government’s own statistics, a couple more of which came out just this morning. The “Housing Statistics for Scotland” report found that house building has fallen by 8% in the last year and we have more than 10,000 council houses sitting vacant, often as a result of lack of funds or people to bring them back into use. Housing is a constant feature of my constituency casework. We hear from families in overcrowded homes and people living in unsuitable accommodation. Most express a lack of confidence that they will ever find somewhere appropriate to live. As a former council leader, I know that providing good council housing takes more than ambition; it takes resources and power, something that this Labour Government are looking to devolve to local communities in England. However, in Scotland, the SNP is centralising rather than devolving powers.<span id="97WH" class="column-number" data-column-number="97WH"></span> I have seen what can be achieved when these things come together because Stirling has been ranked first in the UK for roof-top solar installations relative to households. Our long-running programme of installing solar panels on council houses contributed significantly to that achievement. Successive council administrations invested in improving housing stock, helping tenants with energy costs and delivering environmental benefits. I also want to highlight the importance of housing to rural economies. Stirling council has recently allocated UK Government funding to new houses in Tyndrum at the northern end of my constituency. Local tourism businesses tell me they struggle to recruit staff because prospective employees cannot find affordable accommodation. If a hotel or restaurant cannot recruit because workers have nowhere to live, housing becomes an economic as well as a social issue. In small rural communities, even a handful of new, affordable homes can make an enormous difference, but much more needs to be done. I welcome the UK Government’s commitment to increasing council and social house building in England. We must share lessons from across the United Kingdom because devolution should never mean that we stop learning from one another. Ultimately, the test of housing policy is not how many targets we announce, strategies we publish or emergencies we declare, but how many families finally receive the keys to a safe, secure and affordable home. For far too many of my constituents, that day still feels too distant. To conclude with a bit of history, it pains me to admit that Scotland’s first pioneering council housing development was in Dundee, rather than in my constituency of Stirling and Strathallan, but I was fascinated to discover that, even before the Stirling houses were occupied in May 1920, the Commons was debating their affordability. In April 1920, Labour MP Alexander Wilkie questioned the Secretary of State for Scotland about rents that threatened to price out the very working people the homes were intended to help. More than a century later, we are still grappling with that same fundamental challenge of providing good homes that people can afford.
I want to talk about what happens after a diagnosis. A relative of mine was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and he was offered treatment through NHS Scotland. However, there was another option, focal therapy, which was not mentioned to him. He subsequently discovered that he was eligible for that treatment, but it was not available through his local health board; it was only available to him privately. The way in which he discovered the therapy was rather unusual: he was watching “Clarkson’s Farm”. He was struck by how quickly Jeremy Clarkson appeared to have received treatment after sharing his cancer diagnosis on the programme and, given what my relative knew about both treatment and tractor suspension, how quickly he was back driving in his fields. My relative had expected that treatment would mean weeks or months of recovery, but what he saw on television prompted him to investigate, and that is how he discovered focal therapy. He eventually had the procedure and is now cancer-free, but it raises some difficult questions. First, why was he not told about the option in the first place? As a Scottish MP, I recognise that health is devolved, but we are still part of one United Kingdom. If one part of a country is at the vanguard of new medical technology, surely we have an obligation to learn from it and share that knowledge. Whatever political or administrative boundaries we operate within, patients deserve access to information about all clinically appropriate treatment options. I am not arguing that focal therapy is suitable for every man with prostate cancer—of course, it is not. However, the availability of treatment in one part of the country should not determine whether a patient in another part even knows whether it exists, <span id="16WH" class="column-number" data-column-number="16WH"></span>let alone whether they can access it. Surely we cannot be relying on someone watching “Clarkson’s Farm” to push for information on what their treatment options might be. I ask the Minister: what more can be done to ensure that patients across all four nations of the United Kingdom are informed about clinically appropriate treatments, including those available beyond their own health board and national NHS system? Screening would give more men information quicker to start to make informed decisions with their doctors. However they find their way to the doctor to take a PSA test, if they are fortunate enough to find out early that they have cancer, we owe them all the information they need to make informed choices about what happens next.
In attempting to find the owner, microchipping is incredibly important. Compulsory microchipping of cats is already in place in England but remains voluntary in Scotland. Does the hon. Member agree that Scotland should catch up so that more families can be reunited with a missing cat, or at the very least be spared the uncertainty of never knowing what happened to a much-loved pet?
As my hon. Friend’s parliamentary colleague, I agree with everything that was said. The Government’s concern that a driver may not always know that they have struck a cat is a reason why the issue might be problematic. However, does my hon. Friend agree that there is a clear distinction between an unnoticed collision and knowingly driving away from an injured animal? Why should difficulty in preventing the first stop us from placing a duty of drivers to stop safely and seek help in the second?
Held . Recorded result: Lab Gain. Majority 1,394. 49,782 votes cast from an electorate of 76,284. Parties are as each candidate stood at the time.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Kane | Labour | 16,856 | 33.9% |
| Alyn Smith | Scottish National Party | 15,462 | 31.1% |
| Neil Benny | Conservative | 9,469 | 19.0% |
| Bill McDonald | Reform UK | 3,145 | 6.3% |
| Hamish Taylor | Liberal Democrat | 2,530 | 5.1% |
| Andrew Adam | Scottish Green Party | 2,320 | 4.7% |
| Seat | Dates |
|---|---|
| Stirling and StrathallanElected 1 time | – present |
| Committee | Dates |
|---|---|
| Rare Cancers Bill | – |
| Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill | – present |
| Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [HL] | – |
| Public Accounts Committee | – present |
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