Time has come to step aside
It has been an absolutely massive honour to represent the people of this area in both Westminster and the Scottish Parliament over the past 25 years as well as to have been able to serve my country as a cabinet secretary in the Scottish Government.
It has been a very difficult decision, taken after some very hard thinking, that after a quarter of a century as an elected politician - I will not be standing again at next year’s Scottish Parliament election.
There is much work still to be done to transform our country into the fairer, greener, more just country I would like it to be – some of that will need independence for it to be accomplished
– but there have been great advances that have benefited the country and my constituency, and I am proud to have played my part.
Land reform – in terms of access, of ownership, and of use - has been an issue which I have pursued throughout my political career.
There has been a transformation in recent years and that is improving apace. With the community right to buy we have empowered communities to transform themselves.
Comrie was one of the pioneering communities in that regard with the purchase of Cultybraggan, and more recently the extension to more urban settings gave the people of Crieff the opportunity to rescue the historic Drummond Arms hotel after years of neglectful absentee owners.
When I was elected in 1995, Perth was still recovering from devastating flooding a couple of years earlier. Flooding issues have affected various parts of the constituency down the years and we have seen in recent weeks that unprecedented levels of rainfall can still pose a threat.
There has been a huge amount of work done on flood protection in the intervening years, but the experience of recent weeks shows that there is plenty still to be done.
With climate change, there is every chance that such extraordinary weather will become more frequent and we must ensure that flood management plans remain resilient.
That is why I have urged Perth and Kinross Council to carry out a review of the flooding issues experienced by my constituents. We need to constantly re-assess whether the schemes in place are sufficiently resilient and we also now know that there was at least one instance where a flood gate was not shut in time – we need to know whether there were any other instances where the defences that are in place were not appropriately applied.
Finally, I may have announced that I am stepping back from elected office next year - but not until then. In the months ahead I will do everything I can to continue to represent my constituents to the very best of my abilities.
Nor will I be giving up politics when May comes. As I have done almost my entire life, I will continue to fight for independence and look forward to the next referendum - which we will win.