Twenty years of Holyrood

It is now 20 years since the Scottish people voted in the 1997 referendum to create a Scottish Parliament with tax-raising powers.

Although there is much more the parliament could have achieved in its early years, we are now seeing the benefits of having our own parliament at Holyrood.

In Airdrie & Shotts we have seen the Monklands Hospital accident and emergency department saved, with millions of pounds of new investment in the hospital over the past 10 years. And we are now going to get a new Monklands Hospital by 2023.

The Airdrie to Bathgate line has been a huge boost for our area.

The recently completed £500 million upgrading of the M8, M80 and M74 will make this part of Scotland much more attractive to new businesses and investment.

New schools, a record number of new houses for rent, the abolition of tuition fees for those children who go into higher education, the abolition of prescription charges, the massive expansion of child care services and free personal care for the elderly are all huge achievements that would never have happened without having our own parliament.

But we cannot rest on our laurels. We must look to the future. Last week’s programme for government announced by the First Minister will see much more delivered for our people.

For example, free personal care is going to be extended to people under 65 who suffer debilitating, long-term conditions such as dementia and motor neuron disease (MND). Until now people of working age with these conditions did not qualify for free personal care. Now they will.

A new Education Bill will be introduced to improve the chances of poorer children to get a better education and close the so-called attainment gap.

A new Scottish National Investment Bank will be set up to boost investment and job creation in Scotland.

Major new initiatives to protect our environment will be launched, including the introduction of a deposit return scheme for drink containers which will help tackle the problem of litter and clean up our streets.

New measures will be taken to build on our success in tackling crime and reducing the rate of reoffending.

And action will be taken to help ensure we create the jobs and industries Scotland will need for tomorrow’s world.

I think the people living in Scotland can be proud of our parliament.

The programme for government announced by the First Minister will see much more delivered for our people