So proud to have been re-elected
I would like to begin by thanking the electors in Perthshire North for re-electing me as their Member of the Scottish Parliament.
It has been the privilege of my life to be an elected parliamentarian both in the House of Commons and the Scottish Parliament.
The most precious part of the role of an elected parliamentarian is to be able to offer help and assistance to constituents in resolving the issues and difficulties they face.
It has always been the key part of my role to which I have given significant attention, and I have been well supported by the small staff team I have who help me with these cases. That has been particularly acute during COVID and it has been important to provide support and assistance to members of the public in these difficult days.
This is now the seventh time in succession that I have been elected; the first time was to the House of Commons and the last six have been to the Scottish Parliament. As a result of this election, I now become the longest serving elected parliamentarian in Scotland.
In addition to my own re-election, I am delighted that the SNP has once again topped the poll and won the election. This is the fourth Scottish Parliament election in a row that the
SNP has won, enabling us to form a government to build on our record over the last 14 years.
In the run up to, and during the election, there have been many attacks on the record of the SNP in power. The fact that we have managed to secure re-election, increase our number of seats since the last election, and poll the highest number of votes any political party has polled in a Scottish Parliament election, are particular points of significance in the result.
We will now begin the process of establishing the parliamentary session and forming the next SNP government.That government will be focused, from day one, on dealing with the pandemic and securing our recovery from its effect on the social and economic lives of people in Scotland.
Having received such a strong endorsement from the electorate, the government will take forward our bold manifesto which was anchored around key themes of securing the recovery from COVID, providing opportunities for young people, tackling child poverty, taking bold action on the climate emergency and giving Scotland a choice on whether we should be an independent country.
The election motivated the highest turnout ever in a Scottish Parliament election. For the SNP government to be re-elected on such a high turnout is a vindication of our performance in leading Scotland.
I think that is a particular tribute to the leadership of the first minister and that high quality leadership was explained as the reason why many voters planned to support the SNP for the first time.
I am profoundly grateful to everyone who voted for me. I made clear at the count that I will serve each of my constituents, regardless of the way they voted, without fear or favour and I look forward to doing that over the next five years of this parliamentary term.