Good Morning Aberdeen!
And welcome to Conference.
It’s a real honour to welcome you all here, to the North East, to our Granite City.
A city that is proud to be the Oil and Gas capital of Europe- something we Conservatives, are not afraid to champion. We are proud of our oil and gas sector. Proud of the people of the north east that have made it in to the world leading successful industry and made this region into the economic, innovative, inventive powerhouse that it is.
Unlike Labour and SNP we aren’t ashamed of this industry, we champion it. And always will.
Conference, the utterly farcical situation two weeks ago- Humza rushing up to Aberdeen to make a speech on energy only to be unable to answer simple questions on whether they support new licenses or not. New exploration or not.
He couldn’t bring himself to support the development of the Rosebank field just last year – and now we’re to believe he and his party are champions of the oil and gas sector? Pull the other one.
And Labour, well Labour’s true colours have clearly been shown in the past few weeks haven’t they. The Labour Party’s ideological and climate damaging obsession with ending new UK oil and gas licensing would see tens of thousands of job losses. Clearly a view has been taken that they don’t need Scotland – certainly not the North East of Scotland electorally - and they’ve thrown this region and its people to the wind.
Well not us Conference. This is the party that will always stand up for the North East of Scotland and always champion investment in our north sea basin.
Friends, I was born, brought up, educated, married, had my first child all here in the North East.
My grandfather was from Stonehaven. My great grandparents from Aboyne. I’m an Inverurie loon. And proud of it. I know the north east. I know its people. This place. This special place.
And it saddens me, no, more than that, angers me, to see it, my home mistreated, ignored, disregarded. The people and priorities of the North East of Scotland, unimportant to the SNP focussed on placating their extremist green friends in Government. And even with that end in mind, they can’t get it right. The luddite SNP and Greens still won’t support clean, reliable nuclear energy in Scotland. The SNP, blinded by a misplaced belief in their own exceptionalism, seem almost alone in the world in not recognising the benefits of new nuclear in reaching our net zero objectives and delivering clean, safe and reliable power.
It is so frustrating, beyond frustrating, to see the powerful work in England to drive forward the nuclear renaissance – and to see Scotland missing out. Missing out on opportunities and losing out on investment. Especially when the majority of Scots agree that Nuclear is the way forwards.
The SNP are ignorant on clean energy. Ignorant on oil and gas. Ignorant on the countryside. Ignorant of agriculture. Ignorant of our unique history and culture. Simply because it doesn’t fall into the neat, imaginary ‘homogeneous’ SNP view of Scotland.
We’re not alone. In the Borders, Dumfriesshire, the Highlands and our so so badly neglected islands- communities feel abandoned. Let down. Ignored.
While local priorities like the dualing of the A96, or the improvement in rail times to the central belt are shelved, as our taxes go ever higher, Scotland now the highest taxed country of the UK- deterring investment and growth - millions is wasted, year on year, on SNP vanity projects. Failed bids for shipyards. Failed ferry contracts. Failed deposit return scheme. Failed free bike plans. Failed free laptops for schools plans. Scottish ‘embassies’ around the world. Foreign jollies for Humza to ‘represent us’ on the world stage.
I tell you this. If I had to choose between David Cameron and Rishi Sunak representing Scotland’s interests internationally and Angus Robertson and Humza Yousaf, I know who I would choose.
But nowhere, friends, nowhere has SNP neglect been more stark than on the decimation of our once proud education system. I was lucky. I went to a brilliant comprehensive- Inverurie Academy, about 15 miles from here. I had great teachers. A challenging curriculum. A brilliant education. And also a great time.
But while the dedication and excellence of our teachers remain, they and our young people are let down, abandoned by a government who used to claim education was their top priority. Once again the reverse Midas touch has turned the much vaunted curriculum for excellence into a curriculum for anything but. Lowest in the UK for reading writing and maths. Falling behind our international partners.
And, to the shame of the SNP, slashing places at Scottish Universities for Scottish students.
It is a mark of utter failure, a total disgrace, that in Scotland, the home of comprehensive education, the home of some of the greatest and most historic academic institutions in the world – Aberdeen and Robert Gordon’s Universities in this very city being two prime examples, that you are less likely to get a place at university if you come from a deprived background than if you lived in England.
What a failure the SNP have been for our young people. For Scotland.
Well, friends, this year we can say enough. We can send that signal that Scotland is ready to move on. To end the disastrous dominance of our political system by the SNP.
And in the borders, in Dumfrieshire, in Moray, in so so many places across Scotland, and here in the North East, that means voting for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.
For too long, Scotland has been ill served by SNP MPs being sent en masse to Westminster to shout and heckle from the sidelines. It’s time we sent more Scottish Conservatives to London – with John Lamont, David Mundell, David Duguid and myself, in a Government led by Rishi Sunak, to stand up for Scotland within our United Kingdom and work constructively in our combined national interests.
Ending SNP dominance. Sending that signal that we’ve had enough. That Scotland, the North East of Scotland and so many other places, want change.
That’s our challenge this year.
And in two years, well friends in two years we get to turf Humza out of Bute House and the SNP out of office. And won’t that be a great day.
You know what -
But forget the Sturgeon-less SNP headed by the hapless Humza… let’s focus on some of the truly great things we are achieving. That we will continue to achieve. Supporting our oil and gas industry. Backing the UK’s energy independence. A new era for Nuclear power. The first major economy to halve emissions. A plan for the economy. A plan for our United Kingdom.
Thank you – enjoy conference !
