Stephen Kerr MSP

Scottish Conservative & Unionist MSP for Mid Scotland & Fife. Scottish Conservative lead for Justice.

[Festus Akinbusoye @FestAKINBUSOYE]

I refuse to buy into the pessimism, negativity, and self-loathing about London and Britain.

Take it from a first generation immigrant and son of a cleaner who grew up on a tough council estate in the East End.

I am running for Mayor to restore pride and purpose in our capital city.

Full podcast 🔗
https://t.co/Ou61r2Hckk

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

Significant story. The SNP’s no-redundancy policy has seen £27m a year paid to people whose job has gone but have yet to be redeployed.

[Dan Sanderson @DSanderson_85]

💥 Scotland’s hidden army of public sector ‘ghost workers’ whose jobs no longer exist but cannot be made redundant.

💰Staff have spent as long as 17 years on full pay without a fixed job, costing taxpayers tens of millions.

https://t.co/x5sN3n9ooY

[Stephen Kerr MSP @RealStephenKerr]

Labour says Britain has 1,000 days to prepare for war. So where is the money?

Will ministers fund 3% of GDP on defence by 2030? Yes or no?

Their own deadline. Their responsibility to fund it. Yet questions about the money are dismissed as a “fixation with percentages and dates”.

The threat is real. Britain needs the military strength, firepower and capabilities to deter our enemies—and defeat them. Our armed forces will pay the price for Labour’s failure to prepare.

@KemiBadenoch and the @Conservatives have set out a plan to reach 3% by 2030, funded through welfare reform and spending savings.

https://t.co/t407WMmFk1

[Stephen Kerr MSP @RealStephenKerr]

SNP ministers are forever telling us there’s no money. Then we discover this.

The Sunday Times reports at least £27 million a year spent retaining around 800 public sector workers without permanent posts. Some waiting five years. One for 17 years.

How on earth has this been allowed to continue? Swinney must answer for this disgrace.

It’s not the SNP’s money. It’s taxpayers’ money.

[Georgia Edkins @Georgia_Edkins]

Major investigation from The Sunday Times - the Scottish state is paying a minimum of £27m a year to around 800 public sector workers, in the NHS, councils, police etc who do not have a job, but they cannot be made redundant owing to SNP policy
https://t.co/aaJ4Rv01dn

[The Sunday Post @Sunday_Post]

A first look at tomorrow's Sunday Post #TomorrowsPapersToday #Scotpapers

[Russell Findlay @RussellFindlay1]

Arrogant SNP are laughing at Scotland's taxpayers👇

800 civil servants whose jobs 'NO LONGER EXIST' are on the state payroll ...

Because of the SNP 'no compulsory redundancy' rule.

[Harriet Cross MP @HarrietCross_MP]

The SNP cannot be trusted with taxpayers money.

The state is too big. Spending is too high.

Scottish taxpayers should not be paying millions each year for jobs that don’t exist.

Yes, redundancies are tough. But the private sector has to and does make these decisions. And it’s doing so increasingly at the moment given how business is being treated by both Governments.

👉 When will SNP start respecting the public’s money?

[Stephen Kerr MSP @RealStephenKerr]

Today’s @thetimes ⬇️

[Stephen Kerr MSP @RealStephenKerr]

@KemiBadenoch is clear: back the police with the time, equipment and support they need to do their jobs.

That applies every bit as much in Scotland. I want frontline officers trained and equipped with Tasers, and backed when they act lawfully against violent criminals.

We ask officers to put themselves in harm’s way. Giving them the means to protect themselves and the public is the least we owe them.

https://t.co/IhHNOKB9LI

[Stephen Kerr MSP @RealStephenKerr]

This is just bonkers. Labour is proposing tighter rules for household gadgets. @Telegraph estimates the saving for a TV streaming stick at £1.61 a year.

£1.61. Please.

Energy bills through the roof, and Labour is worrying about how brightly your microwave clock glows. Is this what passes for an energy policy?

The @Conservatives are the only party with a Cheap Power Plan.

https://t.co/vEaWxLJaay

[Nick Timothy MP @NJ_Timothy]

People who want us to pay slavery reparations are not only ignorant of history.

They want to impoverish their constituents to compensate those who have never been wronged.

Slavery existed in every culture and every generation of world history. Only the British stopped it.

[Douglas Lumsden MP @DLumsden_MP]

My piece in the Times yesterday.

[Andrew Bowie MP @AndrewBowie_MP]

Away with the Pharaohs! Totally in De Nile. Frankly, woke like an Egyptian…

[Stephen Kerr MSP @RealStephenKerr]

Labour dithers. The SNP speaks with a forked tongue: claiming to support oil and gas workers while obstructing the investment their jobs depend on.

Why keep importing oil and gas while driving investment away from our own North Sea?

Back Rosebank. Back new drilling. Workers and their families are paying the price for Labour’s indecision and the SNP’s hypocrisy.

[BBC Politics @BBCPolitics]

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has told @BBCBreakfast that she doesn't believe there are enough clean energy reserves available for the UK to stop using gas and oil

Read more about the controversy surrounding the Rosebank oil field: https://t.co/sVleYXoOmA

[Stephen Kerr MSP @RealStephenKerr]

The Scottish Legal Aid Board says it doesn’t know how many migrants or asylum seekers receive taxpayer-funded legal aid because immigration status is “not relevant”.

Taxpayers might take a different view.

SNP ministers are accountable for the Board’s use of public money. They should demand clear reporting on the numbers receiving support and the cost.

The Conservatives will leave the ECHR and end the merry-go-round of appeals to restore control around immigration.

https://t.co/hGIz5vyDmV

[Politics.co.uk @Politics_co_uk]

“For my constituents, the long-delayed green light for Jackdaw was not just a win for common sense; it was a victory for the city of Aberdeen itself”, writes @DLumsden_MP

🗣️ Jackdaw approval must be the start of a pipeline of new North Sea projects
https://t.co/X036Wrfn0N

[Chris Philp MP @CPhilpOfficial]

This is nonsense

People today aren’t responsible for what happened 100s of years ago

Many societies appallingly practiced slavery - including lots of African ones

The UK was the first to enforce abolition

Calls for reparations are absurd and shouldn’t even be entertained

[David Reed MP @DavidReedMP]

Either the people who organised this meeting and approved its publication don’t understand the significance of 11am on 11th November, or they have deliberately chosen to disregard Remembrance Day for political reasons.

Given that those responsible at @TowerHamletsNow are paid from the public purse, it is only right that we expose this decision to the cold light of day and get to the bottom of it.

[James Cartlidge MP 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 @jcartlidgemp]

I agree with @NavyLookout - with frigate availability set to worsen further "The only credible solution is to speed up the delivery of Type 26 and Type 31s."

That's exactly what @KemiBadenoch and I first proposed back in May, using the cash from Labour's stalled Chagos deal to fund the plan.

So it's disappointing to learn from @NavyLookout that the Government have rejected this idea.

With the Budget looming, the Chancellor needs to think again and finally set out a clear path to 3%.