 Can I remind members of the Covid-related measures that are in place and that face coverings should be worn when moving around the chamber and across the Holyrood campus? The next item of business is a debate on motion 3044, in the name of Neil Bibby, on A People's ScotRail. I invite those members who wish to speak in the debate, please press the request-to-speak buttons. I call on Neil Bibby to speak to and to move the motion up to six minutes, please, Mr Bibby. Felly, adu fi wedi gwiaith y cyfrifoedd y sector yng ngyfrannu'r gael ymryd ynghyd i'r dweud i'r ffordd o'r gael lluniau ddechrau arno a'r 31 mryd, yn ddiweddill y cyfrifoedd ynghyd i'r gael y cyfrifoedd, fyddwn ni'n gallu i ddim yn ddigonedd o'r flynyddoedd ar y gairafolio fel y gymredu'r byt ynghylchu i'r gael ac yn gallu'r gael ynghyrchu ynghyd i'r gael ynghyrchu i'r gael amser, ac rydw i'n mynd i ddim yn i ddatganiad, byddwn i'n meddwl i'r The SNP had no choice but to bring ScotRail back after the abject failure of the Abellio deal. The deal that they heralded as world leading was a flop. Years of delays, cancellations and overcrowding were simply unacceptable. However, the SNP and Greens do have a choice now. We have a new transport minister in Jenny Goldruth and with a new minister comes the chance to have an adopt a new approach. A claim break with the last year of Scottish Government actions running counter to Scottish Government rhetoric, unprecedented industrial unrest, a 3.8 per cent fair hike, proposals to shut ticket office deaths and no commitment from the Scottish Government to restore services to pre-pandemic levels this year. John Mason. Will the member accept that, before Covid, 77 per cent of the seats in the trains were empty? Does he not think that that needs to be addressed? We need to have more seats on trains, Mr Mason, particularly given the potential need for social distancing. While the ministers make grand statements about the importance of climate change, of modal shift, of reducing car use, they are failing to build back our railways. Today, the Government can vote with Scottish Labour and set out a new path to give assurances and certainty to the workforce to reject the cuts agenda and to aspire to better for Scotland's passengers. But, disappointingly, it appears from the Government amendment today that there will be no change in approach from the failures of the last few months. If anything, they are doubling down. Their lengthy amendment is notable as much for what it doesn't say than for what it does. The chamber has heard already today about the soaring cost of living. That is the wrong time to impose the biggest fair hike in a decade. A 3.8 per cent increase is hard to justify at any time, but cannot possibly be justified now and when services are being diminished. Last year, ScotRail opened a consultation on their May 2022 timetable. They would cut 300 rail services per day compared to pre-pandemic levels. Today, the Government amendment welcomes the restoration of 25 services following the recent consultation on timetable changes. That will have been used to Parliament until ScotRail emailed us at 2.37pm this afternoon with details of their new timetable. Far from increasing services, it represents a cut of one in 10 services compared to pre-pandemic levels. It proposes 2,150 daily services compared to 2,400 before, a cut of 250. It proposes 590,000 seats per day compared to 640,000 before, a cut of 50,000. No doubt will hear a lot of spin from the Government, but those are the facts, the inconvenient truth that they will want to ignore. The Government is confirming today that the new ScotRail will start with a vastly diminished timetable. It is wrong for passengers and the climate. It is wrong for the SNP and green MSPs to endorse those cuts today. Scottish Labour is also calling for a new approach to industrial relations. Rail workers literally kept Scotland moving during the pandemic and they deserve our thanks, yet the Government amendment deletes our call for compulsory redundancies to be ruled out. That is in stark contrast to the current franchise agreement, which includes a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies throughout the lifetime of the franchise contract. The minister will also know that there is no agreement from the workforce that the general public sector pay policy should apply to this sector at all. Forcing it on the workforce is regarded as an attempt to enforce pay restraint and attack on free collective bargaining. Not even the Conservatives did away with free collective bargaining between unions and the operator of last resort when the east coast franchise came back in-house. To do it now makes a mockery of the SNP's claim that the culture of ScotRail trains limited will be founded on fair work. I hope that the minister will think again and reset industrial relations on our railways because I have to tell the minister that her amendment is a recipe for industrial unrest and avoidable disruption to passengers. Scotland's railways must be a modern railway, but modernisation must not be used as an excuse for cuts and closures. Staff working in booking offices do so much more than sell tickets to give advice to passengers, they assist disabled passengers and they make our railway more accessible. Often station toilets and lifts are only up on operation when staff are at the station. Staff get station platforms and cold mornings deter anti-social behaviour and are a presence that makes the railways safe, a concern for many, especially women travelling alone. From helping one of my constituents deal with a diabetic shock to recently saving someone's life at Dalmure station, those staff go above and beyond. Never underestimate the importance of our front-line staff. ScotRail's rush to close ticket offices, reducing their hours or closing buildings entirely cannot go unchallenged. The Parliament should therefore reject those cuts and closures today. A railway's new leadership, the decisions that the Government makes now will have an enormous bearing on the future of ScotRail in years to come. We are asking the Government and the Parliament as a whole for clarity on the way forward, reject the agenda of service cuts, condemn rising fares, rule out compulsory redundancies and back collective bargaining. Let's work together to achieve a fully staffed world-class ScotRail under public control. I move the motion in my name. I now call on Jenny Gilruth Minister to speak to and move amendment 3044.3 up to five minutes, please minister. I welcome the opportunity to debate the future of Scotland's railway today, a future in which we will see a new beginning on April 1 when ScotRail passenger services come into Scottish Government control. Today's debate is Labour Party business, but I am keen to listen to the views of members from all across the chamber today. Next week, I will update Parliament with further detail, and I am also looking forward to meeting with our rail unions. The mobilisation of ScotRail trains limited gives us a real opportunity to rebuild following the pandemic. I know that we all value the importance of reliable and efficient rail services connecting the communities that we represent giving access to jobs, training, education and driving tourism. Rail is vital to our economic recovery, but also to meeting our net-zero commitments. Our rail workers are, of course— I will. Since the current budget cuts nearly £80 million from rail maintenance and renewal, what impact will that have on the efficiency of the rail service? I thank Mr Kerr for his contribution. I believe that his party voted against the budget. Setting that aside, I do not accept the contribution that he has made. This Government has seen record investment in our railways, and we intend to take our railways into public ownership, something that the Conservatives have consistently voted against. I want to give some time today to talk about our rail workers, who are absolutely essential in the transition into public ownership. The contribution that they made during the pandemic was invaluable, making sure that our essential workers could get to where they needed to, keeping our country going. I want to extend my sincere thanks to them today. I thank the minister for giving way. Does the minister recognise that there are many ScotRail workers who are concerned that the protections that they currently have against compulsory redundancies may be under jeopardy with the move towards public ownership of ScotRail? What reassurances can the minister give today on that issue? I thank Mark Ruskell for his intervention. This Government has always respected collective bargaining, but I am sure that members will respect that the chamber is not to the place in which those negotiations should take place. What I said previously is that I will be meeting with ScotRail unions next week, and I am looking forward to those discussions. In terms of rail services, which has been mentioned by Mr Bivvy already, it was clear even before the pandemic that some ScotRail services were significantly under use. On off-peak services, some trains were running virtually empty. That is not an effective use of our finances, but it has also had a negative effect on our environment. At the height of Covid, we saw revenue drop to less than 10 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. Nearly half of rail passengers have now returned to ScotRail services, which is good, but travel patterns and purchasing habits are changing. With more people working from home, I would like to make some progress. Weekends are now the busiest time for rail travel, so returning to timetables that existed pre-pandemic makes little sense. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that, this afternoon, ScotRail has announced that, from May of this year, we will see the addition of 150 more services in comparison with December of last year. That equates to around 2,150 daily services, a move that I hope will be welcomed by members today. Throughout the pandemic, to make sure that services continue to run, to give employment security for staff and to cover operating costs, the Government provided over £500 million of additional funding to our franchises via emergency measures arrangements. Those measures were extended and are now in place until the end of February. Overall, funding for our franchises has been on average over three times more than that, which would have been expected, had revenues not been so severely impacted. I recognise the role that the minister played in the leaving mouth rail campaign about opening up that particular railway. I recognise what she said about rail recovery, which is absolutely key, and I welcome that. However, I am concerned that we are hearing very much the same lines that we had from the previous transport minister about digging in on those cuts. Will the minister please take a look again at those cuts, because they are going to really affect passengers and rail services across Scotland? I thank Mr Bibby for his intervention. I am not digging in on anything here. I am setting out the Government's view, but I will give him an assurance that I am meeting with ScotRail next Tuesday, and I will be raising with ScotRail some of the concerns about timetable changes, but additionally about ticket station closures. I hope that that gives him some reassurance on that point. To come to the recent fairs increase, it is an example of where the Government has had to make difficult decisions, but we know that any fair increase is unwelcome for passengers, but the changes that are being implemented this year are absolutely essential to our wider recovery plans. I want to give members an undertaking state that I am in listening mode as we move forward with our ambitious plans to bring ScotRail into public ownership. Our trade unions will be pivotal in this endeavour, and I very much look forward to working with them and meeting them next week. Delivering ScotRail's railways back into public ownership will not be without challenge, but I am absolutely determined to ensure that seamless transition that delivers for both passengers and our railway workers. Many thanks, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I do move the amendment in my name. Can I start off by doing something that I should have done previously and welcome Jenny Gilruth to her new role? I had thought that she had made a promising start by giving some very straight answers to questions in the chamber, but today she has rather hunkered down somewhat, but she says that she is in listening mode, so I will take her at her word. I thank Labour for bringing this important debate to the chamber. We are at an important junction for the rail industry. It is a fork in the line. We can either do better or we can have more of the same. The problem is that we do not actually know where we are heading because we have had no vision from the Scottish Government. Whether you like a nationalised rail industry or not, we do not know. We do not know. I am coming to that. We do not know what it is going to mean. What we do know is that there are going to be cuts in services. We do know that there are cuts in ticket offices. We do know that Abelio has been doing the SNP's dirty work for them by preparing the ground for all that. On ticket offices, just in my region, East Kilbride station, that is going to lose up to five hours a day. Airdrie, a busy station, five hours cut Monday to Saturday, Cumbernauld, another big town. The ticket office would only be open for 90 minutes a day, Monday to Thursday and not at all on Friday. Does Mr Simpson accept that, in the year 2022, the way in which people buy their train tickets has changed from 30 years ago? The last time a consultation was undertaken on that was 30 years ago. Surely things have changed since 1992? Things have changed a lot since 1992, but what has not changed is the need for a personal service as was outlined earlier, and we do require that in some stations. We need to get back to some sort of normality and end the emergency timetable. We say no to those 300 service cuts which are coming down the line, now a mere 250 it would seem. We've got to get rid of those temporary timetables. When we look at fares, they've been going up but we see services cut. We need fares to go down, not up if we want to get people back on the train. Stephen Kerr will talk about that. Mr Kerr is actually on the same page as the RMTs, Mick Lynch, who says this. Mr Lynch says this and Mr Kerr would agree, no doubt. We already have a cost of living crisis and now there's a climate cost to the latest Scottish rail fare hikes, which will deter people from using rail, especially when we know the price of using rail has risen four times more quickly than the cost of petrol in the last decade. So says Mr Lynch and he is right. The Scottish Government's most recent budget has cut almost 100 million from vital rail infrastructure, East Kilbride line. I mentioned East Kilbride earlier, that is bearing the brunt of those costs. We need to increase the number of staff in stations and ticket offices. We need to expand the ticket office network. Those two things were contained in a vision, the only vision we've had so far and that was prepared by the rail unions. I'm pleased to hear that the minister will be talking to them next week, because we do need to repair industrial relations on our railways. They've been shattered, they need to be fixed in order for us to move on, and I will end there. I now call on Beatrice Wishart. Had the amendment in my name been chosen this afternoon, it would have called on the Scottish Government to expand rail cards so that everyone is eligible to get the benefit of rail discounts and be encouraged to take climate-friendly transport. That would have been based on the model that already exists throughout London and the south-east, meaning that everyone would be eligible to get a third off rail travel. Scottish Liberal Democrats propose a 50 per cent concession for those who already qualify for rail cards. That would slash the costs of rail travel for passengers and encourage people to ditch their cars, reduce emissions and tip the balance in favour of climate-friendly transport. I will say more about reducing emissions in rural, remote and island areas, which do not have that option a little later. With the Abelio-Scotrails contract coming to an end this March, we have the opportunity to revisit the approach that has been taken on rail fares and discounts. Of course, we also await the Scottish Government's fair fares review, but it is clear from the recent news headlines and from the previous debate today that we must do all we can to tackle the costs of living crisis. When families and businesses are being hit from every angle by rising prices, it is hard to take the SNP Green Government's commitment to decarbonisation seriously when the cost of the most environmentally friendly form of mass transportation increases every year. Indeed, if 3.8 per cent eye-watering fare increased last month, it is the biggest hike in the last 10 years. It seems to be a clear lack of vision on the climate emergency. Scotland's transport emissions are stubbornly high and unchanged since the 1990s, but one way we can tackle this is getting people out of cars and onto our railways and public transport, but that will not happen if costs to passengers do not add up. It is not just costs to passengers that will be an obstacle in reducing emissions. A reduction in services will be too. How can we expect passengers to seriously consider rail travel if it is unlikely that there will be consistent service on their usual routes? As we begin to resume some form of normal life, we need to ensure that commuters do not find it easier to use their cars instead of rail travel. I turn now to rural, remote and island areas such as my constituency, Shetland. Hopping on a train is not an option in an islander's day-to-day life. If you ask a Shetlander where the nearest train station is, do not be surprised to hear them answer, Bergen. Extending programmes like the Under-22's bus concession, however, to include free ferry travel is not only equitable, but it would encourage young people into the habit of ditching cars in favour of public transport if it is properly connected and thereby reducing further emissions. The Scottish Liberal Democrats want to give people new hope for the climate emergency, and we all know that we must act fast before it is too late. We want to see an efficient and green rail network that gives everyone rail card discounts instead of ever-increasing prices. We need to make sure that rural bus services are more accessible and tie in with rail timetables. I urge the Scottish Government to up its efforts to open or reopen rail connections to communities who are crying out for them, such as Newborough, while upgrades to the far north line and dualling of the Highland Main Line would benefit rural communities in the north of Scotland. That is a serious, ambitious and incredible proposal for boosting rail travel, good for our environment and good for our economy, too. We will now move to the open debate, and I call Richard Leonard to be followed by Jim Fairlie. Up to four minutes, please, Mr Leonard. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and can I remind members of my register of interests? Can I welcome the Minister to her new post and ask her, as she takes it up, to take a fresh look at the glaring inconsistencies in the Government's transport policy? It is no good going to the United Nations Conference of the Parties in Glasgow, boasting of a world-leading commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions, while savaging the greenest form of public transport that we have. It is no good coming to this Parliament to unveil route maps aimed at driving down car use if, at the same time, public transport alternatives are being decimated. On the very same day that the SNP in Greens announced their co-operation agreement for a fairer and greener Scotland, ScotRail announced a plan to act 300 train services a day, not temporarily but permanently. On the very same day that the last transport minister stood up in this Parliament to defend the public transport cuts, the rest of the world was marking World Car Free Day. You couldn't make it up, so our message to the new minister for transport is simple. It is that there is still time. Still time to listen to the RMT, to Asleth, to the TSA and Unite, who tell us that our railways in public ownership run for passengers, not profit, are part of the solution to the climate crisis, not part of the problem. And still time for the minister to understand that there is something profoundly unethical about a bellio conducting a consultation for a service that in less than 60 days' time it will no longer run. No wonder people think that it is being paid to do the Scottish Government's dirty work for it. Last month, the First Minister came to Parliament to defend the plans to cut ticket offices and jobs at 117 stations across Scotland. The First Minister declared, and let me quote her, that the ticket process is now automated, that this was modernisation. Well, in the region that I represent, this modernisation means a 30 per cent cut in cover at Edry, at Falkirk-Gramson and at Pallmont, a 50 per cent cut at Cote Bridge, a 60 per cent cut at Shorts and a 78 per cent cut at Cumbernauld, and on the question of automation. RMT have just surveyed their members. This is what one of them wrote. Station staff are first responders. We are the safety net for vulnerable people. We are first aiders. We are there for disabled assists. We are there for disruptions. We are for young girls who get harassed on our platforms. We are there for cleaning and ensuring that the station is a safe environment. We do not just sell tickets. The removal of staff from our railway stations will not only deter passengers, it will also deny passengers. Has this plan been equality proofed? What about elderly passengers, women passengers at night travelling alone? What about people with learning disabilities? Don't they deserve a good quality public transport service, which is accessible to them? Let me close by quoting the Minister herself. On the subject of the Levenmouth rail line, we were told that it will bring jobs, it will bring investment and it will widen the horizons of the next generation. These cuts to Scotland's rail services being defended by a Government that she is now part of will cost jobs, will drive out investment, will narrow the horizons of the next generation. In that same speech to Parliament, the Minister quoted Jimmy Reid, that whoever takes the important economic decisions in society, ipso facto, determines the social priorities of that society and he was right. So now that you are in power, take that advice, reverse these cuts, change the Government's priorities, save these jobs and invest in Scotland's railways. I now call on Jim Fairlie to be followed by Stephen Kerr. Up to four minutes please, Mr Fairlie. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like to welcome Jenny LaRouth to what I think is our first debate as the transport minister, so congratulations. This motion opens by welcoming the return of ScotRail to the public sector and I hope that other speakers from the Labour Party will recognise that it is the SNP Government that has brought what we can of the rail system back into public ownership. Before you reel off into the criticism of the Scottish Government for running a railway that we don't yet have full charge of, there are of course major challenges facing the railways that, as we come out of the pandemic, the impact of Covid and public transport has been massive and it will take time for usage to return to pre-pandemic levels. Throughout the pandemic, the Scottish Government has supported the rail franchises with more than £1 billion, including £450 million of additional funding via the emergency measures agreements, but that is a level of funding that is not sustainable in the longer term. I think that everybody would accept that. The motion talks of fare increases, but it does not mention that, on average, ScotRail fares are 20 per cent cheaper than those across the rest of the UK. It talks of jobs, but it does not acknowledge that employment in Scotland's railways is the highest that has been since devolution. Despite some failures by the private companies running our trains in the past, the Scottish Government's track record of directing improvements and investment in the rail network stands up to scrutiny. I'm very grateful to the member for taking the intervention. Can the member tell us what improvements he wants to see under a nationalised ScotRail? I don't work in railways, so I'll leave the improvements to the railway sector to the people who actually know what they're talking about. I'm quite sure that the minister just said that she's meeting with the unions next week. Is that not correct? Yes. Since 2007, under the SNP, the Scottish Government has invested over £9 billion on rail infrastructure in Scotland. The last decade has seen an investment of around £1 billion in some 441 kilometres of track electrification and associated infrastructure improvements directly benefiting more than 35 million passenger journeys across Scotland each year. Communities across the country have been reconnected to the railway network, and in the next three years more will follow. Obviously, I'd like to see some of the names from my constituents added to that list. I represent one of the larger constituencies by geographic size, and yet there is only one station, Gleneagles. Within my constituency, although the old station buildings at Blackford have given way to a new freight terminal, taking the Highland Springs bottled water distribution off the roads. I'd like to congratulate Highland Springs for taking the action in the face of our climate emergency. Per station is just as in the Deputy First Minister's constituency, but it's very important to my constituents. The Tay City deal has committed £15 million towards a perth bus and rail interchange, which will help to link up those vital transport links and create a much more streamlined experience for customers with on-going connections. Having mentioned the Tay City deals, I can't really let Tory members off the hook by failing to remind the chamber of the missing millions that enter... Yes, I'll take an intervention. A few short months ago, the previous transport minister inadvertently misled Parliament by suggesting the number of trains since I was going up, when, in fact, it was going down. But how can the member explain how we get more people on to trains when they're cutting services and putting up fares even above the price of petrol? Absolutely. How are we going to get more people on to trains? Miss Bailey, you have 30 seconds left. The initial understanding and expectation was for equal funding from both the Scottish and Westminster Governments, £200 million each. If the intervention had been in the fact that you were £50 million short, I would have taken your intervention seriously, Mr Carson. Indeed, in city region deals across Scotland, the Scottish Government has committed more than the UK Government. Across the five city region deals, the UK Government has come up short by £410 million. That's another cost for the union right there for you. Stations weren't always as scarce in my constituency. Like many parts of the country, there are station roads in towns and villages that I haven't seen a train in my lifetime near enough. There was even one station in Murton, set up to serve Murton Park, St Johnston's old football ground, and it was only used on match days. But we can't all be happy about that. Mr Bailey, you'll need to bring your match to close, please. Yes, I can. The task of the union and improving Scotland's railways would be a lot easier if the whole railroad net infrastructure, like signals, tunnels and bridges, is still in the hands of the UK Government. I want to see the network rail becoming fully accountable in Scotland and do the labour members agree. Stephen Kerr, to be followed by Audrey Nicholl. Up to four minutes, please. We have no time in hand. Any interventions must be absorbed within the member's time. I'm delighted to be able to speak in this debate. As a friend of the RMT, that's the new guy that I rejoice in. I'll talk about improving the accessibility of trains. It's of critical importance for Scotland to meet her net zero commitments. During First Minister's questions last week, I highlighted the outrageous cost that the people of Falkirk face to use Scotland's trains. I want to remind the chamber of those figures. For someone who travels from Falkirk to Edinburgh and back every day of the working week, it costs £72.50. For someone travelling from Falkirk to Glasgow and back every day of the working week, it costs £85.50. In our answer to my question, the First Minister made a pledge to the people of Scotland that her Government would make rail fares as affordable as possible. In the following day, the First Minister's answer to my question had become a pledge splashed across the front page of the metro newspaper, no doubt the handiwork of the dozens of media spin types that the First Minister has at her disposal. I look forward to hearing in the weeks and months ahead the plans that the Government has to make rail fares as affordable as possible. By the way, in plain English, that means in many instances cutting the fares. That's what that means, so we look forward to hearing about the plan that the Government has to cut fares and get more people to use the trains. Now, we must make it easier for people to buy tickets. We must improve parking at train stations, as well as integrating bus services. We must increase the number of train services that are provided. We must be reopening closed railway stations, a commitment that was in the Scottish Conservative manifesto in 2021. In short, we have many steps to take until we can say that Scotland's trains are fully accessible. There is not one solution to answer all those problems, but there are many strands. I would like to highlight one of those strands. That would be the introduction of an oyster card scheme in Scotland. Plans to do so were previously announced by the SNP. The introduction of an oyster card, but recycling and reheating announcements is what the SNP does so well with dozens of media types in the ministerial towers. In 2012, the Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said that the oyster card will be a hugely exciting development for transport in Scotland and will help us to achieve a truly world-class public transport network. It will make it easier, more attractive and possibly cheaper for people to get around using public transport and will help to further connect our cities. 2012, the oyster card has been used in London since 2003. It is hardly unproven technology, and yet here we are, 2022. That is 10 years later. The SNP has failed to introduce this on another occasion when eyes have been taken off the ball perhaps. Presiding Officer, what is stopping them? It can be done. How do we know that? In COP26, delegates were given oyster-like cards to enable free access around Glasgow and trains and subway and buses. COP26 delegates were privileged enough to get them. Perhaps the minister will explain why the people of Scotland do not merit the same privilege of such a service. There is no excuse, and the SNP and Labour portray bringing the rail operator back into public ownership as the answer to solve all the problems that the rail network has. It is not. Problems of cost, investment and ticketing will remain no matter who operates the railway. There are many problems to solve that require innovation, creativity and accountability. We need more services. We need better connectivity between different forms of public transport. We need to reopen lines. The railway being back in full public ownership is now the SNP Government's responsibility to ensure that all of this and more is delivered. It has taken the responsibility to be the train operator, and now it must deliver on its commitments. No doubt, through to form, the SNP will seek to deflect blame and attention, as it has done with almost every other area of public policy. Scotland's railways are now their responsibility, and taking the railways back into public ownership has simply reinforced the buck stops with the minister. Rail connectivity is a lifeline for the northeast, ensuring travel to and from education, employment, leisure, specialist medical treatment and many others. Members know that the north-east hosts an energy sector that has contributed over £330 billion and counting to UK tax coffers, and railways have been pivotal in that achievement. The causal factors impacting our railways over the years are complex. The pandemic hit services hard and made the financial climate extremely difficult. The return of rail services to public ownership is welcome and an opportunity to get serious about addressing many of the challenges. The SNP amendment outlines the investment by the Scottish Government to decarbonise and expand Scotland's railways, a record £4.85 billion allocated, including on-going electrification and decarbonisation. I'm hearing you describe in the rail issues in the north-east in your constituency, so would you agree that we need to focus on rural areas, including rural areas, south of the central belt in my south Scotland region? I thank the member for her intervention. I absolutely would. Obviously, coming from a provincial area and rural area, it is vital that the investment and the plans going forward across the rolling stock and infrastructure will extend to rural areas in particular. The investment is vital to getting people back on trains and making it a travel option of choice. Circling back to the north-east, progress is already being made at Aberdeen railway station, where an £8 million refurbishment is under way. Last year, Contour railway station reopened, and Nestrans is scoping the reopening of two small stations in my constituency. Of course, the Aberdeen hydrogen hub is an innovative opportunity that could in time expand production to connect to larger volume use of hydrogen for rail use. Recent friends of the earth's research on nitrogen dioxide levels put Wellington road in my constituency as the 11th most polluted road in Scotland, so it needs to decarbonise our railways and get folk out of cars—I won't thank you—is pressing. In a ScotRail debate last September, led by Neil Bibby, the transport minister stated that our rail plans included it becoming a go-to for freight. I would be very interested to hear more detail about that from the minister and the prominence that that will be given going forward. Turning to the workforce in preparing for today, I asked a very good friend, a train driver, for his thoughts. He highlighted the absolute professionalism of staff who, at the height of the pandemic, dealt with challenging members of the public unwilling to wear face masks going above and beyond. He described how Scotland adapted well in providing greater areas for staff and were excellent at updating government messaging through email and social media and of huge importance that was staff remaining on full pay. Hearing that, I urged the unions to get round the table with the management team to negotiate arrangements that will bring reassurance and stability to staff during this period of change. In terms of the long-term role of the rail in our transport infrastructure, he welcomed the progress on electrification and the potential role of hydrogen in rail travel going forward. At the principle that publicly run organisations free from the motivation of profit can deliver exceptional services, that was exemplified during the pandemic. The Scottish Government's commitment to our rail transport network demonstrates that there is much planned to ensure that ScotRail will provide a quality service to Scotland's passengers and I will certainly be close to monitoring progress. I welcome the focus of the debate this afternoon because it is clear that we need a reset and a relaunch of all public transport if we are to meet climate targets. It has been a great week for bus with the launch of free travel at last for under-22s, the promise of increased funding to protect bus services that come through the pandemic and I look forward to the launch of the community bus fund to take more bus services back under municipal public ownership but we do need that same transformative approach to be brought to rail as we recover from the pandemic. A people's ScotRail must respond to the needs of current and future passengers while retaining, valuing and investing in its workforce. The concerns that rail unions, passengers and others have about timetable changes, ticket office closures and the fear of redundancies underline that the Government and the new minister have work to do to build confidence that a genuine people's ScotRail will emerge in the months to come. Let me be clear that I share many of their concerns but while there is much in the labour motion that I agree with it does look backwards to the pre-COVID world when we should be looking forward to the services and timetables that are needed to get more people out of private cars and onto the railway. Our vision is for better services, electrified routes, new lines, accessible stations, better paying conditions for workers, improved ticketing and fair fares but that does not mean no changes to the way that the rail services are run but what it does mean is that any financial savings need to be reinvested back into the rail services and the workforce needed to run them, not stripped out of the rail system. Planning for that transformation then means listening to passengers and workers and ensuring that their voices are heard including at board level. It is clear that ScotRail and previous operators have not run meaningful consultations on service delivery for many years. 1991 is the last ticket office assessment. I do not think that there has been a national timetable review in living memory but the consultations that we have seen over the past months have been badly managed and the decision to conduct a massive consultation on timetabling during a pandemic when passenger trends are deeply uncertain was clearly flawed. I ran an online town hall event last September on the timetable review for my constituents and their concerns were very clear. Passengers were angry about the removal of direct services from Cacoddy to Perth, the increased weight at Ladybank for Connections and a particular concern for older vulnerable people and women. They were also angry about dramatically increased journey times in Perth to Edinburgh, especially when ScotRail representatives suggested at the meeting that rail could never compete against cars on the Queen's Free Crossing. I welcome that ScotRail has backed down this afternoon on these damaging changes. I congratulate the hundreds of my constituents who joined our campaign action to help to make the case and to force the change. Let's see this as an early win for people power that can set the tone for a people's ScotRail that listens to the needs of passengers and listens to the workers on our railway. There is still more to do, including retaining customer-facing staff in stations and ensuring that the commitment given by the Minister to no compulsory redundancies today is carried over in full to the new contracts. Let's be clear, the issues that we've seen with ScotRail won't disappear overnight. There's serious work to be done to make a people's railway a reality, and that means recognising the challenges that we face working hard to resolve them. I now call Polly McNeill to be followed by Brian Whittle. May I congratulate Jenny Ruth on her appointment? I hope that she brings fresh eyes to this really crucial debate, and I declare my interest as a member of the RMT group. In the very near future, we have a last public ownership of our rail services in sight, and it represents an opportunity to be grasped, to reverse poor services, high fares, to modernise our ticket system, and to renew the relationships with the workforce. It is a real test for any Government, but it is a test for the Scottish Government to show that it has the energy and ambition to bring about a better rail service. In no way are Labour looking back. We are highlighting the realities of what exists now, and we must rely on a confident and satisfied workforce, and we must address the realities and talk about the future. Why does it matter who runs our railways? It matters, I believe, because it is the best way to ensure the strongest accountability ability and to run a train service that is run in the interests of ordinary travellers who need a reliable and affordable service that many members have talked about. It is a public service, and to address John Mason's question, he seems to raise every opportunity as to why there are empty seats on trains. Maybe it is because some people cannot afford to get on a train in the first place, so there are many people that I have common cause with about the affordability of trains. It is a central issue for a publicly run service for ordinary workers to be able to afford to get on a train in the first place. Why is it not understood to have a thriving economy? In Glasgow, John Mason and I both represent the largest urban rail network with London, and it was created to serve commuters going to work. However, it is now time for Glasgow to have more investment. Glasgow has, of course, been the driver of the Western Scotland economy, and I am very disappointed that they have to put on the record that their proposal for the Clyde metro appears to be extremely vague up to 20 or 35 years away. There is not even a commitment to the first phase of it, which is the airport link, which is a very vital component of the commuter link to Paisley. It is very disappointing for Glaswegians that there are no concrete plans on the table. I say this to the minister that people of Glasgow will not be fooled by this, and he pretends that the Clyde metro is something real, so I want to see the Government put their money with their mouth on this if it does really exist. However, I am clear in the coming months that we do need—and I do agree with Stephen Kerr incidentally on this—it is not enough to say that we should run our services under public control. We must show that we can run a better service. This is a matter that I have discussed with the union. I support the review that workers should be paid on sociable hours. Many trips are made by car on Sundays, but that is because people do not have the choice very often of a service on a Sunday. If we are serious about getting people out of cars, we have to think about improving the service. Since 2009, the cost of a ticket has risen as fast as wages. The cost of a train journey is now so high in the UK. We pay five times as much as the proportion of our salaries is our European neighbours. I had a look on the ScotRail website today. It is £31.50 for a day ticket from Glasgow to Edinburgh. Someone who is on the living wage represents half of their daily wage. That is totally unacceptable. For Jim Fairlie, I think, said earlier that we have cheaper fares in Scotland, there might be some comparisons, but not with the main service—the biggest service. That is just an absolute outrage. That means that, if you are a part-time worker and you want to work in Edinburgh, you have absolutely no chance of survival because you could not afford those fares. We need a publicly-run service. We need it to be invested in with public money. We need to get the public behind us. We need to deliver it in the lifetime of this Parliament. I now call Brian Whittle, who will be followed by Clare Adamson. Clare Adamson will be the last speaker in the open debate. Up to four minutes, please, Mr Whittle. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I am delighted to be speaking in this really important debate. From connecting our communities to the commitment to our net zero future, rail travel has to become an ever-increasingly important mode of transport. There are many laudable commitments from both the Labour and SNP benches. My concern is that there is little detail in how that is going to be paid for. When I was reading the SNP amendment, it seems to paint a picture of a rail network that is so perfect that it would not leak out of place in an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine. But let us not sugarcoat it. The Scottish Government is taking over a rail network at an extremely challenging time. I think that that is a point that I am sure that the SNP will return to when it inevitably follows the usual path and fails to meet the commitments that it is making today. That said, there is no reason why Scotland's rail network should not recover and thrive with the right approach. However, I have got to say that the SNP track record in taking private businesses into public ownership is less than stellar. One only has to consider ferries and airports to make that point. The Scottish Government is taking over the rail network at a time when passenger numbers have crashed because of Covid, costs are rising and the network is increasingly showing its age. I was listening to the minister's contribution and, if I picked her up wrong, I apologise and she could pick me up on it, but she seemed to indicate that rail routes that were cut, the services were cut because they were not full. If that is a criteria for putting services on, there are many rural areas that will end up without a rail link. Again, if that is the case, it is hardly aligned with the reduction in road miles that the Scottish Government is aiming for, hardly a net zero policy. I would highlight the route from Ertys Trunwar as an example of an unelectrified single track rail link that does not stop at the busiest port in Scotland, Cairnwyan. By investing in that route, there will be a great opportunity to take freight off the dangerous A77 road link, a point that has been laboured timer again for years. I made much promise from the SNP, and having seen the latest iteration of the SDPR2 document, it is obvious that it continues to be kicked well down that road, again, hardly helping on the net zero target. On that route, several years ago, the air station hotel started falling into the air station temporarily closing the route south of Ayr. That remains unresolved as millions continue to be drained from the public purse, keeping the building wrapped, while no decision as to its future is being made. That was already in the Scottish Government inbox, but nationalisation will almost inevitably become a problem that it will have to solve. To make no mistake, the SNP has allowed our railways to fall into a poor state. It is a very big task that the Scottish Government is taking on. We are being sold a vision of a world-leading modern rail network with high wages, increased passenger numbers, increased investment in rail links and trains, along with lower rail fares, all of which we would wholeheartedly applaud if it were ever to come to fruition. As ever with this Government, we hear world-leading targets and ambitions, but no route to get to those goals or an indication of how it would be paid for. Forgive me, Presiding Officer, if I do not get over excited about the impending nationalisation of ScotRail that will solve our significant rail issues. Regrettably, having heard so many ambitious plans from the SNP Government that have sunk without a trace, I see little to give me confidence that this latest takeover will not result in anything different. The SNP will have control of a ferry company that is all at sea, unlike its boats. An airport that the Scottish Government will not allow to take off is surely only a matter of time before a new nationalised train operator goes off the rails. How on earth will Scotland ever get anywhere under the SNP Government? I come to this debate agreeing with much of the thrust of the Labour motion. I too welcome the return of ScotRail to the public sector. Our public transport system should be just that, public. The current franchising system is not fit for purpose, and passengers across the UK have suffered from unrival service and an infamously confusing pricing system. That has been caused by a diffuse network of private operators, motivated by profit, and devoid of a real accountability or transparency. The return of ScotRail to public ownership is a significant step. A step that, despite the tone of the Labour contributions thus far, successive Labour Governments at both UK and Scottish levels failed to take. Any country that is serious about meeting the challenges of climate emergency must be serious about public transport. The notorious speech report in the 1960s, commissioned by— Ms Adamson. Ms Adamson, could you stop just one second, please? There is far too much chattering on. Let us have the courtesy of listening to Ms Adamson. Thank you. The notorious speech report in the 1960s, commissioned by the Tories, and with many proposals implemented by subsequent Labour Governments, underestimated the social value of real services. Now, decades on, we are faced with an environmental fallout of sweeping closures. The urgency of reinvesting in low-carbon transport has never been more apparent. I would question why those Labour benches continue to oppose Scotland having full control over real services. In Government, Labour kept ScotRail in private hands. In opposition, they refused to call for the full powers over real services, including Network Rail. Powers that would give us a truly integrated public rail service accountable to this Parliament and the people of Scotland. Further, Labour offers no serious proposals for how we would pay for the demands without those powers while operating within our fixed budget. Meanwhile, the SNP Government has demonstrated that it is serious about public transport and low-carbon travel. Our party's record in Government is in the motion for prosperity, but it bears repeating for my colleagues on the Opposition benches £1 billion to electrify 541km of track and improve infrastructure, benefiting more than 35 million passengers across Scotland. A record £4.85 billion allocated, including on-going electrification and decarbonisation, and over £9 billion of investment by the Scottish Government since 2007, helping to reconnect 14 communities to the rail network was five more to be reconnected in the next three years, and over £555 million to sustain services and jobs throughout the pandemic. That is supporting the heroic efforts of our rail workers during these unprecedented times. However, my own mother will and wish her constituency is benefiting from Government funding. Significant Scottish Government investing has gone into upgrading the model world train station, the redevelopment will see a transport hub created in the town and will be a huge prudent to the local economy and attract wider investment, and I welcome the development of Clellens station in the last session of the Parliament and the introduction of disability access at that station. An investment goes wider than rail? It is a champion. The SNP Government has been a champion of active travel, with investment going into active travel projects across North Lanarkshire, including in Craig Newke in my area. We have our own active travel strategy in conjunction with the Scottish Government, and prioritisation is with aid of Government capital funding, working with North Lanarkshire to deliver fantastic initiatives such as social track, which have been there to reclaim a derelict site in Wyshire, turn it into a pum track and encourage active travel across the area. We now move to closing speeches. I call on Liam Kerr to conclude for the Scottish Conservatives. There is much in the Labour motion with which we can agree, not least, as Brian Whittle pointed out, the pivotal role that rail must play in the drive towards modal shift and net zero. The motion is right to demand a swift return to full services. As Richard Leonard said, it is simply not credible to talk about encouraging people back onto the railway, not only in pre-pandemic numbers but in volumes that signal modal shift in the context of ticket office cuts and closures, service reductions and the increase in fares. That is where the folly of the SNP amendment is laid bare. As Stephen Kerr said, change of ownership does not of itself drive improvement. The SNP has spent years berating the current workforce, the management and, latterly, the unions on their stewardship of Scotland's railway, yet they even acknowledge in their amendment that the transfer to a new company means that pretty much the same people that they have spent years unfairly traduting will be running it thereafter. The key difference now, as has been pointed out, is that it will be under the ownership of a Government, which a trepidatious Scottish public is well aware also owns the ferries and Prestwick airport. However, I think that there is something far more sinister going on here. As Graham Simpson pointed out, what we have never seen is a coherent plan for investment and improvement. Brian Whittle asked how we pay for it. Indeed, the SNP has maintained a delfic silence over how to pay. As I have pointed out in this chamber many times, it boils down to three choices. You either increase taxes and hypothecate any higher take to the railway, which is not going to happen. You either cannibalise from other portfolio budgets like health or education, which, thankfully, is not going to happen. It is already happening in reverse, with nearly £100 million worth of cuts to funding to support the cost of maintenance, safe operation and renewal in the budget this year—something Claire Adamson strangely omitted from her self congratulation. Or you cannibalise from within the railway budget. Presiding Officer, that is exactly what they are doing. As we heard yesterday from the cabinet secretary, we can forget about reducing journey times between Aberdeen and the central belt by 20 minutes. We can forget the promise to dual Usan. We can forget any new lines in the north-east. Instead, they will reprofile railway funds by cutting ticket office hours to reduce the overhead, cutting staffing to reduce the wage bill, cutting services to reduce the running and engineering costs, ramping fares to squeeze more from a smaller passenger base. As I discovered last week, winding back from the Inter-Seven City Service provision and Class 343 sets, which I am surprised and disappointed that Audrie Nicholl forgot to mention in her speech. This is classic SNP. The public wanted a public leone railway. Bright said Nicola, make it happen, get the votes in the bag and worry about paying for it later. Oh, and get a bellio to do all the dirty work on their way out. This hammering of services, staff and the public is the result. Presiding Officer, this Government is a shameless shower of charlatans, shunting ScotRail into the sidings. The Scottish Conservatives will never get on board with that. Since taking on the transport portfolio nine days ago, I have discovered that there are some strong emotions when it comes to rail. That is as it should be. As Neil Bibby alluded to and others during the course of this afternoon's debate, given my own involvement in the Levenmouth rail campaign, I know just how important our railways are to our communities. They are important to our economy, to our social interactions and increasingly to the future of our environment. Beatrix Wishart spoke about the importance of model change today and she is absolutely correct on that point with regard to our ambitious targets on climate change. She made a point about the use of the under-22s free bus scheme and how we might look to pivot that to ferries. I mentioned in my response to her yesterday during parliamentary questions that I am taking that point up with officials. To respond to some of the other points raised in the debate, Graham Simpson spoke of the need for personal service at train stations. I agree with him. ScotRail did look at anti-social behaviour, for example, and access and made changes to their consultation as a result of it. I am meeting with ScotRail next Tuesday and I give him an undertaking that I will raise that matter with him. I have to say that, as the first female transport minister in 20 years, I do not need lessons from Graham Simpson or Richard Leonard about the need to protect women's safety on public transport. It is a serious issue in itself and I do not think that it should be hemmed into the edge of this afternoon's debate. It is worth reminding the chamber that it is solely because of the actions taken by this Government that ScotRail services will be now in the public sector. As Pauline McNeill said, it is vital that we run rather a public service that meets the needs of the travelling public. On compulsory redundancies, I would like to make some progress just now. I will give way, sorry. Finlay Carson. My intervention, can you tell me whether decreasing services and increasing rail fares will increase or decrease the number of people who will access the train service? Finlay Carson has heard today that ScotRail are increasing services back to the level that they were in December of 2021, so that is completely incorrect. I want to make some progress with regard to compulsory redundancies. It was raised by a number of members today, but I want to put on the record that this Government has always respected collective bargaining, but I am sure, as I mentioned to members earlier, that the chamber is not the place for those negotiations to take place. I look forward to meeting with the rail unions next week. Yes, I will. The Parliament Chamber is the place to know what Government policy is, and is it not the Government's policy that there should be no compulsory redundancies in the new ScotRail operation? I recognise that a new body, which ScotRail trains Ltd, will not have an existing agreement on no compulsory redundancies in place, but I will expect there to be negotiations on that as part of the public sector pay policy decisions. It is right, of course, that the rail unions express their views on public sector pay policy and, indeed, I very much look forward to meeting with them next week, as I have alluded to in the course of this afternoon's debate. We cannot return, as some here might wish us to, to the past. We must face the new reality of the future and embrace those challenges in a measured, responsible, affordable and inclusive manner. That is our focus, and that focus, together with a railway that responds positively to change, will ensure a successful future for our railway services. That is what we, all passengers, staff and supporters want. Before concluding, I would just like to take a moment to remember someone. Colin Reage was the stationmaster at Markins station, who sadly passed away last March. During the pandemic, he put a note up in the station offering to phone elderly or isolated passengers and leaving them his number. He was always available with a joke or a handy tip. The code is S Bank for those who know. Colin is fondly remembered in Markins, and his public service is a lesson to us all about just how important the coming ones will be for Scotland railways. For the ticket conductors, for the train drivers, for the folk working in stations, the length and breadth of the country and for the people we all serve in this Parliament, this Government will deliver a publicly-owned railway on April 1 for the benefit of all the people of Scotland. I now call on Colin Smyth to wind up the debate. Can I add my welcome to General Gilruth in a new role as transport minister and pass on my best wishes to her predecessor, Graham Day? When I was Labour's transport spokesperson, a trade union official once said to me, transport is a great portfolio. It makes you an opposition, but it breaks you in government. No one ever wrote to the transport minister to thank them for their train running on time. Then went on to say, don't worry, you're probably not going to be transport minister, but I do genuinely hope the role doesn't break the minister because ensuring we fix Scotland's broken transport system is too important to our communities. I wish General Gilruth well, but although we do have a new minister, sadly, the amendment in her name today is the same old tired lines that we've heard before. I hope genuinely that General Gilruth will lead a break from that lack of ambition for Scotland's railways that has plagued this Government for 15 years. We need to put rail at the heart of our fight back against climate change. To deliver that modal shift, as Richard Leonard rightly said, not just continue to manage rail's decline. It really does beggar belief that, just months after COP26, the Scottish Government's last act for its failed ScotRail franchise is to herald in the biggest hike in rail fares for a decade, the biggest cut in ticket offices and the biggest cut in rail services since devolution. Let's be in no doubt, despite the minister's spin, that this is a massive cut in services. Amazingly, the SNP's amendment was tabled before ScotRail published the outcome of its timetable review but managed to quote it. However, it does mean that we have confirmation in the amendment that the SNP, the Greens, supports 250 fewer services a day than there were before the pandemic. If that's an early win, as Mark Ruskell described it then, God help us if we had lost that particular consultation. Is 90,000 fewer trains per year really the height of the Greens' ambition? Is that what they mean by building back better? When car travel is returning to above pre-pandemic levels, the Greens have thrown in the towel when it comes to getting back to pre-pandemic levels on our trains. Never mind growing them. We need to use every power we have to increase passenger numbers and we won't do that. We won't get people back on our trains by taking those trains away. We don't yet know what demand will be when we emerge from the pandemic. However, we do know that if we drive down the frequency of services, we will drive down passenger numbers even further. As Pauline McNeill highlighted, there has been no effort from the Government to make rail more attractive post-pandemic. Fears have rocketed by more than 50 per cent under the SNP, with passengers hit by another hike in ticket prices just a few weeks ago. If he wants lower fares and more services, how does the money add up? Where do the finances come from? I don't want to break the news to Mr Mason, but you don't get any income when you take the train away. You don't get any passengers. This hike is coming at a time when passengers are facing a cost of living crisis. If only I have to say that the Government was quick at carrying out its long-promised rail fares review, as it was to back a review into cuts and services. Richard Leonard spoke passionately about another damaging cut to our ticket offices. The minister was right to say that the issue of women's safety at railway stations is important. Let's have a debate on that issue and ticket offices under Government time, who never call a debate on the future of our railways. It is little wonder that our trade unions have come together to launch the biggest-ever campaign against the SNP-green co-olition cuts. I want to escape the retention that the minister not only removed from Labour's amendment a commitment to no compulsory redundancies, but three times today refused to rule them out. In contrast, Labour stands with our trade unions. They are the key workers who deserve our thanks for keeping Scotland moving during the pandemic. Not threats of job losses, not threats to cut pay and condition. We stand with Scotland's rail passengers who have suffered enough. SNP-MSP, after another highlighted at ScotRail, will come under public ownership. Under this Government, I support public ownership. After all, I brought not one but two motions before Parliament that would have brought trains back under public control long before now. Each and every time, SNP-MSP has voted down those motions. Let's be clear that, as Neil Bibby said, the only reason that SNP is now backing Labour's long-standing calls for public ownership is because their abelio franchise was such a failure. Remember when the SNP handed the keys of Scotland's trains to the Dutch firm Abelio? It said that it would be world-leading. It was world-leading delays, world-leading cancellations and world-leading fair heights. If the SNP and greens are so in favour of public ownership, why do they still refuse to end the private Caledonia sleeper franchise? When will that come under public ownership? Green voters and members must be really proud that their sell-out MSPs would rather stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Serco than shoulder-to-shoulder with the RMT as left or the TSSA. The Parliament can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our trade unions. We can say no to the SNP cuts to rail services, no to the SNP green fair heights, no to the SNP green ticket offices and yes to Labour's motion and a People's ScotRail that delivers for Scotland's passengers. Thank you. That concludes the debate on a People's ScotRail. It's now time to move on to the next item of business. There are six questions to be put as a result of today's business. Can I remind members that, if the amendment in the name of Richard Lochhead has agreed to, the amendment in the name of Liz Smith will fall? The first question is that amendment 3042.2 in the name of Richard Lochhead, which seeks to amend motion 3042 in the name of Jackie Baillie on cost of living, be agreed. Are we all agreed? The Parliament is not agreed, therefore we will move to a vote and there will be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system.