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Local MSP for the Linlithgow Constituency, Fiona Hyslop, attended the COP26 GLOBE Legislator’s Summit for international parliamentarians hosted by the Scottish Parliament on Friday 5th and Saturday 6th of November. The Summit explored the role of parliaments across the globe in the climate emergency and explored issues including how to accelerate climate action, the delivery of a green economy and a fair and resilient recovery from Covid-19. Prior to the Summit in the Scottish Parliament, GLOBE International partnered with the Children’s Parliament to create ‘The Moment’, an event designed to give young people from across Scotland a chance to share their thoughts on climate change with their local MSP. As part of ‘The Moment’, Fiona spoke with modern studies pupils at Linlithgow Academy to hear their ideas on tackling climate…

SNP MSP Fiona Hyslop has said that the Tory UK Government’s budget, announced today, makes it clear that “independence is the only way to give West Lothian a fair recovery from the pandemic.” Fiona has said that the budget – which has been described by the head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies as “actually awful” for living standards - is failing the people of Scotland by failing to tackle the cost of living crisis, the Brexit crisis and the climate crisis whilst the Tory Government prioritise cuts to the cost of champagne and giving tax breaks to bankers. Commenting SNP MSP Fiona Hyslop said: “What the Tory UK Government has outlined today does not meet the ambition needed to build a fair and sustainable recovery and to tackle the cost…

Local MSP for the Linlithgow Constituency, Fiona Hyslop, spoke during the Scottish Government Debate: Global Ambitions for COP26 on 27th of October, about the importance of a global effort to tackle climate change and highlighted the need for justice and fairness to be at the heart of our ambitions on climate change. Fiona stressed the importance of working with the Global South, where countries who have done the least to cause climate change face the biggest burden, and the need to learn from those who are experiencing climate change now.  Additionally, Fiona highlighted that Scotland has some of the most ambitious climate change legislation in the world and as such has a responsibility to lead by example. However, Fiona stressed that lessons must also be learned from the past, and as…

Local MSP for the Linlithgow Constituency, Fiona Hyslop, has raised the issue of the temporarily closed St Michael’s Hospital in Linlithgow in the Scottish Parliament as part of a Ministerial Statement on Winter Planning and Social Care. During his statement the Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, announced a record winter funding package of over £300m in hospitals and the community to help increase NHS and social care capacity this winter and focussed on the use of step down community care. In Fiona’s question to the Cabinet Secretary for Health she highlighted the importance of community based elderly care and nursing. She also sought assurances that the Scottish Government would impress upon West Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership the need for a facility in the north of the county as a…

On Saturday 2nd of October, the Opening Ceremony for the sixth session of the Scottish Parliament took place in the Debating Chamber. This year’s ceremony paid tribute to ‘local heroes’ chosen from across Scotland for the part they played during the pandemic in supporting their local community. Fiona Hyslop, MSP for the Linlithgow constituency, nominated Vicky Dunnett for her work at the Boghall Drop-in Centre. Vicky was instrumental in coordinating and organising the efforts of the team at the Centre, which supported many people in Boghall, and further afield throughout the lockdowns. The small team at Boghall Drop-in Centre, supported by Vicky, coordinated efforts between chefs, delivery drivers and those able to give donations to allow thousands of meals to be distributed to people who needed them.  The small team…

The Scottish Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to support cancelling the Tory UK Government’s planned £20 cut to Universal Credit next month. Following the vote, Local MSP for the Linlithgow Constituency, Fiona Hyslop, condemned the Scottish Tories for backing the cut which will rip over £1,000 from 13,689 families in West Lothian. The pressure for the Tory Government to scrap their plans has been building up for a number of months. The Scottish Government has written to the UK Government on eight occasions throughout the pandemic asking for them to make the uplift permanent and to extend it to legacy benefits, and hundreds of anti-poverty campaigners, human rights experts, cross-party committees and the devolved Governments have all urged the UK Government to keep the lifeline. The Tory’s planned cut has also…

Local Linlithgow Constituency MSP Fiona Hyslop has praised the work undertaken by West Lothian Food Train, particularly in the last 18 months when they have helped significant numbers of older people live well at home throughout the pandemic. Food Train is the charity which helps older people live better lives at home and who operate a home shopping delivery service in your constituency. For 26 years volunteers across Scotland have ensured people aged 65 and over have not gone without critical shopping supplies while also enjoying life-improving social contact. The services provided by Food Train support individuals in remaining at home by providing essential items and social visits. Commenting after her visit, Fiona said, “West Lothian Food Train has responded to unprecedented demand since the outbreak of Covid-19 supporting around…

Local MSP, Fiona Hyslop has blasted the Westminster Tory Government’s decision to strip 13,689 families in West Lothian of the £20 Universal Credit uplift as “a crime against decency”. New research from the Scottish Parliament’s independent information service SPICe reveals 176,935 working households, 104,536 single parent households, 33,143 carer households, 11,887 households with disabled kids and a further 66,143 households with disabilities across Scotland will lose more than £1000 a year. And the figures expose the appalling scale of misery that this callous Tory decision will inflict on 13,689 hard-pressed households in West Lothian. Local MSP, for the Linlithgow Constituency, Fiona Hyslop commented; “This Tory government’s choice to inflict the biggest overnight cut to social security since World War II - hammering people both in and out of work –…