Jackson Carlaw speaking in the Scottish Parliament on the Winter Resilience Plan - 16.12.2010

"Can I begin with an uncharacteristic welcome for a motion from the party opposite to which I should say at the outset we will offer our support tonight. In its 'Osbornesque' language of recognising that we are all in this together it does make amends in part in respect of my principal complaint with Labour last week, which was that even as thousands of motorists remained stranded in sub zero temperatures unprepared and uninformed, all Labour seemed to be concerned with were opportunistic calls for political 'scape-goating' and the scalp of a Government Minister. There was no noble objective in this.

"In the face of a national emergency Scots were wholly unimpressed with politicians scrambling to behave as politicians are inclined to do – blaming one another, playing the political game, calling for resignations. What people desperately wanted to hear was firstly a clear and reliable statement of precisely what was going on and secondly an expression of resolve by politicians of all parties to address the underlying issue, namely our inability time and again, to provide an effective national response to a weather emergency and to ensure that we fix it so that next time we do.

"The public understood perfectly well that Scotland and the Minister had been overwhelmed by events. Not for a moment were they persuaded that had Labour or any other party for that matter been in office would it have made a whit of a difference.

"I hold no brief for the competence demonstrated by the government last week, it was as has been acknowledged even by them, pretty woeful. And while I believe that Mr Stevenson might have benefitted as events unfolded from having regard to the late Denis Thatcher's advice to the Duchess of York who when asked by her how she might improve her media image was advised by him to try keeping her mouth shut, I wish record that I believe Mr Stevenson to be have been an experienced and competent minister and to be a decent man. His resignation in due course was probably correct but it was not the axis on which events should have been focused at the height of the emergency.

"Presiding Officer, tales of those days will be legion and will live long. But in one single respect it was a time for celebration. For faced with the unexpected and the dreadful the response of ordinary Scots, those working and those not, those in the public sector or those in the private sector, whether old or young was quite frankly, magnificent. There were countless examples of individual kindnesses, exemplary and heroic conduct and all of a character which represents the very best in our nation.

"But, Presiding Officer, what the public now require of us and of government is a convincing strategy for the future. This the motion recognises but in proposing my amendment today I wish to concentrate on the question of communication while my colleagues Mary Scanlon and Liz Smith will touch on the challenges presented to Scotland's NHS and schools.

There is no question but that last week our transport infrastructure, road, rail and air suffered a near total collapse. The consequences are far reaching and potentially deeply damaging. For Scotland to have an emerging reputation of having a roads network 'unfit for purpose' is a gross and undeserved exaggeration. The decisions taken by delivery operations to suspend Christmas deliveries to Scotland is to add insult to the injury many Scots have suffered. We cannot afford this notion that we are unable to cope to become entrenched.

"I welcome the Minister back to his post in Parliament this morning after, I gather from the press a night spent at the refurbished Savoy. I welcome too his first statement of actions, noting that some of his remedies were previously unimplemented recommendations arising from last winter's debacle.

"However, what was immediately clear last week was that the public do not believe they have access to reliable information which can command their confidence. Over time we have allowed public information to become devalued. What for example, is the point of telling people as they drive in perilous snow and look to overhead motorway gantries for essential advice that they should consider 'cycling and not driving' or that 'snow is forecast'? And when we are told not 'to make a journey unless it is absolutely necessary', what does this actually mean? Is it that we can proceed with due care and diligence? Or does it mean that we should not proceed with any journey at all unless it is life dependent?

"In my view it was inadvisable of some to exploit a decade of mild winters as irrefutable evidence in support of another campaign, however worthy. We have been fortunate not to experience the severest winter weather regularly across large parts of Scotland, which was once commonplace. After some 25 years in the retail motor industry can I also attest that we were also fortunate last week in the enormous technical improvements in both car and commercial vehicles over the 25 years since we last saw a storm of this magnitude. With far more vehicles on the roads today, had those advances not been made then the number of mechanical breakdowns would have been tenfold and in an era prior to the standardisation of anti lock breaking, the number of serious accidents could have been dreadful.

"So if severe weather events are once again emerging as part of the expected pattern of winter life then what can we do to better inform the public of what may well be coming their way? We are after all able to command national attention in the face of a security alert with a rising scale of potential risk which is understood by the public. Nicola Sturgeon in the face of a flu pandemic was with the Chief Medical Officer able to command the attention of the public with authoritative and sustained briefings during the emergency last autumn and winter.

"A hallmark of Nicola Surgeon's handling of that emergency as Jackie Baillie and Ross Finnie will agree was that she kept opposition spokesmen abreast of developments and I would ask the Minister to reflect on this.

"We should be able to implement a similar authoritative government code to 'traffic light' severe weather warnings. At its most severe the advice would be clear – don't travel. At a level one step less severe people would appreciate that they should travel with extreme care and be prepared for an emergency.

"The introduction of such an authoritative scheme does not require the commitment of a major budget, it requires the application and energy of current ministers to effect its introduction. Today, I urge Ministers to consider implementing in the earliest course a government coordinated new 'Traffic Light' National Emergency Weather System (acronym NEWS).

"In addition I urge the government to enter into discussions with broadcasters and in particular BBC Scotland to forge an agreement that when the severest weather emergency occurs the public can be assured that authoritative statements will be broadcast at least hourly by a partnership of government, Transport Scotland and the Police which will seek to give the public reliable information on which they can take informed decisions. For those stranded and conserving power, the certainty of the regular timing of such broadcasts would offer both advice and reassurance.

"That was all many people were looking for last week. They fully appreciated that the event they were enduring was unparalleled. What they could not understand was why they were faced by contradictory information and advice which seemed general in character and remote to the challenges they were facing in particular. It is truly ironic that we have never had more media to tune into but less reliable, helpful or consistent advice broadcast by it.

"Presiding Officer, neither government nor politicians can control the weather. However, we can certainly do much more to prepare Scotland to meet the challenge a severe weather event presents. That may take time and it may require investment decisions. I believe these are plainly overdue. Establishing effective systems to reliably inform the public in a manner which commands their confidence requires little investment – just the will and application of Ministers.

"This Parliament and this Government must inspire Scotland that we ourselves are 'fit for purpose' and capable of meeting these challenges with a convincing sense of urgency leading to measures which will next time demonstrate that in the face of a weather emergency Scotland's national response is second to none."

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