Alex Cole-Hamilton’s speech to Liberal Democrat Brighton conference

Conference, I am thrilled to be here.

And I’m not the only one.

Because, guess what, alongside Sanne, I’ve brought some new colleagues with me!

New Lib Dem Members of the Scottish Parliament!

For a couple of them, it’s their first time at federal conference.

I’ll leave you to explain to them what Glee Club is.

May’s elections were the best results for Liberals in Scotland in over twenty years.

When it comes to constituencies, we are now the second party of Scotland!

Hey, it turns out, First Past the Post isn’t so bad after all.

We took the map back, from north to south, and in so doing, we overturned majorities that people thought impossible.

Five years ago, Kate Forbes had the biggest majority in the Parliament, at over 15,000.

She became the Deputy First Minister of Scotland and commentators described the gap we had to close as “staggering”.

But there was no stopping former sub-postmaster Andrew Baxter MSP.

And that map now looks especially good, with all 5,000 square miles of Caithness, Sutherland and Ross.

It’s an absolute unit of a constituency, eight times the size of Greater London.

Another seat occupied by a sitting SNP minister.

Now painted Lib Dem gold – thanks to David Green’s victory.

They won their seats by doing what we do best. Getting things done for people. Knocking on doors. Even when there’s a mile between each doors.

The Highlands well and truly swung to the Liberal Democrats.

And in a move sure to delight fans of on-the-nose political metaphors, on my leader’s tour I got to ride the fortuitously-titled “Highland Swing.”

It hangs beneath a bridge at The Pass of Killiecrankie.

Not so much of a swing, more a 40-metre plummet.

Conference, I had the time of my life during the election campaign.

I met booksellers and battleship builders. Rode speed boats and surfboards.

But don’t get me wrong, I’m not some kind of low-rent Ed Davey.

I can actually stand up on a paddleboard!

Also, I’m not sure Ed has ever fought an election relentlessly anchored around a particular species of fruit. Bear with me.

You see, conference, in Scottish elections, you get two votes. Yes, actual PR voting.

But we never quite cracked how to get people to back us on that second peach-coloured regional ballot.

Truth be told, we never asked them for it. Not directly. Not relentlessly.

But when our dear friend Jamie Greene joined us from the Tory party, the first piece of advice he gave me was that we needed to crack that nut to make vital gains in Scotland.

So: I made peach tarts, I made peach mocktails, and yes, I even wore a peach-coloured linen suit for the eve of poll photo op.

“Resplendent” said the BBC.

“A Dale Winton tribute act,” said my family.

I don’t do subtle.

But that message discipline allowed us to make long-awaited breakthroughs on those regional lists.

Electing:

Morven-May MacCallum in the Highlands and Islands. An author and Lyme Disease campaigner.

Duncan Dunlop in the South of Scotland. A world-renowned expert on kids in care.

Yi-pei Chou Turvey in North East Scotland. A dedicated local councillor, campaigning for fairer childcare. The first Taiwanese national elected to our Scottish Parliament. From one strong democracy to another.

I’m so excited about the new talent in our group.

We took a huge leap forward.

We won in places we have never won before.

Adam Harley in Strathkelvin and Bearsden. From a distant fourth place. He overturned an 11,000 vote SNP majority.

Sanne Dijkstra-Downie in Edinburgh Northern. A new seat.

In the comparable seat at the last election, we were 20,000 votes behind the SNP.

What an achievement by Sanne. The first Dutch national elected to our Scottish Parliament.

The Times newspaper said of our wins:

“In the final analysis, it was the Lib Dems who perhaps did more than any other party to thwart the nationalist march” to the 65 seats they needed for a majority.

We stopped them in their tracks.

The SNP went backwards, losing both votes and seats, leaving their plans for another referendum on Scottish independence in tatters.

But for me, the biggest source of personal pride, is that we now have the highest number of liberals in the Scottish Parliament for 20 years.

We have 10 MSPs of serious calibre.

A rich diversity, representing the very best of our party.

I was so proud the day we were sworn in as MSPs.

Sanne delivered her affirmation in Dutch.

Yi-Pei delivered it both in Mandarin and in French.

I can tell you friends, it had Reform MSPs seething to the point of spontaneous combustion.

Week after week: Sanne, Yi-Pei and the rest of our cohort have been exposing Reform’s lies, their xenophobia and their lazy populism.

Conference, while Reform will always seek to punch down on immigrants, the Lib Dems proudly send them to parliament.

But with that new strength comes responsibility.

We follow in the traditions of the likes of Charles Kennedy, and of our dear Jim Wallace, who passed away in January of this year.

In 1999, in the first days of the Scottish Parliament, Jim became the first liberal to take up ministerial office anywhere in these islands since the Second World War.

He spent his whole life rolling up his sleeves to get things done.

Right to the end, he was offering me support and advice.

So thank you Jim, we miss you.

This May, no party won a majority in the Scottish Parliament.

And as the architects of Holyrood envisaged, more than 25 years ago, political parties now need to find common ground where it exists.

Budget by budget, bill by bill, case by case, we will use our leverage as MSPs to get things done.

This is how we fight for change with fairness at its heart.

Yes, it might have been our campaign slogan, but it has a real-world meaning.

It means that we have the opportunity to shape the course of Scottish politics and influence government.

And in this much flatter Scottish Parliament, there are just seven seats between us and the parties in second place.

We are now the most influential group in that Parliament because the SNP know they will have to fight to win us over on every vote.

Our price will be steep.

We will demand an agenda that is: open, compassionate. internationalist, community-focused, and environmentally sustainable.

And we’re not dithering about.

We’ve probably won more votes in Holyrood in the past three months, than we did in the last three years.

To improve community benefit for renewable energy.

To give the third sector the license to criticise ministers.

To ensure public funding doesn’t benefit companies connected to human rights abuses.

To extend compensation for the SNP’s ferries fiasco to coastal towns.

We pushed the government to sort out the planning system when it comes to hyperscale data centres.

And how do we do all of this? We dial down political rhetoric and come to the negotiating table with pragmatic solutions.

We work with other parties when it matters, but we don’t shy away from holding their feet to the fire either.

Because one lesson we have all learned in recent years, is that the public want grown up politics.

There are two types of political opposition: those who fire out angry press releases and achieve nothing in return, and those prepared to roll up their sleeves and get things done. That is us.

From the hundreds of millions of pounds we extracted in last year’s budget, to getting key votes through our parliament.

Whilst doing it in the only way I know possible: with fairness at its heart.

Just compare our early record in this new Scottish Parliament to Reform’s.

Nigel Farage isn’t offering change. It’s all a con. Like some Wizard of Oz, sitting behind £72m worth of dodgy curtains.

Reform, in Scotland, promised voters the earth, but so far they’ve achieved absolutely nothing.

They wanted a platform, and they got it.

At the election, they sold people the dream of “Great British Stilton”, but in parliament they’ve turned up with an out-of-date Dairylea.

However, Conference, from almost nowhere they still managed to finish joint second.

And that reality should really galvanise us as Liberals.

The extremes of politics benefit from public anger.

The extremes of politics point the finger at those with the least power and blame them.

A reductive worldview is gaining traction in the elected chambers of these islands, on social media platforms and yes, in our communities too.

And we must challenge it, wherever, and whenever it appears.

We liberals are the antidote to Reform.

We may never match the crypto in their bank accounts, but they’ll never match us on the doors.

We’ve earned our votes through shoe leather.

We’ve earned our votes in our willingness to speak to people.

We’ve earned our votes through an understanding that a thousand tiny acts of public service can move a mountain of public opinion.

Conference, we will always have an advantage over those darker forces.

Reform cares only for itself, while we care about people.

That’s why the world needs liberals.

Whether you live in Dover or in Dundee.

Every one of us in this room shares one thing.

And it is this:

Our collective success is needed, now, more than ever.

So never lose sight of how important each and every one of you are in this fight.

Right across these islands.

I say this Conference: let us go out there, and take up that fight.

Fight darkness with light, fight despair with hope.

And together, our vision of a fairer, better country will prevail.

Thank you.