Alex Cole-Hamilton's speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference

Conference, Ben Langmead in Bearsden South, Connie Ramsay in Tain, won two of three fantastic victories for our party over the SNP in the past few months.

Alongside Matthew Prosser in Fort William and Ardnamurchan they are our newest Liberal Democrat councillors.

They took the fight to the SNP in areas we do not hold at Holyrood - and they won.

Three by-elections. Three gains for the Lib Dems.

And how did they win?

In that old-fashioned, time-honoured Liberal Democrat way.

Relentlessly knocking on doors. Listening to what people are worried about. Hearing what isn’t working. And getting stuff done.

That’s what you get when you elect a Liberal Democrat.

Communities across Scotland are crying out for political representatives they can trust. And we are ready to provide them with hardworking, local Liberal Democrat champions.

That’s the story of our party right now. We don’t wait for change - we make it happen.

We beat the SNP in Bearsden, we beat them in Tain, and we beat the SNP in Fort William, and let’s be absolutely clear conference. In May, we will beat them right across Scotland.

It started with big gains at the local elections of 2022, then the record-breaking General Election, and last year in council by-elections we gained more seats than any other party. This May we will repaint the electoral map, turning huge swathes of Scotland from the acid yellow of the SNP to Liberal Democrat gold.

Ben, Matthew and Connie are just the vanguard. Conference, you’re the cavalry.

And when it comes to parliamentary constituencies, with your help, we can be the big winners.

Let me spell that out – we can gain more constituencies than any other party.

Constituencies where it’s neck and neck between us and the SNP. Where we’ve persuaded people that voting for any other party helps the nationalists:

• Edinburgh Northern.
•  Inverness and Nairn.
• Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.
• Caithness, Sutherland and Ross.
• Strathkelvin and Bearsden.

And for others at least, the surprise of the night will come with our victory in Argyll and Bute.

We know Alan Reid can win there.

I’ve joined him on those doors. There is a palpable sense that people feel let down.

There, the SNP’s ferries fiasco is their record in a nutshell. It has left islanders and coastal communities without the lifeline services they need.

Working with islanders, we embarrassed the SNP into extending the compensation scheme to Mull, Islay, Jura, Barra and more. But there are still communities and businesses being excluded.

Then there’s the MV Glen Sannox – a new ferry, out of action for months getting repaired.

The long-awaited Glen Rosa – delayed by another six months.

The total bill for the pair? Now approaching half a billion pounds.

The SNP are incapable of delivering, and incapable of owning their inadequacy. It’s why no minister has ever resigned – whether that’s over the ferries fiasco, or over the delays to fixing dangerous roads.

Scottish Liberal Democrats will get Scotland moving again.

It is why we will bring forward a Ferries Bill in the first year of the new Parliament.

Giving islanders and coastal communities a fair deal.

Enabling them to reap the rewards of better service.

And fixing the ferries fiasco for good.

But we’re not stopping there.

We will boost regional development and rejuvenate our economy. We’ll do that by improving core connections, driving progress on major projects, like dualling the A9 and tunnels for Shetland.

And we will make the most of government-run ScotRail, with more stations and more late-night services, alongside a bus network that finally works for you.

Whoever you are, wherever you live, we will not leave you behind.

We will get Scotland moving again.

When we next meet Conference, I want to be standing here alongside our new constituency MSPs: Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, Neil Alexander, Andrew Baxter, David Green, Adam Harley and Alan Reid, having all gained their seats from the SNP.

We can make that happen.

10 constituencies would be a monumental leap forward. But my goodness, the opportunity to make big gains on the regional list is absolutely massive. They could turn a great night for our party into an unbelievable night.

It won’t have escaped your attention Conference, I am using every broadcast, podcast and print media interview to appeal to people, to tell them:

You have two votes and in seats across Scotland we are poised to beat the SNP, but wherever you are a vote for the Liberal Democrats on that second, peach-coloured regional ballot will deliver you change with fairness at its heart and a hardworking regional Lib Dem MSP.

That peach vote is the key. It’s how we break through. It’s how we get more done.

Claire McLaren. Duncan Dunlop. Morven-May MacCallum. Paul McGarry. Jane Alliston-Pickard. Daniel Khan-O’Malley. Yi-Pei Chou Turvey.

If you ask for the peach vote on every door, we can send each of them to Parliament.

If you’re scunnered with politics, if you’re tired and frustrated with how the other parties have let you down, I want you to know: we hear you.

I don’t think there is another party leader who knocks on as many doors as I do.

And when I meet people, when I speak to them face to face, I hear the same thing again and again.

People are desperate for change.

They’re tired of the fact that the queues for their GP are longer, their schools are more violent, their roads are crumbling and full of holes.

Some of those I speak to are considering voting for Reform.

Not because they are particularly fond of Nigel Farage, but often, it’s simply to stick two fingers up to the Conservative, Labour and SNP politicians who have let them down.

There is a lot at stake at this election.

Reform thrive when people feel tired and frustrated and cynical about politics.

I want to show them that there is another way of doing things.

Because I suspect the change those people are looking for doesn’t come in the form of cosying up to Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

A former Scottish Conservative head of media, Andy Maciver, wrote a column recently in which he talked about “the established nationalism of the SNP and the insurgent populism of Reform”. He pointed out that

“If you tried to build a party which would be the simultaneous antidote to both of these, it would look a lot like the Lib Dems”.

Thanks Andy - the membership form is in the post.

But as well as offering people a positive choice for the future, I think it’s important that we also expose Reform for who they are too.

So let me tell you a story that sums up the choice that voters will face if they want change at this election.

It’s about two boys from Greenock.

Both were ambitious. Both understood business. Both joined the Conservative party.

One, Jamie Greene, still stays among his constituents in Greenock. Every day he gets up in the morning and he fights their corner.

Pushing for investment in high streets, encouraging education and entrepreneurship, and passing new legislation to support victims of crime.

The other couldn’t get away fast enough. Malcolm Offord bought a mansion on the shores of Loch Lomond, and donated money to Boris Johnson until he secured a seat in the House of Lords.

One left the Conservatives on principle, the other left with a peerage.

One knocks on doors, the other probably has staff to answer them.

Lord Offord’s Wikipedia page says that he owns “at least two yachts”

I asked Jamie about this and he confirmed he doesn’t own any yachts but he is extremely frustrated that the SNP are depriving his Ardrossan constituents of the ferries they desperately need.

That is the choice we are offering people at this election: a local champion or a multimillionaire former banker who won’t release his tax returns and knows nothing about how ordinary people live their lives.

Two boys from Greenock: proof that where you start matters less than who you stand with.

Two choices. Two kinds of change.

One that wants tax cuts for millionaires like him funded by getting rid of those responsible for checking our hospitals are clean.

And one that wants change with fairness at its heart.

So let me be absolutely clear. His Lordship has no clothes. The change that Reform UK represent is bleak and miserable and self-serving.

Scottish Liberal Democrats get stuff done.

We are the antidote to cynicism.

The antidote to frustration.

Conference, on that peach ballot, we are the antidote to Reform.

There are two types of political opposition:

Opposition parties who only fire out angry press releases, and achieve absolutely nothing for their constituents.

Or opposition parties prepared to get things done.

Let me remind you, Scottish Labour’s decision last month to abstain on the budget meant that it was always going to pass.

Despite that, we sat round the table and squeezed every penny we could out of it. It’s how we got £300 million of government money put behind Scottish Liberal Democrat priorities.

It means:

• Serious support for pubs, restaurants, hotels, music venues, licensed clubs and night clubs – linchpins of the high street that have suffered so much.
• A 10% increase in the college budget, because we trust them to produce the skills our economy needs.
• Millions for hospices so they can attract and retain staff.
• Millions to speed up autism and ADHD assessments
• Millions to keep projects and activities open in disadvantaged communities.
• Millions to back young entrepreneurs.
• And for the Northern Isles, the removal of peak time seasonal ferry fares.

Of course, a single budget can’t unpick all the damage done by 19 years of SNP Government. We know the thing that will truly bring about the change that Scotland needs is a change of government.

But budget by budget, bill by bill, case by case, we choose to use our leverage as MSPs, as an opposition party, to get things done. It isn’t always easy, it’s certainly not risk free, but conference, sometimes, it’s just the right thing to do.

It’s how we:

• Opened up new opportunities to train workers in care and offshore wind.
• Saved Corseford College for young people with complex and additional needs.
• Restarted work on Edinburgh’s Eye Hospital and the Belford Hospital in Fort William.
• Gave family carers the right to earn more.
• And restored money to the housing budget that was cut by the Greens and SNP.

Jamie Greene secured new rights for victims, introducing Suzanne’s Law and Michelle’s Law.

Beatrice Wishart has got more money for ferries and her efforts mean there’s now light at the end of the tunnel in the campaign for the fixed links that would transform Shetland. Emma MacDonald will pick up that baton.

Flood-stricken families and businesses in Cupar only got money because Willie Rennie stood up for them when the government turned its back.

And it’s why Liam McArthur is exactly the right person to lead the Parliament’s thoughtful debate on assisted dying for terminally ill adults – the most prominent piece of legislation in this whole 5-year Parliament, handled with the utmost care.

That’s what we’ve been up to with just five MSPs. Just imagine what we could do with more.

Scottish Liberal Democrats get things done.

The more MSPs we have, the more we can get done.

And, wherever you are, you can vote for that on your second peach ballot. Because Scotland deserves better.

But for all the wins that our party secured in the budgets of the past two years, I want to tell you about one that means a lot to me.

While it may not be a huge amount of money, it will turn around the lives of some of the smallest members of our society.

Conference, in recent years, fifteen hundred babies in Scotland have been born addicted to drugs.

Neonatal abstinence syndrome is something I’ve been aware of since I was a youth worker, working with services which help newborns to detox.

I remember being moved to tears when I was first shown a device known as a tummy tub. It’s basically a bucket of water kept at body temperature into which babies in detox are placed, to simulate the womb and to comfort them as they move through the stages of withdrawal, like uncontrollable distress, spasms and fevers.

Aberlour, the charity that first taught me about this, is now delivering new services for mums and babies to stabilise and detox from drugs.

And a few weeks ago, I got to hold a cheerful and cuddly baby boy who will never remember the agony of his first days and, thanks to our party’s negotiations, can look forward to a brighter future.

Conference this is why I got into politics. From my earliest days as a youth worker, to protect and comfort those on the hardest margins of our society.

This is the defining mission of our party.

To make lives better, to protect the vulnerable, to stand up for those children, when no other party will.

Sometimes, getting stuff done takes time.

It takes persistence.

You have to keep banging on the door.

In November 2024, 62-year-old Margaret MacGill was rushed to hospital. She’d become paralysed from the waist down with a rare spinal condition known as Cauda Equina.

They think it was caused by lifting both her disabled son and the patients in her care as an auxiliary nurse and then a social care worker.

Margaret has been in hospital, first in Raigmore, now in Wick, for over 400 days.

The family home was adapted. The ramps installed. Doors widened. A whole extension’s been built.

The house is ready. Margaret is ready. What’s missing are the carers. The staff she needs to drop in and help her. So, she waits. And she waits. And she waits.

Remember, she was admitted in 2024.

It’s now cost the NHS £200,000 to look after Margaret, when she doesn’t need or want to be there.

Jamie Stone has been working locally, and I have raised this with the First Minister repeatedly, even passing on the invite to visit Margaret any time, because it seems she’s not going anywhere.

But I will keep banging on the door. Trying to get Margaret home.

It’s been ten years since Shona Robison as Health Secretary promised to get rid of delayed discharge altogether.

But on any given night, there are 2,000 people marooned in hospital, just like Margaret, well enough to go home but only if there is the care to receive them.

It’s costing the NHS at least £1.2 million a day. The cost to those like Margaret is incalculable.

It’s a care bottleneck that means cancelled surgeries, endless waits in A&E, ambulances stacking up outside, longer waits when you dial 999. That’s how far the care crisis extends.

It goes to show that until we fix the crisis in our social care system, we won’t be able to fix the crisis in our NHS.

Scottish Liberal Democrats secured £20 million more for social care in the budget, so providers have the funding they need to lift workers’ pay to the Real Living Wage.

That is only a down payment on our plan to fix care.

Because the Liberal Democrats are the party of care.

We will keep banging on that door.

Until things change, for Margaret and everyone like her.

Getting stuff done, because Scotland deserves better.

Conference, when it comes to getting stuff done, Jim Wallace has to be considered the greatest of all time.

An architect of devolution and our Scottish Parliament, he made it work for people.

His belief and his tenacity helped bring our Parliament into existence.

He envisaged and led us into coalition government - the first liberal to take up ministerial office anywhere in these islands since the Second World War.

Abolishing tuition fees in Scotland. That was down to Jim.

Free eye and dental checks. We’ve got Jim to thank for that.

Shining a light on government through freedom of information. Jim’s signature was on that ground-breaking law.

Fair votes in local government elections. The list goes on and on.

None of it easy, none of it risk-free, but they were the right things to do.

Quietly, seriously, Jim was a master negotiator, getting things done at a time when Donald Dewar and Tony Blair were at the height of their popularity and powers, because he was able to get them to think differently, to change course.

Jim had the rare ability to lay aside political tribalism and reach for the better nature of his opponents. At a time when rancour too often defines our politics, his example of grace, reconciliation and quiet strength is one we would do well to follow.

He lived to see the revival of our party – the best Liberal election result of his lifetime – and had a hand in it as chair of the general election campaign in Scotland. I am profoundly grateful for that.

Conference, he phoned me a couple of days before he went into hospital for the last time with some strategic advice about how we as a party could get things done in the months ahead, backing up a handwritten letter that landed on my doormat the morning he went into surgery.

His pen scribbling, his brilliant mind whirring, thinking of our country’s future, to the very end.

A more caring, decent or kind man you would struggle to meet.

After Ming Campbell he is the second liberal giant we’ve lost in these past months.

We are heart-sore at his loss.

We are all the poorer now that he is gone, but this country and our parliament are immeasurably richer because he lived.

For everything, thank you Jim.

Conference, during Jim’s time as Deputy First Minister, Scotland’s education was amongst the best in the world.

There were literally only a handful of countries who ranked above us in maths.

Now, under the SNP, Scottish education is just average and our maths scores in the international rankings are the lowest they have ever been.

It's the same for reading and science. The worst ever.

Remember what John Swinney and the SNP said they’d do?

• A free laptop for every pupil
• Free school lunches up to P7
• Teachers spending less hours in front of class and more time preparing
• Smaller class sizes
• Closing the poverty-related attainment gap
• 3,500 more teachers

Conference, none of this has been delivered. None of it.

And the impact? After 19 years of the SNP, Scottish education just isn’t what it used to be.

People feel let down.

Every week, without exception, I meet families worried that their child’s additional support needs aren’t being met. Worried their teenager is frequently absent. Worried about the violence in their schools, captured on phones and spreading like wildfire.

Children, parents and teachers deserve better.

Education is the best investment we can make in our children’s potential and our country’s future.

So, here’s the plan.

We will invest in pupil support assistants and specialist support such as speech and language therapists.

We will create a Young Carers’ Lead in every school to help young carers balance education and caring for their loved one.

We will use youth work as a means to reach young people who are not engaged successfully in formal education.

We will legislate to make classrooms mobile phone-free, so children can learn and teachers can teach. We need that to make the cultural change that this requires. It’s just not fair to leave this up to headteachers and ministerial guidance.

And today, I can announce that we will open up a new route for qualified primary school teachers stuck in precarious work to quickly gain the right to teach in secondary schools. If you need to be able to teach an additional subject then we’ll help you too. It will improve their job prospects and ensure pupils have the teachers and subject choice they deserve.

Because it is a scandal that 3 out of 4 newly qualified teachers are forced onto demoralising temporary and zero hours contracts.

They are ready to shape young minds, they’ve grafted for their qualifications.

So why is the SNP Government forcing them to move abroad to find work or spend years in jobs where they can’t pay the bills and rack up thousands of pounds in debt.

It didn’t use to be like that.

We will end that scandal.

It is part of our plan to fix the mess that the SNP have made of teacher recruitment and retention.

It is part of our plan to get Scottish education back to its best.

Conference we are all about improving lives, and the very best way to do that in Scotland is by growing our economy so that we can improve the living standards of the people we ask to send us to Parliament.

If there are three words that encapsulate Scotland’s economic failure to thrive right now then they are these. Planning, skills and housing.

If we are going to make Scotland a powerhouse for the industries of the future then it needs to be easier to do business here.

In Scandinavia, they maintain local input and democratic accountability yet still manage to greenlight projects within weeks.

Whatever the ins and outs of the projects, it shouldn’t take over 3 years to make a decision on a salmon farm on Loch Long. The Berwick Bank windfarm 23 miles off the east coast shouldn’t have sat on a ministerial desk for two years. We need to reform our sclerotic planning system.

Secondly, it’s all very well to attract inward investment but firms won’t chose to locate here if they can’t be sure of the skilled workforce they need.

The SNP have in the past 19 years presided over the quiet death of further education and we need to turn that around. The £70 million we’ve just secured for colleges in the Scottish Budget is a down payment on our plan to get them motoring.

Then there’s housing. From Wick to Wigtown, Portree to Pittenweem, there are gaps in the workforce that can be traced back to housing. People are finding that they can’t take up a job opportunity because there’s nowhere for them to live.

So, we will deliver a new programme of affordable homes for rent, reserved for key workers. In conjunction with the private sector and local authorities, eligibility will be decided locally, because we know that each area has its own specific needs.

We’re talking homes for care workers, teachers, engineers.

We will help you live close to where you need to be. Because housing has held back industry and our public services for too long.

Finally, and I make no apology for restating this Conference, we need to reimagine our relationship with Europe. To rekindle the bonds with our nearest neighbours, with whom over the decades we have stood side by side in both tragedy and in triumph.

The greatest thing we can do for our economy is staring us in the face. A bespoke UK-EU customs union. A youth mobility scheme. And a renewed commitment to the European project.

I am a Liberal because we will always reach for policy that seeks to lift up those living at the sharpest edges of our society. We will always seek to give platform, comfort and remedy to the downtrodden and the dispossessed.

Because we believe that a society which doesn’t work for everyone doesn’t really work for anyone.

At our conference 2 years ago, to commemorate a quarter of a century of devolution, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, our dear departed Jim, said this:

“I believe our Liberal Democrat quest is to champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals – whatever their creed, colour, nationality, gender or orientation. Ours is a belief that the state exists to serve the individual and not individuals to serve the state.”

Conference I agree.

We cannot be champions for freedom from the sidelines. We cannot improve the lives of the people who send us to parliament if we just do opposition for opposition’s sake.

Conference the next ten weeks could be the most important in our party’s history and anyone who tells you they know what’s going to happen in May is lying to you. Make no mistake the coming election is wide open.

We stand on the threshold of a huge revival. Conference our ten target constituencies are just the start. Wherever you are, for the first time in a long time, you can vote with confidence for us on that second peach coloured regional ballot and know that you are sending a Lib Dem regional MSP to Holyrood.

I got into politics to get things done and I will attack every day, from this day to polling day, with a belief and a determination that this coming parliament, and the decisions and spending of the next government, will be shaped by liberals.

This is the opportunity which falls to us. There may never be another like it.

We’ve never been better prepared, we’ve never been better funded, our activists are ready, our candidates are ready.

Go forth from this hall with hope and belief in your hearts.

This our time.

Go out there and seize it.