North East Fife's MP met with Richard Ratcliffe, husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, outside the Foreign Office this morning. Mr Ratcliffe is undertaking a new hunger strike in a bid to press the UK Government into taking firmer action on behalf of his wife who has been arbitrarily detained in Iran for more than five-and-a-half years.

Research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed that a full-time worker paid the National Living Wage will see nearly half (44%) of the proposed increase wiped out before it even reaches their bank account due to tax and the increase in National Insurance.

New data from the Scottish Funding Council shows that fewer people leaving college in 2019-20 secured “positive destinations” such as work, training or further study, and an increase in the number of leavers reported to be unemployed.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have today said that Transport Minister Graeme Dey should resign if all train services are not restored in time for the COP26 climate conference.

The call comes after Mr Dey told Good Morning Scotland that "the signs are not optimistic" that strike action could be averted as the long-running dispute between the RMT, Scotrail and the Scottish Government continues. He also refused to outline the contingency plans for the rail network. 

New Public Health Scotland figures published today show that in 2019 and 2020 there were 23,830 patients diagnosed with breast, colorectal or lung cancer, down from 25,412 in 2018 and 2019, a fall of 6.2%.

Scotland’s health service has reported yet another week of record breaking waiting times, with just 70.9% of people attending A&E seen within the SNP’s four hour target time.

NHS Forth Valley reported that just 46.9% of their patients were seen in that timeframe.

Responding to reports that council workers in more than half of Scotland's local authorities are to take strike action as part of a row over pay, Scottish Liberal Democrat communities spokesperson Willie Rennie said:

"Unless the Scottish Government get their act together, public services will be paralysed.

"After years of the SNP Government in Edinburgh hollowing out local government it is no surprise that councils are struggling to put together appealing pay deals. This has always been the bizarre contradiction at the heart of the SNP. They are determined to reclaim powers from Westminster, yet ruthlessly centralise control in Edinburgh. 

Responding to comments from Scottish health secretary Humza Yousaf, in which he insisted that the booster programme is "on track" despite bookings for over-50s originally announced for October now being pushed back to mid-November, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

Small and medium-sized businesses, from tech startups to hairdressers and cafes, will pay an extra £2.4bn a year due to the rise in national insurance, research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has found.

Responding to the First Minister's climate speech this morning, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: