Responding to the announcement from Alex Salmond that he will stand for the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Liberal Democrat campaign chair Alistair Carmichael MP said:

"There are no questions about Scotland's future to which Alex Salmond is the answer.

"This astonishing announcement shows just how divided the SNP are. A few years ago no one could have imagined that the former First Minister and his protege would be at one another's throats.

Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie has today kicked off his election tour at The Great Polish Map of Scotland, alongside the party’s lead candidate for South of Scotland, Catriona Bhatia.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

“In the next Scottish Parliament, Liberal Democrats will Put Recovery First. That means cutting waits for mental health, delivering a bounce back plan for education, more jobs and action on the climate.

“The SNP will put independence first. No matter what your view on independence, most people would agree that in the wake of a terrible pandemic is not the moment for that.

Commenting on confirmation from Douglas Ross that he intends to carry on as both MSP and MP if elected in May, Scottish Liberal Democrat campaign chair Alistair Carmichael MP said:

“Not for the first time it appears that something the SNP were silent about when Alex Salmond did it is now unacceptable to them a few years later. 

"They may have a fresh desire to airbrush history but Mr Salmond has the double pension to prove it.

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton, who worked for more than a decade in the third sector on child welfare has today highlighted "truly shocking" figures which show that child poverty in Scotland was on the rise even before the pandemic broke out.

New figures show 26% of children were living in relative poverty in 2019/20, which equates to over 250,000 young people. This is an increase of three percentage points from the 2018/19 figures

Scottish Liberal Democrat MP, Alistair Carmichael has called for accountability over SNP financial missteps after it emerged that over £500m of Scottish Government guarantees and hundreds of jobs could be at risk due to the collapse of Greensill. The concerns come after a series of failed SNP investments including the Ferguson shipyard and BiFab.

Scottish Government ministers have claimed that “commercial confidentiality” prevents a full explanation of the risk to taxpayers and the lack of progress on jobs.

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Carmichael said:

“Where significant sums of taxpayer money are concerned, commercial confidentiality should not be a barrier to full accountability. The Secretary of State will be aware that the Scottish Government is out for guarantees north of £500m as a consequence of Greensill’s difficulties. Is that not something for which there really ought to be full explanations?”

In response to the recent publication of the Dunlop Review, Wendy Chamberlain MP said:

“In a world where our society has been profoundly divided by COVID-19, and is just starting to see the repercussions of Brexit, the Government must take a firm and decisive stand. There is momentum building to reform the United Kingdom, and we will deliver that.

From the seat of a giant oversized deckchair in South Queensferry overlooking the Firth of Forth, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today set out his party's plans to boost the teaching profession and put recovery first for education.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats want:  

Speaking ahead of the launch of the 2021 Scottish election campaign, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

"Scottish Liberal Democrats will go into this campaign putting the recovery from the pandemic first. That means putting first the creation of jobs, cutting NHS waiting times, boosting mental health services and tackling the climate emergency.

"In the first week of the campaign my focus will be on setting out our plans to boost Scottish education, putting forward proposals for every stage and every age: to get a good start in life; to excel at school; and to help people retrain if they need to.

Responding to the Scottish Climate Assembly's interim report being laid in the Scottish Parliament, environment spokesperson Molly Nolan said:

"I would like to thank the Climate Assembly members for their hard work in producing this report. Strong, impartial collaboration with input from every corner of Scotland is essential if we are to tackle the climate emergency.

"The next Parliament will need to take bold steps to tackle fuel poverty and decarbonise heating and transport if Scotland is to play its part in reducing global emissions.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today pressed the First Minister over the state of education during today’s FMQs.

Mr Rennie said:

“According to the judgement of Audit Scotland this week, the Scottish Government’s performance on education is “limited and falls short”. The First Minister said she would “close” the poverty related “attainment gap completely.” But that was six years ago. 

“The First Minister predicted that such change “won’t be done overnight” but we have had 2,000 overnights since then.