Dundee Liberal Democrats - www.dundeelibdems.scot

Commenting on the Scottish Government's refusal to release information relating to the botched Alex Salmond investigation to the Scottish Parliament's inquiry, Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today called for the Education Secretary to enlist Audit Scotland to investigate the measures used by the SQA to determine this year's exam results, after more than 120,000 exam results were downgraded by the qualifications authority.

Mr Rennie said:

Commenting on the Scottish Government's response to the report from the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

"There are a number of sensible proposals in this report that the Scottish Government have taken on board but overall it is a recipe for ticking along, not one for firing up the economy.

Commenting on the new restrictions set to be imposed in Aberdeen, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

"The risk with easing the lockdown was always that fresh outbreaks would arise and have to be dealt with. Caution is the correct response that we support so we cannot afford to let our guard down.

A complaint has been made about Ed Davey's campaign's conduct in its communication with members as to their voting intentions, specifically that they instructed canvassers not to disclose the identity of the campaign they were actually calling on behalf in calls made on the 11th and 14th of July 2020.

Throughout this terrible disease, people have not only faced heartbreaking loss of life, but also crushing anxiety over their livelihoods.

Lockdown has been necessary to prevent an even greater catastrophe, but the economic shutdown has thrown millions of people into financial hardship.

Liberal Democrats have been fighting to make sure people do not feel left behind as the country slowly recovers. We cannot allow this to create a new wave of inequality in Britain; the damage done to businesses and jobs falls harder on some than others.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today written to the First Minister to criticise the use moderations methods which he warned "has shackled well performing pupils in average schools by historical results over which they have had no control".

Mr Rennie warned "I cannot fathom why there was no early transparency, scrutiny and discussion of the complex methodology used by the Scottish Qualifications Agency that has led to this injustice on a such large scale" and called for an expanded appeals process and immediate discussions with universities and colleges about the admissions criteria and deadlines to ensure that pupils disadvantaged do not lose out on sought after places.

Like many young people and students in the early 2000s, I first joined the Liberal Democrats because of Charles Kennedy's brave stance on the invasion of Iraq.

Charles played a courageous role in steadfastly opposing military intervention, putting both his and the party's reputation on the line. I joined a million others marching on the streets in protest, pleading with Blair's Government to change course.