Dundee Liberal Democrats - www.dundeelibdems.scot

Mike joins us from his current position as Chief Executive of Addaction, a mental health, drug, alcohol and young persons charity, and was previously Assistant Chief Executive at Citizens Advice and through both of which he has extensive experience of managing member-style organisations.

I am delighted Mike will be taking on this crucial role at such an exciting time for the Liberal Democrats. Mike's experience in senior management and at leading organisations will be hugely valuable to the continuing growth of the party off the back of successive election campaigns which have put the Liberal Democrats back in a strong position in UK politics.

During the recent online hustings, the chair Lorely Burt produced a horribly complicated diagram from a few years back showing how the Liberal Democrats are structured. It's a good point - our organisation can be complicated, confusing and even hazardous to navigate.

Looking at the diagram, I did a quick mental tally of how many of the bodies shown on it I've served on at some point in my many years as a party staffer, including running the party's digital operation for Charles Kennedy, and as a volunteer, as a local party officer, regional officer, English party committee member and federal committee member.

Commenting on today's unemployment figures, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

"The rise in unemployment and the crash of those in work in Scotland should ring alarm bells.

"Scottish ministers have become complacent. The damage of Brexit will cost jobs.

"The UK and Scottish governments need to recognise the damage that Brexit will do, and commit to a positive investment in education and mental health to boost productivity and secure jobs."

Responding to the news that performance against the A&E waiting time target has fallen to its lowest level since March 2018, with only 85.4% of patients treated within 4 hours compared to the 95% target, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP commented:

"The government's A&E performance target has been missed for years on end and now we are seeing the worse figures for more than 18 months.

Today, Her Majesty The Queen opened the new parliamentary session. But we have exactly the same problems as we did in the last session: a government with no majority, no leadership and no realistic plan for our country.

I used my speech in Parliament today to give a warning to my fellow MPs.

Here's my speech in full:

Responding to Derek Mackay's speech to the SNP conference on the economics of independence, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP said:

"The SNP's growth commission admits that an independent Scotland would have to introduce significant cuts or tax rises to get the deficit under control.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson has today slammed this Queen's speech as nothing more that a "charade." Jo Swinson said:

"This Queen's speech is a charade.

"'Boris Johnson is pursuing a Brexit deal that will be hugely damaging for our economy, our NHS and our security.

"There is nothing in this Queen's speech that will bring comfort to the factory worker set to lose their job, or the families struggling to put food on the table because of his Brexit policy.

"The Liberal Democrats want to stop Brexit, and keep the best deal we have as members of the European Union."

Speaking ahead of Ian Blackford's speech to the SNP conference in Aberdeen, Scottish Liberal Democrat general election chair Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

"Ian Blackford should enjoy his last speech as SNP Westminster leader. With an election around the corner, the Liberal Democrats are setting out to ensure that he doesn't make another.