We're seeing here Graeme Simpson, MSP,
formerly a conservative, but you can see
there the flag of reform behind him
because that is the breaking news this
morning. The Tory MSP, Graeme Simpson,
has defected to reform. Nigel Farage is
also in Scotland as part of this
announcement. Graeme Simpson, MSP for
Central Scotland, uh has been part of
the Conservative Party, sits on
committees for local government housing
and planning and also public audit
committees uh in the Scottish
Parliament. Uh previous roles have
included net energy, net zero energy and
transport, deputy party spokesperson for
the Conservatives on Transport, too.
Well, that's a bit of his background.
Let's listen to what he has to say. Now,
I've been thinking about my future for
some time. I decided a few months ago
that I would not be standing for the
Scottish Conservatives again, and others
have taken the same decision. I told the
party that at the end of May, but with
the Hamilton bi-election looming um
where Ross did uh very very well, I
promised not to say anything. I've not
stuck out a press release or said
anything on social media.
I honestly thought the most likely
scenario for me would be to move on to
the next stage of my life and find a job
in one of the sectors that really
interests me such as housing or
transport. And although finding a job
may not have been easy, I think I have
enough respect out there to have got
something that would have excited me.
But I've watched reform with interest
and I see the opportunity to help to
create something fresh here in Scotland
and it's clear that the voters agree in
increasing numbers. But just because a
party is becoming popular isn't a reason
to join it. Keeping your job in
parliament isn't a good enough reason
either. I've only reached the decision
that I have in the past few weeks, and I
mean over the summer, and it's not been
easy. It really has not been easy. I
first joined the Conservatives when I
was at school just before Mrs. Sapture
came to power. I left politics for a
career in journalism, but then rejoined
and have been a counselor and an MSP.
So, I'm really very fortunate. I know
what a conservative is and I actually
wrote about it last year. Just to remind
some people, the election next year here
in Scotland is going to see a very diff
different parliament from the one we
have now, which is stale and very often
uninspiring. Too many people feel let
down and ignored. They feel the system
is against them, that the traditional
parties don't even care about them. Say
for some fine individual MSPs across
parties, the political class is not
serving the people well. Failure is
accepted and change takes far too long.
And I'll give you a couple of examples
personally of that. Thousands of people
living in tenementss often face real
difficulties when it comes to
maintaining their buildings. In the last
session of parliament, March 2018 to be
exact, a group of MSPs from across the
divide formed a working group to see how
we could address the challenges and we
came up with some proposals. But it will
be the next parliament until we see any
legislative change. So probably at least
10 years since we first started looking
at this. The second example of how slow
things can be has been the progress of
my members bill which would see a system
of recall introduced into the Scottish
Parliament. I first mooted this at the
end of the last session of parliament
and started work on it at the beginning
of this session. It's badly needed to
resource some restore some trust, but
we've not even had the stage one debate.
It might get over the line. Graeme
Simpson, MSP, there announcing his
defection from the Conservative Party to
reform. Doing so at that press
conference in Livingston. He is the MSP
for Central Scotland. And that is Graham
Simpson. We will hear more uh reaction,
I'm sure, in the coming hours. will
bring it to you here live on Sky News.