Cameron Gillies

Thoroughly enjoyed speaking to Arlene ahead of last night’s @BBCScotland Landward special on depopulation. Vital this topic gets airtime and proud to be part of the solution by delivering evidence led, costed policies. Good to see these appear in party election manifestos too!

@WilsonC75HT Interesting concept. Not sure there was ever really an explanation why we dropped Regional Ministers - they never survived long enough to know if the concept could have been a success! @ScotLandEstates have also suggested a ministerial responsibility for tackling depopulation!

Highlands 'should have dedicated government minister' says Kate Forbes' successor heraldscotland.com/news/26106299.…

@deejaypb @GlasgowCC @The_SCOTS The Royal Regiment of Scotland was founded in 2006. Since then it has only ever participated in UNSC sanctioned combat and humanitarian operations with a clear legal basis. Food banks are great. So are the people whose job it is to put themself in harm’s way to keep you safe.

@SLE_Political @GlasgowCC @The_SCOTS id assume lots of the citizens of Glasgow maybe dont think fighting illegal wars in far flung places leading to humanitarian crisis and refugee displacement is something to celebrate. Its quite needy to be demanding this. Your not any more worthy than a local foodbank, less so

@GlasgowCC, I am a serving member of 6th Battalion (Reserve) @The_SCOTS. Can you explain what it is about honouring those charged with the defence of the realm today and every day for the past 20 years that is ‘inherently problematic’? What does that even mean?

'Why don't you put the smuggler gangs on the barge and ship it to Scotland for all I care?' Criticising the government's Rwanda plan, @joshsimonstweet has a solution for the 'small boats crisis' if Labour win the next election. @IainDale

Two of the best - both would be a huge loss to their party groups. But a massive gain for the integrity of the parliament. Excellent idea from @RealStephenKerr for them to make their pitch for the role to parliamentarians like this.

Best of luck to all the new and returning MSPs taking their seats in Holyrood this week! Lots to do - looking forward to getting stuck in

@VonnSand Couldn’t agree more. PA professionals should value impact (policies in manifestos/programmes for government, changes to legislation etc) over arbitrary metrics like clicks, opens and mentions. Deep down I think they know that these campaigns have zero impact.

Coming back to work today after a year as an election candidate, I have one big plea for public affairs professionals. Ready? Stop the click-to-email campaigns. Read more 👇 linkedin.com/posts/vonnsand…

Seeing lots celebrating diversity in Holyrood. Happy to be corrected but I think this is the first parliament with no fluent Gaelic speakers.

On the Regional Ballot, pro independence parties won 985,197 votes, whilst pro union parties won 1,239,984 votes (44.3% v 55.7%). Scotland’s pro indy parties turned an 11% deficit into a 17 seat majority, essentially because the @scottishgreens boxed cleverer than anyone else.

8 seats won by @theSNP because of a split in the vote between @ScotTories and @ReformUKScot. Not the full picture, but it poses some interesting questions: What if @scottishgreens stood in those seats and what if Reform/Tories combined? Huge well done to those elected though!

Good to hear @TomHunter on BBC Scotland’s election coverage. He’s right to say most candidates simply want to make Scotland a better place to live, work, raise a family and do business. A more fragmented parliament forced to put politics to one side might help deliver that.

There’s something incredibly sad about politicians not being made to stand in a school gym hall at 5am after zero sleep, waiting to find out if they’ve still got a job whilst standing next to a communist with blue hair. These next day counts will surely never catch on…

🗳️It’s election week in Scotland and rural policy remains high on the political agenda. After this week though, no matter who wins, it is time to deliver for rural Scotland

@MarkBarry67 @RobR44133618 @Poli_Monitor Far from protecting any party. I’m still concerned that Scotland is massively over represented on this list. Geography might explain some of it, but MPs for Orkney & Shetland, Na h-Eileanan an Iar and Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (furthest from WM) seem to do ok.

@SLE_Political @RobR44133618 @Poli_Monitor Jeezo, nothing like protecting Labour, eh. How far is Northern Ireland from WM?

Six of the top ten least active MPs in Westminster represent Scottish Constituencies including three of the bottom four. Writing questions and making contributions in parliament aren’t the only things that make a politician useful, but I would be nice if our MPs showed up!

@RobR44133618 @Poli_Monitor Agreed! Also true that a lot on this list have jobs in gov that preclude submitting written questions.

@SLE_Political @Poli_Monitor A long way to go, and always requiring at least one night in London. Saves a lot in expenses if they stay away. Also, remember, Scots are not (usually) involved in England only matters.

@zubirahmed @Poli_Monitor I’d be delighted to take you up on the offer! Very charitable of you to agree to address the deficiencies in my critical thinking.

I'm afraid you're demonstrably not "quite good at it" if you erroneously espouse research that conflates written questions that can be done from the confines of your living room with "showing up". The offer still stands, I think we have exposed some significant deficiencies in your critical thinking. I'll tell you what, you come in for 9 and have a wee lie in.

@zubirahmed @Poli_Monitor If you have an issue with the research, take it up with @Poli_Monitor. Don’t patronise me about ‘how Parliament works’ though. I’ve worked as a staffer and lobbyist in both parliaments since ‘21. I’m actually quite good at it - your party features my policies in its manifesto.

This "research" just tells me you have 0 clue about how Parliament works and what the work of a MP and minister entails. If you want to learn please feel free to apply for an internship with me. I'll meet you outside portcullis house at 8am and we will be going till 11pm and we won't be stopping for lunch. That's how Glaswegian transplant surgeons do politics. Have a great day!

Forget @JohnSwinney and @D_G_Alexander’s spat over this, and forget the King’s diplomatic manoeuvres… It was @STVColin all along! Delivering prosperity for Scottish industry one question at a time 🥃

@VonnSand @Poli_Monitor I’m glad you’re standing up for your colleagues and engaging in the debate! But the point is that our MPs perform terribly on these metrics, even when you remove Ministers and PPSs - not just proportionally either. The better defence is not getting involved in devolved issues.

@SLE_Political @Poli_Monitor I’m going to push back on this really hard Cameron - contributions in the chamber are important, but one part of a very complicated job. In your example above, Dr Zubir Ahmed has spoken 40 times but is ranked as contributing the same as someone who has spoken 23x. It’s nonsense.