Thank you. That concludes general questions. The next item of business is First Minister's

questions. Question number one. I call Douglas Ross.

Thank you very much, President. I remind the Chamber that my wife is a serving police officer.

Serious failures in the SMP's centralisation of Police Scotland contributed to tragic deaths on the M9 in 2015.

The deaths of Lamarabelle and John Yule were a tragedy that the Government vowed would

never happen again.

But this week, David Kennedy of the Scottish Police Federation said this.

We might see more M9 cases appearing, where people actually die. That's a harsh

reality if there are not enough police officers. Under the SMP, police numbers have fallen

by more than 700 since the creation of Police Scotland. How much lower will Humsa Yusuf

let them fall? First Minister foremost, my thoughts remain with the families of the Manabelle and John

Ewell, affected, of course, by that tragic incident on the M9 in 2015.

In relation to the facts around Police Scotland, let me remind Douglas Ross of a few important

facts.

First and foremost, the SMP-led Scottish Government has increased police numbers since we came to power.

They have increased by over 300.

That means, of course, while we have increased police numbers, we have continued

to see more officers per head in Scotland than in England and Wales. If we look at the numbers

per 10,000 of the population, Scotland has 30 officers per 10,000 of the population, compared

to 25 in England and in Wales. Let me also address the point made by the Scottish Police Federation, made by Douglas Ross.

We are investing in our police service.

That's why we've invested 1.45 billion this financial year.

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