First Minister's Questions - 19th February 2026

Podcasts By The Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament

Government

4.8 • 25 Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The First Minister answers questions from Party Leaders and other MSPs in this weekly question time.Topics covered this week include:Christine Grahame To ask the First Minister what measures the Scottish Government is taking to standardise the criteria for urgent referrals to child and adolescent mental health services for an assessment, in light of reports that it is currently a postcode lottery. Roz McCallTo ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reports that hundreds of teachers have sought medical treatment following attacks by pupils in the last five years. Maggie Chapman To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on the development of a Just Transition plan for the north east of Scotland, including how communities and workers have been engaged.A full transcript of this week's First Minister's Questions will be available on the Scottish Parliament website: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The next item of business is First Minister's questions.
0:03.0	And at question number one, I call Russell Finley.
0:06.0	Before I start, I want to make clear that I fully understand the law relating to live criminal proceedings.
0:14.3	John Swinney should also understand the law.
0:16.8	So I'd urge him not to hide behind it, to avoid answering my questions, which have nothing
0:23.0	to do with matters before the court. On January 19, John Swinney received a private briefing from
0:30.5	the Lord Advocate. It contained details of charges against Nicol's Surgent's husband and the former
0:37.0	SNP chief executive Peter Murrow.
0:40.3	This information was kept from the media and the public.
0:46.3	Thirty-one minutes after receiving this information,
0:50.3	John Swinney passed it to his most senior SNP spin doctor.
0:56.5	Why?
0:58.5	First Minister.
1:01.9	Let me make clear that I understand the importance of protecting live criminal proceedings.
1:09.0	That is exactly why the Lord Advocate sent me a minute
1:12.4	to warn me about the risk of contempt of court on a significant criminal case. It is abundantly
1:19.2	clear I would be asked about that case in court. She did this in order to ensure I did not
1:24.8	prejudice the proceedings. The minute, the very brief minute that was sent to me by the Lord Advocate, which of course is a type of
1:34.8	communication that I received from the Lord Advocate on a number of occasions, was issued
1:39.7	to the people in the government who have to speak on my behalf. So if it's important that I am reminded
1:47.6	by the Lord Advocate that I must be careful and respect the live criminal proceedings, then it is
1:54.7	equally vital that those people who are authorised to speak on my behalf have the same information.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Scottish Parliament, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Scottish Parliament and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.