John Lamont

I will push back slightly on the narrative that, up until the election of the new Government, the Scottish Government and the UK Government had not been working together on the project that the hon. Gentleman mentions, or on other areas. The reality is—as, again, I know from my own experience as a UK Government Minister—that there were huge amounts of co-operation between the Scottish Government and the UK Government latterly. Yes, we did not agree on the question of independence, but it is a myth to say that just because there is a new Prime Minister, a new Labour Government, all of a sudden there is a reset. I know the UK officials behind the scenes were working incredibly hard with officials in the Scottish Government to achieve the best for all of our communities; for all of us who represent Scottish constituencies. The project he highlights is an example where both Governments should be, and have been, working together to try to achieve positive outcomes. The last Member I want to mention is the hon. Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur). I have to say I was very disappointed that he refused to oppose the new Labour Government’s decision to scrap the supercomputer project for Edinburgh University. I know it was going to be a huge boost to the university. I know that even in my own area, again in the borders, there were a number of people directly employed with that project and they were mightily disappointed when the new Government decided to rip up that deal.