Willie Rennie MSP

The Scottish Government lost public trust in its taxation policy in recent years and has failed to manage the challenges facing the public finances, all while many public services are not delivering the outcomes that they should.

The government's announcement that it will bring in legislation to restrict the use of mobile phones in schools is welcome. I previously called for a national approach with legislative backing, and at the election the Scottish Liberal Democrats supported a national policy... 1/2

I questioned the First Minister today about the Lower Melville Wood fire and called for the Scottish Government to commission an independent investigation into the causes or the fire, the way it was handled and the future of the site.

If the government is serious about valuing the childcare workforce, it needs to fix the gap in funding faced by private and voluntary nurseries. Staff end up paid less than those in council-run nurseries because of unequal government funding.

I have been a longstanding supporter of expanding funded childcare provision for families, giving parents flexibility and choice, but we need to fix the foundations of the system in Scotland before moving on to further expansion.

We need pragmatic action to tackle the housing emergency, but the SNP's proposals risk being a subsidy for people who can already afford to buy their own home rather than a targeted measure to support those who can't, like a previous government scheme which was abandoned.

The Scottish Parliament needs to work better than it has in recent years, and that is why the Liberal Democrats, with our group of ten MSPs, will hunt for agreement and do our best to deliver results for our constituents. 1/2

I was glad to attend this year's Fife Show with Wendy Chamberlain to meet with farmers and others involved in the rural economy.

The fire is still burning

Update on the fire

I spoke to STV news about the fire at the Lower Melville Wood recycling centre. I am grateful for the response of staff at the site and the ongoing work of the Fire and Rescue Service, and have written to Cireco to ask for updates and a review of the site's operation.

Swearing in

I was honoured to be re-elected as the MSP for North East Fife. It is special to represent the area where I grew up and I am grateful to everyone who gave me their support and to the many people who contributed so much effort to my campaign. 1/3

First day back…and this is the new parliamentary group of Liberal Democrat MSPs.

After being re-elected as the MSP for North East Fife I was straight back to work, making visits across the constituency the day after the results were declared. Thank you again to everyone for your support and for allowing me to continue my work representing this fantastic area.

Back on Benarty with a smile

We celebrated all our election wins at Newhaven Harbour in Edinburgh with @eddavey.libdems.org.uk and @alex.scotlibdems.org.uk Thank you to everyone who voted for us across Scotland.

Vote twice (especially the peach!) for the Lib Dems on Thursday for change with fairness at its heart. #scotlibdems #elections #scotland

Polling day for the Scottish Parliament election is this Thursday. It's important that you vote - and vote for the Scottish Liberal Democrats and our vision of change with fairness at its heart.

There are major challenges in Scottish education but there are also solutions. #education #elections #scotlibdems

@adamharley.bsky.social for #Strathkelvin&Bearsden will graft for his constituents, staying in touch all year round (not just at elections) and will raise their issues in the @scotparl.bsky.social . #scotlibdems #election #scotland

I’m on the TV soon to talk about education. #election #scotlibdems #scotland

We received so many endorsements we couldn’t fit them all on the one leaflet. #scotlibdems #Elections2026

The blue bells toll…one week to go

Alan Reid will be solid champion for Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Parliament. I have witnessed first hand his excellent work on behalf of constituents. #Scotlibdems #election

The Scottish Liberal Democrats want to bring down energy bills and protect you from volatile fossil fuel prices through a £100m emergency insulation programme and by accelerating the rollout of smart climate-friendly heating and solar panels.

Scottish Liberal Democrat posters are going up all over North East Fife! If you would like one please email willierennie4nef@gmail.com

A gardening accident…

When people and businesses in Cupar were flooded during Storm Gerrit I secured financial support from the government. Since then I have worked on measures to try to prevent it happening again. That is the kind of work I have done and would continue if I am re-elected.

I attended a hustings organised by Shelter Scotland and set out the Scottish Liberal Democrat plans to tackle the housing emergency, including by increasing housebuilding to 25,000 per year.

Sanne Dijkstra-Downie is a brilliant candidate in Edinburgh Northern and she is the only one who can beat the SNP. I was out campaigning with her yesterday as people start receiving their postal votes and the support for Sanne was clear.

The Highlands needs powerful voices in the Scottish Parliament. I’m backing @neilalex94.bsky.social @davidgreen4csr.bsky.social @andrewbaxter69.bsky.social They will be an excellent team speaking up for the area. #scotlibdem #election

Vote peach on the beach with @wendychambld.bsky.social #peachballot #scotlibdem #election

I attended a hustings organised by the campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed and set out my ambitions for the future of childcare in Scotland. It is an important issue for the economy - supporting parents back to work - but also for children's lives.

Too many people find it difficult to get a GP appointment. The Scottish Liberal Democrats want to recruit additional health professionals into GP practices, to support GPs and help get people seen more quickly.

People across North East Fife have been impacted by regular changes to bus routes. I want greater local control of bus services so that people can rely on them for their daily needs.

Problems in NHS dentistry have been building for years and the SNP has failed to get on top of the problem. The Cupar Dentist practice has been on an emergency-only service for more than a year. I have raised the lack of access to NHS dentistry with ministers repeatedly but the challenge remains.

Make that opinion poll real. #scotlibdem #peachballot #election

Goooood Morrrrning! A glorious sunrise before the storm ahead. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to speak with me this week. #election #scotlibdems

The fishing sector is under real pressure from a lack of workers, spatial squeeze and increased fuel costs. I will keep working to find solutions to these challenges.

Nine in ten newly-qualified primary school teachers can't get a full-time permanent job, leaving too many with only part-time or temporary work or struggling to get a job at all. This is just one example of the SNP's failures on education.

Margaret Thatcher built more boats on the Clyde than the SNP ever have and now the Islanders, shipyard workers and taxpayers are paying the price. #ferries #scotlibdems #elections

Day 6 - a huge reduction in modern languages since the SNP promised an expansion. #scotlibdems #Elections #schools

Day 5 - what have the Lib Dems done for colleges? #Colleges #scotlibdems #elections

A wonderfully upbeat launch of my local re-election campaign launch in Cupar. #scotlibdems #elections

Day 3

I attended a hustings organised by COSLA today to answer questions and set out the Scottish Liberal Democrats' ideas for the future of local government.

I was in Edinburgh this morning for the launch of the Scottish Liberal Democrat election campaign. We are ready to go and to speak to people across Scotland. 1/2

Over the last five years a total of 17,811 children were trapped in temporary accommodation for longer than a year. That represents a catastrophic failure by the SNP and whoever is in government after the election needs to commit that it won't happen again.

I questioned the agriculture minister about the deep concern of farmers in North East Fife about the rising cost of fuel and fertiliser, asked what work the Scottish Government is undertaking to gather evidence and make representations to the UK Government.

There is strong evidence for the damaging impact that phones have in schools and I support the Scottish Government moving towards a national ban, but we also need to consider the roll out of school-issued digital devices which has been introduced in Fife and other areas of Scotland. 1/2

I spoke in the final debate on the Visitor Levy Bill, which gives local councils the flexibility to implement the levy as a flat charge. I talked about the strengths of the tourism industry but also urged caution on the part of councils which are considering implementing the measure.

The bill on the use of restraint and seclusion in schools is the result of over a decade on tenacious campaigning by Beth Morrison and others. It will bring guidance onto a statutory footing and give it the priority that it deserves.

I joined the Tayport Walking Football Club for one of their winter sessions in Dundee last week. It was great to see the good work of the club and the benefits of the sport first hand.

The Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) Bill which was passed by MSPs last week will not on its own be enough to keep the Promise that was made to care-experienced people, but it was an important step.

I raised Scottish Water's decision to delay work on the West Shore sewer network in Pittenweem until 2028 at the earliest in the Scottish Parliament.

Yesterday I passed an amendment to the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) Bill to require the Scottish Government to report annually on the deaths of looked-after children. This is an important step to improve transparency and to reduce preventable deaths.

MSPs have been united in calling for better funded and expanded palliative care. I asked the finance secretary what plans the government has to take this forward.

Households and businesses across the country are already feeling the impact of increased fuel costs following Donald Trump's decision to launch a war against Iran. I raised the particular challenge this poses to the fishing industry.

The Scottish Government put MSPs in a difficult position by presenting a flawed bill to fund the remediation of dangerous cladding. It risks further hampering much-needed investment in housing and so I set out why I couldn't support it.

The SNP government has failed to get a grip of the crisis in NHS dentistry and services are still struggling. Ministers were slow to recognise the scale of the challenge and have been reluctant to accept responsibility.

There were positive measures in the government's child-poverty statement yesterday. While it was disappointing that the social justice secretary wasn't upfront about the government's missed targets, I welcomed the expansion of relational mentoring and the RISE work being undertaken with colleges.

I support a franchising model for bus services in Fife, to prevent companies from constantly changing routes and picking and choosing the most profitable. Local people need stable services they can plan their lives around.

This morning I attended a conference on Additional Support Needs for teachers and practitioners from across Scotland. It was a chance for them to share best practice and build on each other's experience.

The replacement of the SQA with a new body, Qualifications Scotland, was supposed to address the disjointed transition from the earlier years of secondary school into preparation for qualifications. I asked questions at the education committee about whether this is working in practice.

I raised the work of the charity ELibraries for Schools who are creating a national children's digital library with the culture secretary and asked him to facilitate the charity's discussions with partner organisations.

The EIS teachers union has announced strikes over its dispute with the SNP government and COSLA regarding teacher's class contact time. The SNP promised a reduction of ninety minutes per week in 2021 but ministers have failed to deliver.

The SNP promised in its 2021 manifesto to create an exchange programme to replace Erasmus scheme, which the UK left as a result of Brexit, but they failed to deliver anything more than a pilot scheme.

I visited the Community Trade Hub in Leven which does a fantastic job providing practical training to pupils from across Fife. I strongly support opportunities like this, giving young people skills and experience which will prepare them for work.

Liz Smith, Michael Marra and I met with the First Minister today to discuss NHS Tayside lifting the time bar which prevented former patients of Sam Eljamel from bringing claims for what they suffered. We also raised the need for individual patient reviews to be carried out as swiftly as possible.

A lack of access to social care leaves people stuck in hospital or going without the support they need. The SNP government wasted much of this session of parliament pushing a failed plan to centralise control of local services, but the need to bring in practical measures to fix social care remains.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats used our debate in Holyrood today to hold the SNP government to account for its failure to close the poverty-related attainment gap, ten years after Nicola Sturgeon set this deadline and asked to be judged on this issue.

Funding for a second round of the Future Farming Investment Scheme is welcome, but the SNP government needs to learn from the mistakes it made in the first round.

Colleges are vital to getting people the skills they need to thrive and to grow the economy. The Scottish Liberal Democrats engaged constructively in the budget process and secured a 10% uplift in funding. However colleges need certainty about the future direction of funding.

There was consensus in the Scottish Parliament last year that an independent national review of maternity services was necessary to address the serious failures which were highlighted and to restore confidence. Now however the Scottish Government is pulling back.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats engaged constructively in the budget process and secured £300 million for our priorities, including £70 million for colleges. 1/2

The Scottish Government's home energy scheme is six times more expensive to administer than the equivalent scheme in England and Wales, while also leading to a stalling number of green energy installations. 1/2

The closure of the ExxonMobil plant at Mossmorran has been a blow to the workers and community there. I have been encouraged to see the constructive work between Fife Council and the UK and Scottish governments, but that needs to be built on to secure future opportunities at the site.

The Scottish Parliament's education committee heard evidence from the Scottish Council for Independent Schools on the effect of the UK Government's decision to introduce VAT on their fees. I asked about the effect on the continuity of education for children from families with modest incomes.

I have heard the concerns of self-catering businesses about the business rates revaluation. My Scottish Liberal Democrat colleagues and I have engaged with the Scottish Government through the budget process and have secured a new... 1/3

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have secured £300 million for our priorities in the Scottish Government budget. That means more money for business rates relief, colleges, social care, hospices, autism and ADHD assessments and support, and backing for young entrepreneurs. 1/2

The best part of two decades on from the SNP promise to replace the council tax, they have barely moved an inch forward. Ministers have come and gone, claiming that they wanted to listen to other parties' proposals, without ever proposing a serious way forward.

I have called for the current revaluation of business rates to be paused, in order to address the concerns of hospitality and self-catering businesses. Many fear that they simply won't be able to continue operating if the increases in their rates go ahead.

It was right to replace the SQA but we need to make sure that the new body, Qualifications Scotland, works constructively with the rest of the education sector. I asked the education secretary how she will ensure that happens.

I visited the new Tiny Gym pod in St Andrews with the company's founder Mike to see his concept in action. Tiny Gyms provide self-service private exercise spaces for people who feel intimidated by traditional public gyms. 1/2

I set out my support for Daniel Johnson's bill on restraint and seclusion in schools. It is an important step to bring guidance onto a statutory footing and to give it the priority that it deserves. 1/2

I visited Change Mental Health in Methil to talk to the charity's support workers about the excellent work they do. The demand for their services is huge, so I want the government to learn from their experience to tackle the mental health crisis.

I argued for exemptions to the Housing Bill in order to support investment in mid-market and build-to-rent properties, to increase the supply of housing and tackle the housing emergency. This week I asked the housing secretary to rule out time limits on these exemptions which could deter investment.

Thousands of teachers are stuck on precarious contracts because the government has completely mismanaged its workforce plan, training extra teachers without being able to employ them. The latest figures showed less than a quarter of newly-qualified teachers were able to find a permanent contract.