I've been an SNP MP at Westminster for 1 year. Here's what it's like

The National

23-07-2025

The first thing to understand is the travel from my home town, Fraserburgh to the Palace of Westminster. Flight times vary but it's often the morning flight, which means leaving the house around 7am for the one-hour drive to the airport. It's roughly a six-hour journey including car, plane, train, and tube. Twice a week. That's the bit that must be endured, especially the inevitable delays.
There is often a mixture of tourists around Westminster together with crowds of protesters on the green in front of the Elizabeth Tower, or Big Ben as it is more commonly known.
Palestine protesters are there most weeks and I often stop for a quick chat or a photograph to show my support for an end to the atrocities in Gaza and the Middle East.
There have been many subjects to occupy my attention this past year but I can think of few – if any – that will still be in our thoughts many, many years in the future or that call us to action now.
The Westminster estate itself is huge, covering many acres and employing more than 15,000 people in the palace area alone. This army of staffers, advisers, lobbyists, journalists and others must be fed easily and quickly throughout the day – that is no mean feat.
Thanks to the efforts of our chief whip, the nine SNP MPs were allocated offices quickly, a great blessing. The next task was to find and recruit a small team to handle the huge volume of casework, diary commitments and tasks that every MP must deliver for their constituents.
Additionally, a constituency office was also required and we were able to secure this early thanks to the efforts of my team leader. We will soon be having a small reception at the office to mark my first year.
It's a fortunate MP who secures the services of an excellent team, and I have. They represent a great mix of experience and youth and their enthusiasm for the task never ceases to amaze me. In London, the team consists of one part-time person but he delivers way more than a part-timer – it's like having two of me, considering the volume and variety of tasks he covers.
Finding your way around the sprawling estate with its maze of corridors is quite a challenge – I still get lost sometimes.
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Despite the history and its overwhelming sense of the bygone days of empire, I am not overawed by these trappings. Our primary political task is to bring an end to our involvement here when we secure the independence of Scotland and take our place among the nations of the world. It's something to remind myself every day as an antidote to the imperialist atmosphere within which we work.
The palace is crawling with armed policemen, fully armed with automatic weapons, a sobering reminder of the various terrorist attacks on Parliament over the years.
However, I'm not uncomfortable given that I spent virtually all my adult life in Ireland working and living during the civil conflict we euphemistically call The Troubles.
Due to the murders of Jo Cox in 2016 and Sir David Amess in 2021, security within the constituency and in other locations outside the Palace of Westminster is a daily consideration – suffice to say that the necessary resources are available to me.
It will come as no surprise to readers to learn that I spend most of my time speaking in the House of Commons chamber or [[Westminster]] Hall, attending lobbying meetings or the many daily information sessions on a dizzying array of topics; meeting business representatives or charities who want me to represent their interests; going on fact-finding visits or joining protest meetings to show support or joining with other MPs in organised all-party groups on topics important to my constituents.
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Fridays are usually spent in the constituency offering surgeries or interviews, visiting businesses, schools or other places and sometimes attending specific events to which I've been invited. There are often engagements on a Saturday, occasionally on a Sunday, but I try to keep one day free for family time.
All of the events of the last year fill me with a variety of emotions. Laughter when the opportunity arises in the chamber (and they are frequent). Sadness when another long-serving member passes away without realising our ambition of Scottish self-determination. Pride when I see the superb efforts of our small band of MPs, either in the House of Commons or in the media. Or joy when my team achieves a positive outcome for an individual, a family, a charity or a local enterprise.
And so we press on, always remembering the shoulders of the giants on whom we stand, for example the late, great Winnie Ewing. It's perhaps worth remembering that her maiden speech all those years ago included a focus on the contribution of young people in politics and the need to lower the voting age, once again in sharp focus at Westminster.
My hope is that the rest of my time in Parliament will be as productive and as enjoyable as the year just past and that my team and I can contribute to bringing about the advent of our independence.