We have invited all major political parties in Scotland to take part in an interview ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections on May 6. In this instalment we speak to the Scottish Liberal Democrats' leader, Willie Rennie.

Q. What is your party planning to do in the Borders, in particular?

A. For us, the big issue of this campaign has got to be putting recovery first. Young people in the Borders have been losing a lot of education over the last year and we need to make sure we have got bounce back support, which means more teachers in schools, cutting the class sizes, more class support, the pupil equity fund – making it permanent, more outdoor experiences. A guaranteed outdoor education experience for every pupil. That’s going to be very important for young people in the Borders. We have seen a lot of businesses on their knees as a result of the pandemic. We need to make sure we transition them out of the pandemic with support, but at the right pace. So as the restrictions ease, we ease the grants and make sure they are ready to fly when consumer confidence returns. We have also got a plan for boosting the economy in the longer term, which is based partly on skills and retraining and investing in people’s talents. The third element is around mental health. A lot of our people who have been isolated have struggled with their mental health over the last year. The waits were already long to access services.

What we need is a longer-term plan to cut the waits. [A total of] 1,500 young people across Scotland were waiting over a year for CAMHS [Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services] treatment and that needs to come down dramatically. Some older people are waiting over two years to get treatment. That is just not acceptable. Investing in mental health services and [having] mental health first aiders in every workplace is important.

The final thing is action on the climate. Making sure we have a look at the climate and support to cut down on carbon emissions. Transport, housing… all those areas need to be looked at. But we won’t be able to do any of that if we’re distracted by another independence referendum, which won’t bring the country together. It will just divide us. We’ll get back into our corners and fight the constitutional debate, rather than working to create jobs, boost education and help mental health services.

Q. Like many local authorities, Scottish Borders Council has recently declared a climate emergency. What is your party doing on this issue?

A. Declaring a climate emergency is the easy bit. The hard bit is the measures that you take. The main emissions are around about transport and domestic housing. There is also industry and there needs to be a constant improvement in the best practice within industry to cut down emissions. We need to change from the use of gas for domestic heating and change it over to heat pumps and local renewable resources like panels on your roof. We also need to make sure that systems like district heating systems are able to be deployed quickly. All of those require significant investment and the retraining of people, because we need the workforce to make these things happen. Energy in people’s homes is essential and transport. We have discovered this year that we don’t have to hare around everywhere in our cars to go to meetings. We can do meetings like this [using Zoom] in a much more satisfactory way. I think cutting down the transport and changing the way transport works – so electric car charging points, making sure we improve public transport by making it more regular, making sure the train service is not bedevilled by delays – so people can rely on the public transport, but also so they have access to the alternative forms of personal transport too. The other thing we need is much more regular targets. Ambitious plans that are delivered now rather than plans for 20 years’ time, so there is a much more immediate effect to focus people’s minds. 

Q. The SNP has accused the Liberal Democrats of ‘turning their backs on Europe’. Do you still support rejoining the EU?

A. I want to be in the European Union. I don’t think anybody can be surprised that Liberal Democrats are Britain’s foremost European party. We spent the last five years opposing Brexit, every step of the way. Not as a useful tool to try and get independence, but because we genuinely believe that we should be in the European Union. So that has not gone away. But the SNP may have noticed there is a pandemic going on and we should be focusing on recovery from that pandemic. Therefore, the rejoin plans have to wait, I’m afraid, until after we have got recovery from the pandemic. Even then we have to work on people and have to persuade people. We lost the argument last time around. We have left Europe. What we need to do is to work with people to see the benefits of partnership – whether it’s with the UK or the rest of Europe. And over time, I hope to be able to persuade people, but the recovery has to come first. The independence movement perhaps could learn a lesson from that, because if we think Brexit was bad, just wait until you get independence. Independence will be like Brexit on a rocket to Mars. It is going to be traumatic and, therefore, I think the independence movement in its various forms now, whether its Alba, the SNP or the Greens, need to understand that we need to put recovery first; not the constitutional arguments.

Q. You, Douglas Ross and Anas Sarwar have all spoken about putting recovery first. What makes you and your party different from the Conservatives and Labour?

A. Well definitely the Conservatives. They have got a completely different approach. They want to perpetuate the arguments about independence. We don’t. We want to unite people. They are not interested in that. They are not reaching out to any SNP supporters and trying to persuade them of the merits of putting recovery first. They are more into having the argument to shore up their own support. That is not in the country’s interests. We’re focused on recovery. Bringing the country together. Uniting to focus on mental health, education, jobs and climate action. Labour have not got a too dissimilar approach. I think we are in agreement of that. And that is a good thing, because we need more partnerships in Scottish politics. We have different traditions, a different approach, different priorities. But there is no doubt that we both agree we need to put aside those differences – not perpetuate the arguments about independence and focus on the recovery.

Q. If you became First Minister, what would be the first thing you would do?

A. I would immediately put a plan in place to tackle the mental health waits. That would be my immediate priority. It’s been an obsession of mine for years now and people can’t wait any longer. That would be my immediate priority. My second priority would be to make sure the education plan was in place to get extra support to pupils in schools to bounce back. Then my third priority would be to put in place a plan for business and then the climate. But my first priority would be tackling mental health waits.

Readers’ questions

Q. If everyone apart from you voted for the SNP, would you still oppose holding a second independence referendum?

A. We stick to what we say. It might be surprising for a politician to say they are going to deliver what they say, but that’s what we are going to do. People should know that if they vote for us that is what they’ll get. If any independence referendum proposals come up, then we will vote against it. But the question assumes that the SNP are going to win. And I don’t think they will. They’re in decline in support. Support for independence is in decline, so it’s a very hypothetical question. I think they are in decline and the reason why that is the case is they are not putting recovery first. They are focusing on the constitution.

Q. Do you apologise for the needless austerity which happened because of your party’s decision to form a coalition with the Conservatives, who were very unpopular in Scotland at the time?

A. We can tell that there are people who are determined to dig into the past, rather than focus on the recovery. I am sure we could spend a long time debating and discussing the merits and demerits of previous government policy. But we have got an emergency now. We have got to focus on the recovery. And if we keep on hunting for differences in the past, we are not going to move forwards. I just hope your reader can look to where we can agree and where we have got common ground, rather than where we have got differences.