Back in July 2024, after having served on Stirling Council since 2017, Chris Kane was elected as Stirling’s MP for Labour. His promises for Stirling, and change as a local MP, included:
- “Make work pay, with a New Deal for Working People that will deliver wages that people can actually live on.
- “Set up GB Energy, a publicly-owned clean power company, headquartered in Scotland, to cut bills for good and create jobs.
- “Cut NHS waiting times by investing in our NHS and funding more appointments in Scotland.”
After over a year in the post, how do these promises stand now? Obviously, as an individual MP, Kane cannot be expected to create an energy company or change the NHS alone, and neither should one individual be expected to. But regardless, this is what constituents were promised. So, Brig’s political tracker asks: How are these commitments coming along?
Making work pay
On the promise to “make work pay”, the “New Deal for Working People” came in the form of the Employment Rights Bill, the most recent reading on which Kane voted in favour of.
In the previous two readings on this, however, he was absent.
The bill still has not come into effect, as it currently sits at its third reading in the House of Lords. It includes changes such as repealing the Minimum Services Act of 2023, which effectively made impactful strikes illegal and allowed workplaces to sue trade unions and fire employees who took part in strike action.
Additionally, the bill will require employers to justify refusing flexible hours to their employees and remove the two year qualifying period for unfair dismissal (so if you’ve worked somewhere for less than two years, you’re still protected from unfair dismissal, as long as you’ve passed your probation period).
The second reading and reasoned amendment to the second reading both happened on the 21st of October last year and were missed by Kane, but despite this, he still voted the bill through more recently, and it waits to be implemented. All clear.
Establishing GB Energy and cutting bills
Great British Energy (or, GB Energy) is officially a company now, having been passed into law in May, a bill that Kane voted in support of. Headquarters are to be set up in Aberdeen, as established in September of last year.
The organisation claims that 7,000 British businesses will have their electricity bills cut by up to 25 per cent from 2027. Generally, they won’t be making major changes to energy bills anytime soon, but developments may occur by the next time Brig prints.
NHS waiting times are where we have to get critical
According to NHS Forth Valley’s performance report, nearly 84 per cent of eligible patients for cancer treatment were waiting less than 62 days between urgent suspicion of cancer referral and their first cancer treatment when Kane was first elected as MP.
The target is 95 per cent, and the most recent report (due to be updated at the end of this month), shows that this number dropped to 63.4 per cent, the lowest in a year, in April.
Waiting times for outpatient appointments performed better, with 68.6 per cent of outpatients waiting less than 12 weeks for an appointment at a consultant-led clinic last July.
This jumped to 75.2 per cent in April but still falls short of the target of 95 per cent. In terms of additional funding for the NHS, Labour gave Scotland £47.7 billion as a budget for 2025/26, which was an additional £1.5 billion from the last.
Former Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray MP said on this: “That money must reach frontline services, to bring down NHS waiting lists and lift attainment in our schools.” With that, the Scottish Government has invested an extra £2 billion in NHS Scotland since. So, the additional funding is here, but it hasn’t hit the waiting lists just yet.
Overall, Kane has stood by the decision-making elements of these three promises, but Stirling, as well as Scotland in general, are not reaping the rewards of them just quite yet.
Chris Kane’s response
Following a request for comment, Chris Kane told Brig: “Labour has only been in government for just over a year, but already we are delivering on the promises we made.
“From establishing Great British Energy here in Scotland to backing the Employment Rights Bill that strengthens protections for workers, we are putting in place the building blocks of a fairer, greener economy that works for everyone.
“I am proud to be a part of these changes.
“Great British Energy will be a game-changer, creating jobs, cutting bills and building a secure, clean energy network owned by the public and run for the public.
“For too long, families and businesses have been at the mercy of rising bills and insecure supply. With GB Energy, Labour is laying the foundations for long-term energy security and a greener, fairer future.
“On the NHS, Labour in government has committed record additional funding.
“However, we are not seeing the benefit of this in Scotland.
“In England, waiting lists are starting to come down under Labour, while here, 1 in 6 people are still stuck on a waiting list.
“With the largest settlement in the history of devolution given to Scotland, that is simply not good enough. After 18 years in power, the SNP have overseen a decline in our NHS and across our public services.
“I am proud to be part of a Labour government that is ambitious for Stirling and Strathallan, and for Scotland. The progress we’ve made in just one year shows what is possible.
“With a Labour Scottish Government, we can deliver that same ambition for our NHS, our schools and our transport.”
Featured Image Credit: House of Commons/Laurie Noble & Brig Newspaper.
4th year Politics and Journalism student.
Secretary for Brig
The Herald Student Press Awards Columnist Of The Year 2024 (which sorry i’m still not over)
