BEST START GRANT PAYS OUT £2.7 MILLION IN FIRST TWO MONTHS FAMILIES IN CUNNINGHAME SOUTH BENEFIT FROM SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT SUPPORT Families in Cunninghame South have benefitted from £2.7 million paid through the Scottish Government’s new Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment scheme since it opened for applications. Since December, Social Security Scotland has made... Continue Reading →

Learning in later life with U3A gains MSP support   Fully and semi-retired people in Scotland have a new way to learn about subjects that interest them thanks to U3As.   More than one per cent of the over 65s is now learning for fun in these locally-led educational groups and research also shows that regularly... Continue Reading →

FIRMS IN NORTH AYRSHIRE BENEFIT FROM £5519 IN BUSINESS RATES SUPPORT The Scottish Government’s Small Business Bonus Scheme provided £5519 of support for businesses across North Ayrshire in 2017/18 – an 26.7% rise on the previous year. The Small Business Bonus Scheme, delivered by the SNP in 2008/09, supports local firms by reducing their rates... Continue Reading →

This week, as domestic politics became increasingly chaotic I was reminded that international solidarity is still important as I added my name to the Open Letter to the 14 Kurdish people currently on hunger strike in Strasbourg. The hunger strikers have one demand: that the Turkish Government complies with their own constitution and international conventions... Continue Reading →

SNP MSP Ruth Maguire for Cunninghame South is supporting South Scotland MSP, Emma Harper's proposed Members' Bill to tackle incidents of dogs attacking livestock - with the official launch of the online public consultation on the proposals taking place in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 21st February.   In the farming community such attacks, commonly... Continue Reading →

President of the National Farmers Union Scotland, Andrew McCornick, has called on the UK government to rule out a no-deal Brexit claiming leaving the EU without a deal would be “catastrophic for Scotland’s farmers and crofters”.   In a speech to NFUS members, Andrew McCornick said:   “No deal means a hard Brexit and this... Continue Reading →

A report published by the Scottish Parliament’s Social Security Committee has called for the urgent reversal of UK government welfare cuts that have caused “significant damage” to the income of working Scots.   Introduced by the Tories in 2016, the working-age benefit freeze gives a real-terms cut to households claiming benefits such as Universal Credit,... Continue Reading →

Tuesday was safer internet day the aim of which is to inspire a national conversation about using technology responsibly, respectfully, critically and creatively. That evening, I joined with The Open University and Stirling University for a panel discussion and book launch about online misogyny and hate crime. I was asked to give some personal reflections about the... Continue Reading →

In my role as Convenor of the Equalities and Human rights committee I had the pleasure of meeting with a delegation of Lebanese members of parliament. Lebanon’s history has been marked by significant periods of violent conflict, weak governance, and interference in the country’s affairs by its neighbours and global powers alike. Yet despite these... Continue Reading →

  Ruth Maguire MSP for Cunninghame South has welcomed the launch of a public consultation which aims to ensure that everyone can enjoy fireworks displays safely. The consultation which was launched on 3rd February by the Scottish Government’s Community Safety Minister, Ash Denholm, asks for views on whether the sale of fireworks to the public... Continue Reading →