Charlie Gordon: I always like to give transport ministers credit where it is due and I have done that since Keith Brown took over his job. I will not criticise him for not taking an intervention from Karen Gillon, because I think he is feart of her. To be fair, so am I. However, he rather phoned in his opening speech. He said that the Government’s role was to set the policy framework. He said that there is an open market in bus services, but I provided third-party evidence of market failure. He said that buses should compete with the car. They should, but they hardly ever do so.

Keith Brown mentioned quality tools, including statutory quality partnerships, but no partnership has been signed in 10 years. He mentioned third-party bus-lane enforcement, which is important in our cities. I hope that he will answer my written question on that before dissolution. He said that the Competition Commission is the available remedy, but we should sort out the situation under devolution; transport is devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

I will clear up the point about Richard Simpson again, although I have cleared it up in correspondence with the minister. At a public debate, Richard Simpson gave the Labour line that no change should be made to the free bus travel scheme. However, like many other individuals of his age, he mused on the fact that he is a well-off man who gets to travel for nothing on the buses.

Jackson Carlaw outed me as being out of date. That is fair enough. He cannae see it from where he is sitting, but I am actually wearing flared trousers and platform soles. He then rather undermined his effect by saying that what we have to do is to get back to Maggie Thatcher. I am grateful to him for that, because Maggie Thatcher is not out of date in Scotland; she was just never supported as being relevant by the people of Scotland. I am also grateful to Jackson Carlaw for reminding the chamber of Alison McInnes’s view of my bus bill. Alison has the haunted look of a prisoner of the Thatcherites. She gave me a row earlier and said that I should work with bus operators. I assure her that I have signed more voluntary bus partnerships than she has had hot dinners.

Karen Gillon outed herself as a Cliff Richard fan—clearly, that is a case of too much information—and went on to give real examples of the human cost of market failure in local bus markets. My old conscientious adversary Stewart Stevenson let his standards slip today in setting up a couple of straw men. He said that I was out to renationalise the bus industry. No, I am not, and neither am I out to recreate municipal bus operators nor to create or replicate the bureaucratic and expensive Transport for London model, which I went down to London to have a close look at some years ago. As I thought I had made it plain in the debate, I want to amend the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 to make it easier to implement statutory quality contracts, because that will pave the way for cross-subsidisation, which I see as a key feature of the regime.

Rob Gibson made the point—to be fair, it was an aside—that bus reregulation was not in the last SNP manifesto. Here is a quotation from the SNP national conference of October 2006:

The SNP recognises the failures of bus deregulation across Scotland and reiterates its support for re-regulation of Scottish buses.”

Who is U-turning now?

Rob Gibson: In calculating the costs, have you factored them into your ideas of reregulation?

Charlie Gordon: I have already touched on the financial effect that I want to see from the type of reregulation that I advocate.

In fairness to Rob Gibson, who is a thoughtful contributor at the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee, he rightly made the point that integration of transport modes is not reflected in his part of rural Scotland. He made points, on which I have already advocated, on the possibility of integrating community and commercial bus provision. He described a realistic local picture.

Robert Brown said that statutory quality partnerships have been successful. As I have made plain, not one has ever been signed and implemented. Des McNulty gave a good case study. Chris Harvie was Chris Harvie; he did not say much about buses today, but I for one will buy his new book. Here is a first: Patrick Harvie was right. Enough said.

David Whitton made important and challenging points—points that were a bit too challenging for the minister—on the structure of the bus service operators grant, which is a very important system that must not be interfered with lightly. Shirley-Anne Somerville confessed that she enjoyed serving on the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee with me. When I heard that, I thought that she would next say, “Charlie’s an oldie, but a goodie”, but it turns out that I am a workhorse, not a thoroughbred. I thank Shirley-Anne for reminding the chamber that I will be 60 in October, but 60 is just a number; there is life in this old workhorse yet. She said that I had not made the case for reform. I am not the only one who is making it; lots of third parties are making the same case.

Elaine Murray invited you, Presiding Officer, to endorse her view that you had served with this old workhorse before, when we were on Strathclyde Regional Council. I can look back on what we did on the transport scene, including on buses, with a great deal of pride and satisfaction. In many respects, it is not a bad benchmark for other parts of Scotland.

Ross Finnie misrepresented Karen Gillon on VAT. She would not have made the point that he claimed that she made on VAT in relation to buses, because VAT is reclaimable for fuel use in the bus industry.

Stewart Stevenson: Does the member accept that it is not legal under European regulations to introduce a fourth level of VAT?

Charlie Gordon: Again, Mr Stevenson makes a point that he wishes he had made a fortnight ago, during the fuel duty debate. I back Ed Balls’s judgment rather than even Stewart Stevenson’s.

Ross Finnie was on stronger ground when he praised the achievements of the former Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority and Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive. I am one of the SPTA’s former chairs, so I thank the member for that. He banged on about how the proposal would be paid for; I have covered that point.

Overall, it has been a good debate. For a number of years, I have felt that politicians from all parties and at most levels have been substantially disconnected from ordinary people’s concerns about the relative importance of bus services. Today’s debate has been an important opportunity to reconnect with that agenda. There is a big dividing line between Labour and the anti-reregulation parties in the chamber today. On this issue, as on so much else, it will soon be going Labour’s way.