Ruskell, 54, represents Mid Scotland and Fife and has been a familiar figure around Holyrood’s environment and rural committees since he was first elected in 2003. More recently he has served as his party’s spokesperson on climate, environment and transport, and sat on the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee and the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee.
For farmers, his appointment signals a convener who has repeatedly argued that agriculture must shoulder a bigger share of Scotland’s climate and nature targets and that public support should be tied more tightly to environmental outcomes.
In debates on Scotland’s climate legislation, Ruskell has been sharply critical of setting high-level carbon budgets without detailed delivery plans for each sector, including farming.
“I find it incredible that Parliament is being asked to back a set of carbon budgets with no accompanying plan that spells out the action that is needed to deliver them,” he told MSPs during a debate on the Scottish carbon budgets in October 2025.
He has also challenged ministers over their decision not to follow official advice on livestock numbers, warning that failure to act in agriculture pushes extra cuts onto other parts of the economy.
“To be clear, the government has ignored the Climate Change Committee’s advice on reducing livestock numbers. On that policy alone, one megatonne of emissions will now have to be cut from somewhere else in society. Who will deliver that missing megatonne?” he asked in the same debate.
Earlier, in a 2021 debate on Net Zero Nation, he argued that legally binding nature targets must drive reform “across every area of government policy, from agriculture to fisheries, to planning and beyond”.
Ruskell has also been at the forefront of Land Reform Bill discussions, pushing for stronger transparency and tougher penalties for non-compliant landowners.
On the bill’s first stage he warned that, as drafted, it “will not fundamentally change the pattern of land ownership – I wish that it would – and it will not fundamentally address the power imbalance”.
He has floated linking enforcement to support payments, saying: “As a means of driving enforcement, we are keen for the landowners and managers who fail to comply with the new requirements of the bill to be prevented from receiving other public subsidies.”
On tenancies he cites “very powerful evidence from farming tenants, which shows the power imbalance that exists in Scotland”, and has argued that definitions of “sustainable and regenerative agriculture” should be written into law to help drive change.
On environmental regulation, Ruskell has opposed attempts to weaken assessment and protections, explicitly naming agriculture alongside other sectors.
“We know that there are sectors – from fish farming to agriculture to property development – that would love to strip away nature protections and gut environmental assessments,” he told parliament during stage-one scrutiny of the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill, adding that this “must not happen here”.
He has linked declining river water quality to both sewage and diffuse farm pollution, warning in a 2023 World Rivers Day debate that “water quality in a number of the freshwater habitats in Scotland is deteriorating because of sewage outflows and phosphorus from agricultural run-off or new developments”.
On emerging carbon and nature markets, he has urged government to intervene early so that schemes benefit communities as well as investors.
“The fact is that the carbon and nature market already exists and is operating in Scotland. Responsible governments must step in early to ensure that the market develops in a way that is truly ethical and benefits nature, the climate and communities,” he told MSPs in a debate on Scotland’s nature in September 2023.
Ruskell studied environmental science and biology at the University of Stirling, before completing an MSc in sustainable agriculture through the Scottish Agricultural College and the University of Aberdeen. He previously worked in the renewables sector and has long been involved in environment and rural development committees at Holyrood.
SNP MSP Stuart McMillan has been appointed convener of the parliament’s Climate Action Committee, meaning climate and rural portfolios will be led by two politicians who have both argued for faster action on emissions and nature.
