Mercedes Villalba
Scottish Labour · Scotland
“Ultimately, it has to be fair to the landowner and the communities that are trying to access it, so we have to strike that balance while making those improvements where we can. I take this opportunity to wish Mercedes Villalba all the very best. I have enjoyed our work together.”
“A constituent of mine said: “I’ve been begging repeatedly for months for them to process my ADP claim, only to be ignored, told to contact charities or completely brushed off.”
“How will the recommendations in the community right to buy review strengthen existing mechanisms or create new support mechanisms so that more communities can take ownership of their land? Is it likely that an amending bill will be needed, next session? Mairi Gougeon: I thank Mercedes Villalba for her interest in the topic.”
“Shirley-Anne Somerville: I would be delighted to do so, but the member will have to be exceptionally quick in progressing the matter, as she will be aware that the pre-election period is coming up. I would have been delighted to take that forward at an earlier point had she raised the matter with me sooner.”
“That is exactly why we must heed the just transition commission’s warning that, if the Scottish Government does not use every lever at its disposal to fight the climate crisis, we risk losing the social licence for climate action to dangerous climate change deniers.”
“Two realities are happening. One is that we are far too reliant on the burning of fossil fuel. That is the case not only in this country but in countries across the whole world, and we are seeing the effects of that, including in the weather events that are impacting all our communities.”
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“Shirley-Anne Somerville: I would be delighted to do so, but the member will have to be exceptionally quick in progressing the matter, as she will be aware that the pre-election period is coming up. I would have been delighted to take that forward at an earlier point had she raised the matter with me sooner. However, if she can get information on the case to me exceptionally quickly, I will be happy to look at it. I reassure her that we look carefully at the processing times in Social Security Scotland to ensure that we are doing everything that we can—both within the Government and within the agency—to keep those times down. As I said, I will look at the case, if at all possible, before the pre-election period starts.”
“A constituent of mine said: “I’ve been begging repeatedly for months for them to process my ADP claim, only to be ignored, told to contact charities or completely brushed off. We frequently go hungry due to severe financial hardship because I cannot afford to pay for essentials alongside bills, and universal credit alone is not enough to support us.” When I contacted Social Security Scotland to raise the issue, it could not say when a decision would be made, it would not say how long applications are expected to take and it said that the case was being processed at the usual rate. That is cold comfort to my constituent. Will the cabinet secretary please commit to engaging with my office so that we can get an urgent resolution to this case?”
“I advise members that there is quite a bit of interest in asking supplementary questions, so, if I am to get them all in, they will need to be brief, as will the responses. Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary (Beds) 1.”
“Ultimately, it has to be fair to the landowner and the communities that are trying to access it, so we have to strike that balance while making those improvements where we can. I take this opportunity to wish Mercedes Villalba all the very best. I have enjoyed our work together. I say that to Rhoda Grant, too, as I missed her out in the debate earlier. Thank you for your engagement on the critical pieces of legislation on which we have worked, and I wish you all the very best for the future. The Deputy Presiding Officer: That concludes portfolio questions on rural affairs, land reform and islands. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next item. Health and Social Care The Deputy Presiding Officer: The next portfolio is health and social care.”
“How will the recommendations in the community right to buy review strengthen existing mechanisms or create new support mechanisms so that more communities can take ownership of their land? Is it likely that an amending bill will be needed, next session? Mairi Gougeon: I thank Mercedes Villalba for her interest in the topic. As has been highlighted in the review report, delivering on some of its recommendations would need primary legislation. Ultimately, that will be for the next Government to decide on and take forward. However, where we can take action and make progress, we want to do that quickly, which is why I have highlighted the work that we are undertaking with stakeholders. We want to make sure that the process is accessible.”
“That has to be avoided, because we need to ensure that we have all the work associated with oil and gas, and renewables and decommissioning, for our wider supply chain. That is what I am trying to do as energy minister, and that is what my Government is trying to do. We will work with any partners who have that at their heart.”
“Two realities are happening. One is that we are far too reliant on the burning of fossil fuel. That is the case not only in this country but in countries across the whole world, and we are seeing the effects of that, including in the weather events that are impacting all our communities. The other reality, which is closer to home, is the fact that we passed peak oil and gas a couple of decades ago. We cannot rely on the North Sea to keep delivering oil and gas domestically for another 50 years. It is a declining basin, and so we need to have a fair and managed transition. At the moment, I believe that the decline of the industry and the supply chain in North Sea oil and gas is happening too quickly and in a cliff-edge way.”
“That is exactly why we must heed the just transition commission’s warning that, if the Scottish Government does not use every lever at its disposal to fight the climate crisis, we risk losing the social licence for climate action to dangerous climate change deniers. Will the cabinet secretary set out which, if any, of the recommendations of the just transition commission’s report have made it into the climate change plan? Gillian Martin: I was pleased that the just transition commission was complimentary about how we had embedded just transition throughout the draft plan. The commission is, rightly, often critical of some of the measures that we perhaps do not take fast enough. I was therefore really pleased to get its endorsement of the draft plan. Mercedes Villalba makes a critical point, which is that we have to face reality.”
“I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. I welcome Scotland’s new climate change plan, which is of crucial importance for workers and communities in the North East Scotland region that I have been so privileged to represent for the past five years. However, my constituents are still not seeing the just transition that they have repeatedly been promised. The misinformation that is circulating that more drilling is the answer does my constituents a grave disservice, as we know that the North Sea basin is in terminal decline and that gas prices are set internationally.”
“I ask members not to have conversations while standing up and while the chair is in the process of outlining the determination. As members will be aware, the Presiding Officer is required, under standing orders, to decide whether, in her view, any provision of the bill relates to a protected subject matter—that is, whether it modifies the electoral system and franchise for Scottish parliamentary elections. In the Presiding Officer’s view, no provision of the Visitor Levy (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill relates to a protected subject matter, so the bill does not require a supermajority to be passed at stage 3. Business Motion 16:15”
“If that is the same Hamish Mair who is head of private equity funds at F&C Investment, which invested £3.3 million in Park Holidays UK, which seems to be the country’s fourth-largest caravan park operator, I believe that the member ought to have declared an interest, and I seek your ruling on that matter. The Deputy Presiding Officer: I advise Mercedes Villalba that that is not a point of order. It is a matter for each member to declare whether they have a relevant interest. We now turn to the determination. As members will be aware, the Presiding Officer is required, under standing orders, to decide whether, in her view, any provision of the bill—[Interruption.] If members are leaving the chamber, I ask them to do so quickly and quietly. I will have to start again from the beginning.”
“On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I would like to question whether proper procedures have been followed in relation to the requirement, under standing orders, that any member who has a declarable interest in any matter declares that interest before taking part in any proceedings of the Parliament relating to that matter. In Murdo Fraser’s contribution, when speaking to his amendments 5 and 6, in relation to caravan parks, I did not hear him refer to his entry in the register of members’ interests, which states that, on 18 August 2024, he received a donation of £2,000 for his leadership campaign from Hamish Mair.”
“Gillian Martin: I am singularly focused on a just transition, but approval of new oil and gas fields is reserved to the UK Government. Data Centres (Regulatory Framework) 3.”
“The energy transition for workers in the oil and gas supply chain must be a truly just transition. It is therefore particularly concerning that approval of Rosebank might risk breaching international law due to Ithaca Energy being majority controlled by the Delek Group, which has enabled and facilitated illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Does the cabinet secretary agree that oil and gas jobs in the north-east should never come at the cost of supporting Israeli apartheid, illegal occupation and persecution of Palestinians? Will she make clear the Scottish Government’s commitment to a just energy transition for all? The Deputy Presiding Officer: Please focus on matters that lie within the cabinet secretary’s portfolio responsibility.”
“Instead, a just transition must represent something tangible in workers’ lives, through the jobs that it brings, the regeneration of our environment that we will see and the gains in our health and quality of life that we will feel. That will be the job of the next Parliament and the next Government, but it is also the job of all of us in Scotland to hold that Parliament and that Government to account. The Deputy Presiding Officer: Just a reminder that it is up to the member whether they take an intervention. That is not an invitation for the intervention to be shouted from a sedentary position. 16:44”
“The real solution—the only solution—is to pivot to a mix of renewable options, and that includes the untapped potential of geothermal, among other renewable options that members have raised. Sarah Boyack spoke passionately about solar, and we already have the option of wind and tidal. Over the course of this parliamentary session, decisions about the energy transition have, too often, been taken at great distance— [Interruption.]—from the workers and communities at the heart of it, particularly those in the North East Scotland region that I represent. We cannot allow a just transition to remain an academic term used to greenwash industrial vandalism by an irresponsible state that is content to let the market decide our future.”
“I want to take a moment to respond to an issue that Kevin Stewart, in particular, has raised repeatedly. He does his constituents a great injustice and disservice by propagating the myth put around by international oil conglomerates that seek to blame fair taxation of eye-watering profits for what is in fact their own mismanagement of the industry: an industry that should never have been allowed to fall into private hands, because energy is an issue—[Interruption.]—of national security that is fundamental to our economy. I agree with Mr Stewart that we must stop our reliance on importing gas. However, the solution is not endless drilling, because what is there is not actually what we need, and it is gone—[Interruption.].”
“We must be steadfast in our opposition to decarbonisation by deindustrialisation, which would have just as disastrous an effect as the status quo. I echo the recommendation in the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee’s report that the Scottish Government’s climate change plan should include clear timelines, targets and costings, and be clear about who is responsible for delivery. In particular, no Government should shy away from the report’s point that the inclusion of data and workings is crucial for scrutiny. However, given how soon the plan is to be finalised after the publication of the committee’s report on the draft, I agree with the committee’s scepticism about the likelihood that its recommendations will be reflected on by the Government and incorporated into the final climate change plan.”
“We must therefore address the issues raised by the Just Transition Commission to enable a clear understanding of where climate action laid out in the draft climate change plan should be taking us. The Just Transition Commission’s report— [Interruption.]—makes a number of recommendations for the Scottish Government. It highlights the need for proactive, forward-thinking, place-based planning for workplaces and communities that are heavily entwined with high- polluting sectors, namely energy, transport, industry and agriculture. Stephen Kerr: Will the member give way? Mercedes Villalba: That will require innovative redistributive plans for how we decarbonise and transition, along with transformative workforce planning, which means that workers and families will benefit from the just transition.”
“Further north in my region, Aberdeen runs the risk of bearing the same social and economic issues that resulted from Thatcher’s legacy should we continue to fail to get the energy transition right. Any transition that fails to reckon with the concentrated hoarding of wealth, land and resources cannot ever be just. The choice before us is business as usual or seizing the opportunity of clean energy. The Just Transition Commission’s final report is clear about the necessity of an accelerated timescale in the delivery of climate action. It is clear that a just transition can be achieved only through our workplaces, organised labour and trade unions. If we do not treat the climate crisis with the urgency that it demands, we run the risk of falling prey to the whims of the market, which can only benefit big business and its shareholders.”
“The draft climate change plan was developed around the principle of decarbonising our society and economy to meet Scotland’s net zero goals. Although the plan is a welcome and crucial step to decarbonising our economy, there remains a real risk that Government and business will continue to take decisions in the name of climate action without the inclusion of workers and their unions. So far, ordinary Scots have been disempowered from taking ownership of Scotland’s energy transition, and they have been paying the price through job losses and the knock-on effects on our high streets, family life and mental health. Like many communities across the country, Dundee, where I live, bears the scars of Thatcher’s deindustrialisation of Scotland.”
“Banks should support Scotland’s voluntary sector, not incrementally burden those groups. I join my colleagues across the parties in the chamber in hoping that the banks think again when it comes to the charges. 17:52”
“I am sure that Mercedes Villalba will expand on the point later, but I think that it is an interesting point that was well made. This debate is not about undermining the viability of sustainable banking; it is about recognising the distinct role of non-profit organisations in Scotland. Community groups are, in general, not profit-seeking enterprises; they exist to meet local need, promote inclusion and improve overall wellbeing. There is genuine concern across Scotland that already-stretched resources are being eroded by banking charges. Money that is raised for public benefit should be used for the purposes for which it was gathered, not to bolster bank profits. Banking arrangements for small charities should reflect their scale, function and social value.”
“Will Liam Kerr take an intervention? Liam Kerr: I do not think that I have time for an intervention, unless— The Deputy Presiding Officer: I can give you the time back, Mr Kerr. Liam Kerr: In that case, I would be delighted to take the intervention. Mercedes Villalba: I thank Liam Kerr for taking the intervention. I will make it brief. On the point about the banks having benefited from the bailout, does Liam Kerr agree that that means that they now have a moral obligation to guarantee the Scottish public a public service that benefits people, rather than one that is solely about corporate profit? Liam Kerr: The point that is being made is that the public bailed out those banks, and I think that it is morally dubious for the banks then to charge that very same public, which kept them afloat and solvent, for running community services.”
“Another important piece of work that we have taken forward is the community right to buy review, which is about getting to grips with exactly the issues that Mercedes Villalba raises in her question. We have undertaken that work over the past couple of years, and it was raised during discussions on the 2025 act. I hope to publish the outcome of the review in the coming weeks. I hope that that will provide further recommendations for the next Government to take forward and implement. Ptarmigan (Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981) 4.”
“The “Who Owns Scotland 2025” report shows that only 2.8 per cent of rural land in Scotland is owned by community groups. The Scottish Government can do far more to make community ownership of land easier. The cabinet secretary mentioned some financial support, which could go further. However, what action is the Scottish Government taking to provide dedicated legal and structural support for community land purchases? Mairi Gougeon: Mercedes Villalba raises an important point. She is absolutely right that there is more that we can do. A number of powers are available to communities to take ownership of assets or land in the areas where they live. However, we know that some of those powers have been very rarely used, and that groups have found them challenging to get to grips with.”
“To ask the Scottish Government whether Scottish publicly owned infrastructure, such as Prestwick or Wick John O’Groats airports, has been used by the US Air Force for the recent strikes on Iran. (S6T-02933)”
“I am well aware of the concerns and of the very difficult decisions that I had to make as part of the budget process. I am looking at ways to secure money to help WES during the next year, and, with the help of my officials, I am considering how we can secure money from other funding sources in the future. WES should be a going concern and should be helped to secure funding, but, given the strained fiscal environment, sadly, we cannot commit to reliance on Scottish Government money year after year. Local Transport Franchising (Strathclyde Partnership for Transport) 2.”
“In a statement to the press, the Scottish Government said that it is “working closely with Wave Energy Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and other partners to sustain operations while future alternative sources of funding are identified.” However, workers at Wave Energy Scotland have been unable to secure a meeting with the cabinet secretary to highlight their concerns about the withdrawal of funding, despite attempting to do so three times. The Deputy Presiding Officer: Question. Mercedes Villalba: Will the cabinet secretary meet workers and their union—the Public and Commercial Services Union—to hear their concerns? Gillian Martin: My officials are having almost daily discussions on how WES can be best supported in the future.”
“To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the outcome of the University of Aberdeen UCU ballot, which resulted in 83 per cent of those voting in support of strike action and 90 per cent in favour of action short of a strike. (S6F-04709)”
“According to news reports, SEPA confirmed that a specialist clean-up contractor was working to reduce the environmental impacts of the spill. That is the latest in a long line of outsourcing decisions taken by the environmental regulator, and it comes at a time when other public sector organisations such as Scottish Water have been criticised for outsourcing core work to contractors, whose workers are on inferior conditions and suppressed pay and pensions, which, according to the Scottish Trades Union Congress, leads to post-retirement poverty. Does the cabinet secretary expect the public to believe that an individual private contractor can deliver that service more efficiently than the national body? If so, is that not an indictment of the Government’s record on public services?”
“That is why I have publicly called out the mistakes of the UK Government and did not hesitate to support Bill Kidd’s motion. Furthermore, that is why I will not stop speaking out in support of the WASPI women until they— and we—win, because an injustice to them is an injustice to all of us. 17:13”
“The current UK Government position is undoubtedly unfair, and we will not accept it. However, like other members, I do not believe that it is enough to criticise successive UK Governments when the Scottish Government could act to provide compensation to the WASPI women if it so wished. It has used those powers before and it can choose to do so again, but it does not want to act. As with so many issues, rather than utilising devolution to its fullest extent, the SNP has used the injustice faced by the WASPI women as a political football, preferring to exploit distress and indignation rather than use its powers in government to resolve it. That is not a politics that I can support. That is why I added my support for the motion lodged by Katy Clark MSP, a long-time advocate for the WASPI campaign.”
“I should add that the women made those plans against the backdrop of austerity, which made it harder for young mothers to access childcare and return to the workplace. As we have heard from the dedicated WASPI campaigners, the changes and maladministration meant that, in some cases, women could no longer care for their grandchildren or other family members, so it is incredibly disappointing that, following a fresh review, the UK Government has announced that there will be no financial compensation for WASPI women. I disagree with that decision. I do not think that it is right, and I will continue to call on the Government to think again. Campaigners and affected women are justifiably angry about the decision. The change to state pension age has impacted around 336,000 women in Scotland.”
“I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute remotely to tonight’s debate and I congratulate Bill Kidd on securing chamber time for this important issue. I am privileged to represent the north-east region, which is home to Linda Carmichael, the WASPI Scotland chair. I am grateful to Linda and the other WASPI delegates who travelled to Parliament earlier this month to speak to MSPs about their campaign for pension equality. I put on record my support and solidarity with the women against state pension inequality campaign, and I thank the campaign and organisations such as Age Scotland for their briefings ahead of tonight’s debate. These women had always expected to retire at 60 and made plans on that basis.”
“If it agrees that current FOI laws are inadequate and recognises the injustice that the public are facing in seeking crucial information, why on earth would it not support this timely bill today? I commend the bill to Parliament and I thank Katy Clark for introducing it. Sue Webber: On a point of order, Presiding Officer. In her remarks, the member stated that Lothian Buses is owned by the council in Edinburgh. She may want to correct the record and state that it is actually owned by a number of local authorities. Thank you. The Deputy Presiding Officer: Thank you. That is not a point of order, but it is on the record. 15:09”
“As members will remember, many people across the country spent their final days alone in care homes as part of a botched plan to free up hospital beds. Due to the outsourcing, bereaved families cannot make freedom of information requests regarding where their loved ones spent their final days, yet, if those people had remained in hospital, their families could have made such requests. That is another example of where the current FOI laws are simply not strong enough. For victims, workers, the travelling public and many more, we need FOI reform. We need Katy Clark’s member’s bill. The Scottish Government clearly recognises that need, as it is now consulting on extending FOI to care homes.”
“Without this vital freedom of information bill, the public will have no right to ask questions about how that money is being spent. How can the Scottish Government justify that? What is it hiding? Who is it protecting? Is it not time that Scotland had a Government that will work in the interests of the people rather than those of big business, billionaires and barons? The Covid pandemic exposed the hard reality of how few Government decisions across the world truly serve the people those Governments are supposed to represent. A harrowing example that brought that point home to many was the care home scandal. I highlight the tireless work of former MSP Neil Findlay, both inside and outside the chamber, on that issue.”
“Elsewhere, however, First Bus, which is owned by FirstGroup plc, is not subject to freedom of information laws despite receiving huge sums of public money. People who live outwith the capital have no right to know about their local bus services. The Parliament has a duty to change that. However, it is not just bus companies that have been allowed to avoid public scrutiny. In energy, we have seen the vast majority of the money from the Scottish Government’s just transition fund siphoned off to the private sector. More than 40 per cent of that fund has gone to organisations that are linked to billionaire oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood, all while energy workers lose their jobs and are forced to pay out of pocket to retrain.”
“I begin by thanking my friend and comrade Katy Clark for taking up the challenge of reforming our freedom of information laws to be fit for the 21st century. The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 was significant in that it gave everyone the right to obtain information held by public authorities, yet, as Katy has rightly highlighted, that law has not kept pace with the level of outsourcing to private companies of our public services. In effect, our right to know has been stripped back. I will use buses as an example. In Edinburgh, the buses are owned and operated by Lothian Buses. Publicly owned Lothian Buses is the United Kingdom’s largest municipal bus company and, as such, it is rightly subject to freedom of information requests.”
“Lower crop yields, poorer quality, higher prices, fewer producers and greater food insecurity affect us all. However, properly managing road verges can help to address some of the imminent threats that our species and ecosystems face. Targeted actions that support species and habitats can have a positive chain reaction, restoring species, strengthening habitat health and improving our environment for the benefit of us all. With that, I strongly encourage everybody to visit their local road verges. The Deputy Presiding Officer: That is an offer that members surely cannot pass up. I invite Mairi Gougeon to respond to the debate. 18:25”
“Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. By popular demand, I rise to advocate for the vital and exciting habitat of road verges—vital because they provide refuge for all manner of plants, animals, fungi and insect species, and exciting because, taken together, road verges cover almost 200km2, which is an area the size of the city of Aberdeen. That offers a huge opportunity for species restoration. Damaging changes to land management in the course of the 20th century have meant that roadside verges have become a last refuge for some of Scotland’s most threatened plant and insect species—ones that are being driven to extinction at a faster rate than higher-profile mammal and bird species. I am therefore proud to advocate for that habitat. It matters because it will have a significant impact on pollinators and food chains.”
“Health and Social Care The Deputy Presiding Officer: The next portfolio is health and social care. I remind members that questions 3 and 7 are grouped together and that therefore I shall take any supplementaries on those questions after both have been answered. I call Alasdair Allan, who joins us remotely. Dental Provision (NHS Western Isles) 1.”
“I apologise for being late to the chamber today, Presiding Officer. What proportion of the trees planted towards the target have been, or will be, native broadleaf species rather than invasive non-native species such as Sitka spruce? Mairi Gougeon: I cannot speak for future planting, but I think that, in relation to what we have planted so far, in recent years, roughly half of what has been planted has been native. I want to make sure that I have that absolutely right, so I will follow up with Mercedes Villalba. I think that our target was about 40 per cent, but we have gone over and above that. The Deputy Presiding Officer: That concludes portfolio questions on rural affairs, land reform and islands. There will be a brief pause before we move on to the next item of business.”
“It is important that the licensed area moves beyond the narrow area where shooting takes place to where raptor species nest. I have been working on and highlighting that campaign since the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill. It is great that the minister has found a robust solution to that in this bill. Many more issues have been dealt with and many more issues have been raised, which I hope will be dealt with in the future. The Greens absolutely support the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill at stage 3. It is an important foundation for further action to tackle the nature emergency, but there is so much more that needs to come. 17:49”
“I appreciate that that was a challenge, because many of those issues were not part of the original bill, and it has been a challenge for committees to scrutinise them. On swift bricks, Holyrood showed how it can be fleet of foot. It has taken four years of trying at Westminster to get action on the issue, and it has still not achieved it. We have managed to do it in a matter of weeks through having a consensual conversation. It shows how devolution can work well to make progress on these islands. I am pleased that my colleague Ariane Burgess got through the amendment to incorporate Ramsar sites in the bill. That will certainly be welcomed by her constituents at Coul links. I am also pleased that the minister, Jim Fairlie, managed to finally close the loophole on grouse moor licensing.”
“A good basis for doing that in the next session of Parliament will be for the Parliament to review what has happened with national parks and the benefits that have been delivered over the 20 years since their establishment, and to explore some of the misinformation in the public narrative around national parks. We should value national parks and empower them to protect our environment more and to support the communities that live in them. Earlier, we talked about lessons. There are certainly lessons from the Flamingo Land debacle, which I do not think have been fully reflected into the bill; however, those lessons will need to be learned. We have seen progress on many individual issues in the bill.”
“On deer management, at this point I am not entirely sure what the minister’s national venison food supply chain management plan will look like. There are still questions in my mind about who will be setting the ambition. Will it be NatureScot or Sainsbury’s? I am watching to see whether the plan will align with the recommendation of the independent deer working group. On national parks, as I said earlier, the Government needs to be in a position to feel confident in leading a debate on national parks, and to feel confident in celebrating national parks, in expanding them and in designating new parks.”
“It is also clear that in how we reform the management of our seas, coastal waters and fisheries, we are slipping behind the rest of Europe and, sadly, we are slipping behind England as well. We have seen frustrations from coastal communities being reflected in many of the amendments to the bill that have been lodged at stage 2 and stage 3. I point to amendments from Ariane Burgess and Sarah Boyack that tried to fill a huge gap in the bill, but there was not time to unpack all that. Finlay Carson made a good point—although he perhaps did not make a good point about greyhounds earlier on—about the gap in marine management that will have to be filled in the next session if we are to have a hope of moving forward.”
“17:45 Mark Ruskell: I take the opportunity to thank the clerks of the committee, my fellow committee members, the Scottish Parliament information centre and all the witnesses who gave evidence. In particular, I thank members of Scottish Environment LINK and RSPB Scotland, which organisations bring considerable expertise and wisdom as conservationist land managers and policy specialists. The bill has been a single opportunity to make progress in this parliamentary session to tackle the nature emergency, but we need another bill in the next session. It is clear in areas such as clean water that we are falling out of alignment with the European Union—we are way behind on that.”