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.”
The complete record
Every one of 259 lines we hold for Mercedes Villalba, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 5 of 6.
“There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for his arrest. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister, said on 17 November 2023: “It is necessary to make cultural changes in Gaza, such as in Japan and Germany following World War 2.” The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for his arrest. Their words are incitement to genocide. Their actions are ethnic cleansing. Let us be clear: Gallant and Netanyahu are not lone operators. The Likud party, which they represent, is a right-wing nationalist party founded by members of terrorist organisations that expressly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
“For more than 100 years, a war has been waged on the Palestinian people not because of religion, politics or self-defence, but because of land. In the pursuit of a land without a people for a people without a land, there was just one problem: the land had and has a people—the Palestinians. What we are witnessing in Gaza—the catastrophic humanitarian situation, the deliberate withholding of food by Israel, the half a million people in acute malnutrition, and one of the world’s worst hunger crises unfolding in real time—is, in short, genocide against Palestinians. It is not accidental. It is not “collateral damage”. It is by design. We know that because that is what the Israeli Government told us. Yoav Gallant, then Minister of Defence, said on 9 October 2023: “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip.”
“In Shuhada Street, in al-Khalil, the occupation has segregated Palestinians from illegal settlements for two decades. What was once a central thoroughfare, a hive of commercial activity and the Barras of the city is now described as a ghost town. Military checkpoints deny Palestinian residents free movement in their home city. Children queue in metal cages to reach their destinations—school, the grocery store or simply home. Those are ordinary, peaceful activities. That is why, every year since 2010, youth against settlements has campaigned to open Shuhada Street, end the closures in the city and end the military occupation of Palestine. Shuhada Street is but one example of the indignity that Palestinians face every day.”
“Alasdair Allan: I am not sure what kind of conversations Mercedes Villalba is having with industry, the workforce or, for that matter, her constituents in the north-east of Scotland. All I can say is that I receive regular representations about the levy and the fact that it constrains much- needed investment not only in the oil and gas industry but in decommissioning work. The Presiding Officer: That concludes the ministerial statement. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next item of business. Public Participation Inquiry”
“I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement. We have heard from several members today about the new report by Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, which warns that the energy workforce could shrink by 400 jobs every two weeks for the next five years. However, instead of using his statement to outline a much- needed industrial strategy for the north-east, the minister tries to blame job losses on the redistributive windfall tax on the obscene profits made by Shell and other oil and gas multinationals. In all the years of rampant profiteering, my constituents in the north-east were no safer from economic shock, energy poverty or job insecurity. It does not trickle down. Why does the minister want us to believe that it does?”
“I have heard mixed reviews of attempts to integrate culled deer back into the local ecosystem and shocking reports of deer carcasses being buried. Therefore, it is all the more commendable to hear of organisations such as Fair Feast, which provides a consistent supply of venison to rural food banks across Scotland; its venison is butchered and packaged on site to maintain the lowest possible carbon footprint, and its mission is “To protect the environment, by sustainably managing deer, and providing for the community, through consistent food banks supply.” As a nation, we cannot afford to allow venison to go to waste while people are going hungry. Gone are the days when venison was a preserve of the privileged few—it is now for the people, as all our commons should be. 17:47”
“The same applies to other areas, too. When those kinds of private pursuits impact on our public goods, they cannot be allowed to continue. However, under the current concentrated pattern of land ownership in Scotland, there is little that a community can do to challenge such irresponsible landowners. We need these vast estates to be broken up where they are found not to be working in the public interest. The Parliament has an opportunity to introduce such a test through the Scottish Government’s Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, and I encourage all members to support that proposal. Deer culling is only the first step in the process of managing deer numbers, because we must also consider what happens to the carcasses.”
“Too often, that native wild protein source is not reaching our plates, and that needs to change. There are challenges at every stage of the venison food supply chain, and it all starts with deer management. As we have heard, the Common Ground Forum brings together a network of individuals committed to a more collaborative approach to deer management. The forum is a welcome development, because although there have been good examples of co-ordination of deer management across boundaries in the past, that has not been enough and the deer population seems to be growing out of control. Constituents in my North East Scotland region have told me that, on some estates, there is a determined unwillingness by an irresponsible few to cull sufficient numbers of deer, because of the income generated from recreational shooting.”
“Good evening, Deputy Presiding Officer and thank you for calling me to speak for Scottish Labour. I congratulate Ms Whitham on securing parliamentary time to debate deer management. As we know, effective deer management is vital if we are to meet our goals for woodland management, carbon sequestration and habitat health. According to NatureScot, an increase in the national cull of 50,000 deer each year will be needed to meet the targets in the Scottish biodiversity strategy. We know, too, that venison is a source of lean protein and a sustainable food source, with the potential to contribute to the nutrition of the nation. It is welcome that Jura is leading the way in that respect, with the initiative launched by Argyll and Bute Council to put wild venison on the school menu.”
“All the money that we spend on climate change and adaptation, which we put into our Scottish adaptation plan, will future proof Scotland to enable it to be more resilient in the face of climate change, not least in the area of biodiversity.”
“Gillian Martin: I did not mention the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill, because I was talking about the climate change plan update monitoring report, including the indicators that it contains. I thought that it was a good idea to stick to the subject matter of the monitoring report. However, Ms Villalba is right. We are introducing the bill, which will set targets towards achieving a decline in nature loss. She makes a good point about the impact on biodiversity of the negative aspects of climate change that we are starting to see in Scotland. Climate change is on Scotland’s doorstep; it is not something that happens in other countries or in the global south— it happens here, too. Today we are seeing wildfires in Moray, and yesterday we saw water scarcity across the whole of the east of Scotland.”
“I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. Ahead of this year’s international day for biological diversity, which falls on Thursday, I am glad to hear her acknowledge the reality of the catastrophic impact that a rapidly changing climate is having on our environment. However, is it not telling that nowhere in her statement was there mention of the Scottish Government’s Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill? Is that because, at a time of severe droughts, wildfires and life-changing floods, all of which put further species at risk, the bill in its current form does not bind itself to the very 2045 goal that the cabinet secretary’s statement references? Ambitious goals sound great, but it is getting the job done that matters. How confident is the cabinet secretary that the Scottish Government can meet its 2045 goal?”
“Ivan McKee: Again, I ask the member to look at the reporter’s report, which has been published, the 49 planning conditions and the requirements on the legal agreement and the Lomond promise that goes along with it. She will find that they address the very points that she has just raised. European Union-United Kingdom Summit”
“I thank my environmentally conscious constituents in the north-east who have contacted me with concerns that we might be about to see yet another of our national natural assets sold off and trashed by the highest bidder. One constituent writes: “It’s not that long ago that the Scottish government made the grave mistake of overturning a local planning committee’s decision not to allow Donald Trump to destroy the dunes at Menie, giving one of the nastiest people on the planet a foothold in our fair country.” In February 2024, the Department for Business and Trade identified Flamingo Land Ltd as having failed to pay its workers the national minimum wage. How does giving permission to the resort align with the Scottish Government’s intention to end minimum wage avoidance under its fair work commitments?”
“The member makes an important point about the need to ensure that the competing interests in those areas are brought together as much as possible, that we think about spatial planning and that we bring interested parties to the table. The Scottish Government will continue to do that in the areas within our powers.”
“The minister will be aware of the complex regulatory landscape offshore, with multiple regulators and landlords being responsible for overseeing wind, oil and gas, fishing and marine protection, all of which leads to congestion and overlap. I would be interested to hear what consideration the minister or the Government has given to the creation of an umbrella regulatory body to align that space and whether the Government believes that that would fall within the Scottish Government’s purview or whether that would be for the UK Government or cross- Government working. I appreciate that he might not have the answers today, but if he could write to me, that would be appreciated. Alasdair Allan: I do not think that we are talking about the creation of new bodies.”
“I, too, offer my condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Christina McKelvie at this tragic time. To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to prevent instances of water scarcity in 2025. (S6F-03968)”
“It does not set a realistic threshold for a public interest test to be applied on the sale and transfer of land. In addition, as I have said, it does not even include a public interest test. Just this week, as we have heard, the Clan Donald Lands Trust on Skye suddenly announced its intention to sell all its land and properties. That is a glaring example of why the bill needs to be substantially strengthened to work in the public interest. The trust manages 20,000 acres of land, which is used for agriculture, crofting, deer and woodland management, wild fisheries and renewables. No advance notice was given to the community, and no public interest test will be applied. The Scottish Land Commission is currently powerless to do anything about it, and it will continue to be powerless unless the bill is drastically amended.”
“Having ownership in the hands of so few severely limits access to affordable homes, stifles job creation and harms the environment. The owning and controlling of large landholdings by wealthy private individuals does not meet the public interest. We are talking about a monopoly of a resource that no one created and no one produced—it was freely created, yet it is owned and controlled by a handful of individuals for the extraction of private profit. So, ownership matters, scale matters and concentration of that ownership matters. We cannot rebuild and empower rural communities unless we break that monopoly, but the bill as introduced does not include a presumption against a single individual owning as much land as they can afford.”
“Therefore, I and my colleagues will lodge amendments to strengthen the bill so that we can finally begin to address the centuries-old concentration of Scotland’s land in the hands of so few. Today in Scotland, our land remains in the hands of a few ultra-wealthy individuals, estates and organisations. Recent research shows that 421 landowners now own half the privately owned rural land in Scotland, which means that just 0.025 per cent of Scotland’s population own 67 per cent of Scotland’s total rural land. I repeat that: just 0.025 per cent of our entire population own 67 per cent of our rural land. In its evidence to the committee, the Crofting Commission highlighted how Scotland’s highly concentrated pattern of private land ownership is “economically dangerous”, as it creates localised monopolies.”
“Land is a public good, and land reform is a question of who owns that public good—whether it belongs to the people who live on and work it, or whether it remains concentrated in the hands of those who have come to own it through chance and happenstance. The question of who owns Scotland is at the heart of today’s debate, and it should and could have been at the heart of the Scottish Government’s Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, but, in its current form, the bill will simply not address the concentration of land ownership or challenge the interests that perpetuate it. It does not include a presumption against a single individual owning all of Scotland’s land. It does not set a realistic threshold for a public interest test to be applied on the sale or transfer of land. It does not even include a public interest test.”
“Does the cabinet secretary recognise that, provided that their bank balance is big enough, there is currently nothing to stop someone from buying up all of Scotland’s land with no questions asked? Is it not time that that changed by introducing a presumed limit on how much land anyone can own? Mairi Gougeon: I thank Mercedes Villalba for raising that point. There are all sorts of issues in relation to that, but I believe that our proposals, which the committee has scrutinised, go a long way towards making land ownership more transparent, involving communities in that process and, generally, increasing the diversity of ownership of land in”
“I move amendment S6M-16844.2, to insert at end: “; believes that the report underlines the urgent need for the Scottish Government to outline an action plan to address the housing emergency, and notes that the Housing (Scotland) Bill is a missed opportunity to encourage more investment and housebuilding in Scotland.” 16:17”
“I am still unclear why the amendment that the minister has lodged does not include the private rented sector, because the private rented sector will be included in the bill that is going through Westminster. Why is that not the case here? Perhaps the minister can expand on that in his closing speech. He was only too happy to tell me that most of the mould and damp instances occur in the private rented sector, despite the issue that I raised directly with him relating to a social landlord. I am out of time, so I will conclude. The only way out of the housing emergency is to build more homes. Until this Government gets a grip on the housing situation that we face in Scotland, my fear is that more children will be stranded in temporary accommodation, which will not allow them to go on and live full lives.”
“It would be remiss of me not to mention the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which represents the Scottish Government’s biggest missed opportunity to tackle the housing emergency. The legislation should be about housing, but it will not result in the building of one single home. I will leave the issues that I have with rent controls to one side for today, but I gently remind the minister that, should billions of pounds of investment continue to be lost, that will be on his watch. That being said, I welcome the minister’s amendment to the Housing (Scotland) Bill on the introduction of Awaab’s law, which I called for in the chamber just last week. However, that shows that many issues that could have been included in the bill have not been.”
“I accept that a pilot programme is being rolled out to five local authorities with the most sustained temporary accommodation pressures to increase supply through buying back properties and bringing long- term empty homes back into use. I submitted a written question to ask what immediate steps are being taken to “guarantee that all temporary accommodation meets the basic standards of safety, cleanliness and suitability for households with children”. The minister’s response is to advise that the Scottish Government published a standards framework in 2023, although it will need to further consult on whether the framework can be legally enforced. The framework was published back in 2023, so if the minister has time in his concluding remarks, will he answer the question of what exactly has been done?”
“Will the member take an intervention? Meghan Gallacher: I do not have time; I have only four minutes for my speech. The figure of 10,300 should shame the Scottish Government into action, and action is exactly what this Government promised to deliver following 15 recommendations from the temporary accommodation task-and-finish group in 2023. At that time, the Government said that it would “prioritise action in response to the recommendations that will have the greatest impact to reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation by 2026.” That is what it promised, yet here we are, with the number of people in temporary accommodation rising exponentially. To add insult to the Government’s injury, the publication of “In Their Own Words: Children’s Experiences in Temporary Accommodation” lays bare the scale of the problems.”
“If any innovative solutions of the type that the member has mentioned are particularly efficient in that regard, I am very happy to look at them. Democratic Engagement 2.”
“Public diners are places where the public can eat and socialise, and they are open to all so that everyone can access good food as a public service. As part of its cash-first approach to tackling food insecurity, the Scottish Government says that it will take action to support food initiatives that are based in communities. What consideration has the Scottish Government given to public diners as a means of reducing food waste and improving access to food? Alasdair Allan: The member makes an important point. Twenty-seven per cent of food waste is created by businesses, and 2021 data from the Waste and Resources Action Programme—WRAP—on the UK suggests that hospitality outlets could save up to £10,000 per year per outlet by reducing such waste.”
“Tackling the issue of paid maternity leave would go a long way. The Fire Brigades Union believes, and I believe, in tackling recruitment, retention and inclusion. I can see that my time is up—four minutes goes quickly. To conclude, I am sure that the minister will agree and accept that a lack of maternity provision is a barrier to work, and that includes working in the fire service. I therefore ask whether she will raise the FBU’s campaign for full pay for 52 weeks of maternity leave with her shadow cabinet colleagues. 18:15”
“Exposure to those hazards carries additional risks for a woman who is pregnant. One study showed that almost a quarter of first pregnancies for female firefighters in the United States ended in miscarriage, compared with just 10 per cent of pregnancies in the wider US population. The research suggests that exposing a pregnant woman to contaminants affects the health of the fetus and that the risk continues after birth, during nursing, when contaminants have an impact via breast milk. On those grounds, it is important that women in the fire service are granted 52 weeks of paid paternity leave, which will also deal with issues in recruitment, retention and inclusion. Women have been working as operational firefighters since the early 1980s. The numbers who are employed have improved slowly, but they are still a minority.”
“As far back as 1981, the union was resisting efforts to reduce maternity leave, pay and rights and has continued campaigning and fighting for those rights since then, culminating in that important campaign for 52 weeks of mat leave on full pay. If we are serious about women in the workplace— including those in the fire service—that campaign is important and the issue must be addressed. In its campaign, the union highlights a number of reasons why the campaign is so important, including occupational hazards in the workplace and issues with recruitment, retention and inclusion. Members will be well aware of the occupational hazards and the risks to firefighters, and might also be aware that the FBU commissioned a report into the risks from contaminants. Maggie Chapman has been a strong and vocal advocate in Parliament on that issue.”
“I thank Audrey Nicoll for lodging tonight’s motion on international women’s day and note this year’s theme, which is accelerate action to address the barriers that women face. The barrier that I will speak about is the current postcode lottery regarding paid maternity leave in UK fire and rescue services. Members will be aware that I recently lodged a motion in Parliament to commend the Fire Brigades Union for its fight for 52 campaign to extend maternity leave across the service to 12 months on full pay. Arrangements across the UK are inconsistent at the moment, with different services offering different arrangements. I ask all members to add their support to that motion. I note the FBU’s strong history of campaigning on maternity rights, which did not begin just with the launch of that campaign a few years ago.”
“There is a great deal of work to be done at the institution to rebuild trust—if that is possible—between management and the trade unions. That starts with far better engagement than we have had up until now.”
“This morning, I joined University and College Union members, local Labour councillors and members of our community on the picket line at the University of Dundee, where workers are still reeling from the announcement that 632 posts are on the line. This outrageous decision will undermine the future of the university and it will hit workers, students and the whole of Dundee. Will the Scottish Government meet with campus unions to discuss how it can support them to appoint forensic accountants to examine any financial mismanagement at the University of Dundee? Graeme Dey: There is a genuinely external piece of work to be done to scrutinise what has happened at the University of Dundee. I take the point about the unions having the right and the need to be satisfied about the explanation that is provided.”
“Scotland’s TERFs have been bravely determined in their fight for justice, and that fight continues. Just over two years ago, my party did everything that it could to try to prevent the SNP’s harmful gender self-ID law from being enacted. John Swinney, Anas Sarwar and Alex Cole-Hamilton all voted for it. Anas Sarwar has since claimed that he would not have done so if he had known then what he knows now. He is not here to explain himself, but I would be happy to give way to any of his colleagues if they can reveal exactly what it is that they did not know back then. None of them will, as expected. The reason was—”
“I mean, for goodness’ sake—I only got a few highers and none of them were in science, but in what mind-bending parallel universe is it okay for civil servants to peddle basic biological falsehoods? The same material labelled some women’s rights campaigners as TERFs, which stands for “trans-exclusionary radical feminists”. Initially used as a smear by the gender lobby, the term has since been embraced by Scotland’s proud legion of TERFs. Trust me—you do not want to get on the wrong side of them. Today, I thank them for their heroic work. From the very beginning, the TERFs could see the problems with self-ID. At every level, from the top of the Government to our NHS, councils, policing and schools, women’s rights have been set on fire. Even today, after all this has played out in public, many state agencies just do not get it.”
“It also included advice on increasing the number of gender-neutral toilets. There have been instances of sexual harassment and assault. I find it reprehensible that young female pupils are too scared to go into school toilets because of the presence of young men, even where there is no ill intent. As a parent, I would refuse to accept that. No pupils or their parents should be bullied into submission because schools have been told to accept and promote self-ID. In 2022, Scottish Government civil servants were sent material that described biological sex as a “binary system ... set by the medical establishment to reinforce white supremacy and gender oppression”.”
“Will the member take an intervention? Russell Findlay: I do not think that I have much time in hand. The Deputy Presiding Officer: There is not an awful lot, no. Russell Findlay: I will come back to the member if there is time towards the end. Children who are experiencing the normal challenges of growing up are being told by adults that they were born in the wrong body. The profound and often irreversible harm that that has caused, and continues to cause, is horrific. One day, there will be a reckoning for those responsible. Then there is the destruction of girls’ privacy in schools. In 2021, the SNP issued trans guidance for schools, which stressed that there was no legal basis for excluding boys from girls’ toilets and that pupils should be free to join physical education classes with the gender of their choosing.”
“It is for local authorities and health boards to ensure that health and social care partnerships are appropriately funded to meet the needs of the local population. On the second part of Mercedes Villalba’s question, which is about the Government’s prioritisation of preventative measures and whole- family support interventions, of course that is what we support; that is at the heart of our agenda. That is why we hope and expect that our health boards, local authorities and partnerships will be doing exactly that. The Deputy Presiding Officer: With the reminder that the question is about partnerships in the North East Scotland region, I call Bill Kidd for a supplementary question .”
“For 30 years, Home-Start schemes in Aberdeenshire have been supporting families with young children who experience any of a range of health and social difficulties. I am told that the devastating decision to terminate funding to Home-Start came after its board of trustees was assured by Aberdeenshire Council that not only would its funding contract continue, but it would receive an uplift. Does the Scottish Government’s approach to health and social care take account of the benefits of early intervention to support struggling families, and how will it help families in Aberdeenshire who are looking for support in the light of those cuts to Home-Start? Neil Gray: I return to the fact that decisions are made based on local decision-making prioritisation.”
“Answers to parliamentary questions that were lodged by Richard Leonard on the unjust treatment and exploitation of migrant workers in agriculture revealed a significant rise in 2024 in the percentage of businesses underpaying migrant workers. Will the Scottish Government increase the number of control test inspections by the Scottish agricultural wages enforcement team to ensure that all workers receive their proper wages? Jim Fairlie: We passed the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, which gives police and prosecutors greater powers to detect and bring to justice those who are responsible for those types of offences. Wildlife Crime 7.”
“One of the things that the Scottish Government is seeking to do is to open a conversation with the UK Government about mandating community benefits. That is a reserved issue, but I hope that we can have a fruitful conversation on it. The Scottish Government is supportive of all communities that seek, in various ways, to ensure that they get community benefit from projects in their areas. Road Safety 5.”
“New renewable energy developments across north-east Scotland are crucial for Scotland and for the UK if we want to decarbonise our energy supply and ensure that we meet Labour’s goal of making the UK a clean energy superpower by 2030. However, the developments must have the informed consent and support of the communities in which they are built. A best-case example is Aberdeen Community Energy’s Donside hydro, which was established and is owned and run by the local community to generate clean electricity for nearby homes. How is the Scottish Government working to promote community ownership and control of new renewable energy? Alasdair Allan: Mercedes Villalba has raised interesting and important points on those issues.”
“The Scottish Government has set itself exacting targets, and Scotland has made significant progress in reducing waste; the overall recycling rate in Scotland of 62.3 per cent is the highest since records began, and official statistics show that we now landfill less than a quarter of all waste. As the member has mentioned, there is much still to be done, but I believe that Scotland is making significant progress in the right direction. Community Resilience (Storm-related Disruption) 2.”
“Protecting our environment and communities from pollution and waste should be a priority of the Scottish Government. The waste management hierarchy lays out how waste should be prevented first of all, then reused, recycled, recovered and only then disposed of. Energy from waste incinerators should be the last step before disposal. During the passage of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Labour fought for a legal requirement to adhere to the waste management hierarchy, but how is the Scottish Government working to ensure that that hierarchy is followed in managing Scotland’s waste? Alasdair Allan: As I have mentioned, there are independent mechanisms by which some of that is overseen.”
“According to NatureScot, an objective of deer management is to provide “a valuable and sustainable food source”. It is therefore welcome news that, on Jura, Argyll and Bute Council has announced a new initiative to put wild venison on the school menu. What action is the Scottish Government taking to normalise the consumption of venison in Scotland and to bring to Scotland’s food supply chain more of the culled deer? The Deputy Presiding Officer: Please be as brief as possible, cabinet secretary. Mairi Gougeon: Mercedes Villalba has raised an important point. The Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity is actively working on that, because we know that we can do more. We have a venison strategy in place, and we are always looking at how we can enhance and increase the domestic consumption of venison.”
“Mairi Gougeon: I am sure that Mercedes Villalba will be aware that, although the 3,000- hectare threshold applies for some provisions, there is a 1,000-hectare threshold for others. I am more than happy to continue to engage with her and other members with an interest in the bill, bearing in mind the bill proposals that she had been working on.”
“When the Scottish Government consulted on its proposals for land reform, we were told: “The Bill will be ambitious. It will address long-standing concerns about the highly concentrated pattern of land ownership in rural areas of Scotland.” However, the Government’s bill defines large landholdings as those of more than 3,000 hectares, which is nearly three and a half times the size of Glasgow city. Even then, that land will be subject to only a transfer test, not a public interest test. My proposed bill would have set a presumed limit of 500 hectares on sales and transfers and would have made transfers over that limit subject to a public interest test. With that in mind, is the cabinet secretary open to reducing the area of land that is defined as a large landholding in the Government’s bill?”
“Although the steps that the Government has set out to ensure that that does not happen again are welcome, an apology is simply not enough. That is why I support the motion that my colleague Katy Clark has lodged, which calls on the UK Government to reconsider its decision not to award compensation for women against state pension inequality and to look at options to provide those women with a compensation award. When we speak about the WASPI campaign or the WASPI injustice, we are not talking only about an injustice to 1950s women; we are talking about an injustice to all of us, to our communities and to our society, because the issue is one that affects us all. When the WASPI women win, we will all win. 18:52”