Lorna Slater
Scottish Green Party · Scotland
“I am grateful to the minister for highlighting the impact of Green policies such as free bus travel and free school meals. The Scottish Greens have always maintained that progressive public services should be underpinned by sustainable and fair sources of revenue, which is why we have consistently supported changes to Scotland’s income ta…”
“It is also worth stating that the ask in this country is great, but the offer is even greater, with free tuition, free prescriptions, the baby box and the child payment, which the UK Government has followed suit on. There is also free bus travel and free interisland ferry travel for under-22s.”
“It is a matter of urgency that Scotland’s land register be completed so that a comprehensive and publicly accessible online map can be created. I would be very interested to hear the cabinet secretary’s view on the importance of that aspect.”
“If the public purse is stretched, that is the first place that we should look for money. It might involve taxing polluters or using extended producer responsibility schemes such as the deposit return scheme, but in any case it is clear that we can no longer afford to subsidise polluters. The same goes for carbon emissions.”
“In the previous session of Parliament, I was part of the cross-party SPCB Supported Bodies Landscape Review Committee. I would like to highlight to the cabinet secretary two of the recommendations that resulted from that committee’s work.”
“We therefore recommend that the Scottish Government urgently undertakes a strategic mapping exercise to identify the functions of all Scottish public bodies and where they overlap, to inform decisions on future size, structure, and coherence across the public sector.” Michael Marra: It strikes me that that is precisely what Scottish Labou…”
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“When they were asked what made them decide to take up the apprenticeship, the answers were, “Because my uncle did this,” and, “Because my parents said that if you have a trade, you’ve got a job for life.” When I challenged the human resources representative about the lack of women, the response that I got was, “Well, we go along to the local high schools regularly, and we ask the girls if they have a passion for shipbuilding—and they say no.” I was absolutely gobsmacked. Young men need only to go along with their family expectations and a desire for well-paid regular work, but young women are expected to demonstrate enormous passion for the topic. That is a huge inequality and barrier. Efforts to get more women into skilled trades and engineering in Scotland have been haphazard at best.”
“If we can support significant numbers of women, who, historically, are lower paid, to take up training in engineering and skilled trades, we tackle both problems— having skilled workers and increasing our income tax take—not to mention tackling inequality and boosting our economy more generally. We have an exciting opportunity here for a generation of 21st century Rosie the Riveters: Rosie the control systems engineer, Miriam the welder, Fiona the pipe fitter. There are many known barriers to women taking up such jobs: a lack of role models, and teachers steering girls away from studying maths, physics and computers. When the Economy and Fair Work Committee visited Ferguson Marine, we had the chance to speak to a group of apprentices—all young men.”
“I, too, am very grateful to Michelle Thomson for hosting this debate. Only 16.5 per cent of engineers in the UK are women. The recent report on the engineering skills gap outlines how far we are from having the skilled workforce that we need to fully take advantage of all the opportunities ahead of us as we build a low- carbon economy. Transitioning to a new type of economy is about not just finding new jobs for oil and gas workers—most of whom are men—but unlocking opportunities for the whole country. Among the concerns on all our minds is how we maintain our income tax revenue as high-paying oil and gas jobs disappear.”
“Buses in Scotland are too expensive. We see fare hikes every year, with passengers across the country having to fork out even more cash to get on board. As part of this year’s budget negotiations, the Scottish Greens have called for a £2 cap on bus fares. For example, folks living in the First Minister’s constituency are paying an extortionate £5.10 to travel from Blairgowrie to Perth. A £2 cap on bus fares would save a commuter on that journey £31 a week, or £124 a month. Does the First Minister agree that we should cap fares and make buses in Scotland cheaper?”
“Presiding Officer—[Interruption.] The Presiding Officer: Let us hear Lorna Slater. Lorna Slater: Presiding Officer, 2024 was the hottest year on record. We are seeing the climate break down in front of our eyes in devastating floods and raging wildfires. This is just the start now that planet earth has crossed the threshold of 1.5°C of global heating. The promises that were made in the Paris agreement have proven worthless, and global leaders have failed to protect our planet. Is Scotland’s First Minister prepared to take serious action on land use change; on reducing traffic by introducing road charges and cutting the cost of public transport; and on making homes warmer, greener and cheaper to heat, so that we can get back on track to meet our climate targets?”
“I close by saying that the positive and welcoming tone about migration, even from Conservatives who want to make Scotland an attractive alternative market, is welcome. However, the truth is that the laws in this space— including those about the treatment of asylum seekers or the visas for other types of migrant—sit with the UK Government. Until Scotland becomes independent, these decisions will not be made by the people of Scotland or with our needs and vision in mind. 16:35”
“I very much welcomed Alex Cole-Hamilton’s contribution, in which he recognised the importance of the European Union. I look forward to the Liberal Democrats campaigning loudly and enthusiastically for the UK to return to the EU. I felt that Jeremy Balfour’s characterisation of us as being in a situation in which Scotland has nothing to show for higher taxes was totally disingenuous. There is nothing to show except, of course, free prescriptions, free university tuition, bus travel for under-22s, better provision of free school meals, the Scottish child payment, free eye tests and a better performing NHS. The list goes on and on. I welcomed Richard Leonard’s highlighting of the plight of agricultural workers. We can all agree that their situation is not remotely acceptable and that we need to work to tackle it.”
“As parts of the world become simply too hot for humans to safely live in, humanity will be on the move. Even if we managed to stop our emissions today, global temperatures would continue to rise because of our historical emissions. However, as we all know, emissions have not stopped—they continue. Global temperature rises are approaching terrifying levels, and they are already costing lives and causing people to move. How will we deal with that? Even if we reach the goal of net zero, that will still be the problem. We are only at the start of the process. We should all keep in mind the fact that the next 100 years will be about humanity managing migration as people flow around the world. Are we ready for that? Are we ready for what that future looks like?”
“Before I go through members’ contributions to the debate, I want to follow up on the point about Scotland being different than elsewhere. Today’s debate has felt so different from conversations elsewhere, such as those in England, where the hostile environment was a stated Government policy. We are the Scotland of Kenmure Street, where the people of Glasgow protected their neighbours from Home Office depredations. An issue that my colleague Maggie Chapman touched on that all of us need to keep in our focus is that of the global challenge of climate migration. We are only at the start of that. It will be—pardon the pun—the hot topic of the next 100 years, as more and more parts of planet earth become uninhabitable to humanity, sea levels rise, coastal cities become flooded and crops fail.”
“That brought massive damage to our economy, because one of the brilliant things about the EU was that it allowed free movement of people. It allowed people to take up opportunities where they could from across the EU. We are now in a period of relatively high employment, and we still have sectors that need to grow and that need labour. We need people, especially in areas such as renewable energy and construction. I know that all members are familiar with the housing emergencies that exist in Scotland. However, I am encouraged by the consensus across the chamber that migration into Scotland is desirable. That is so nice to hear when, across the world, we hear that migration is undesirable. That is a nice change, and it is part of why I am proud to make Scotland my home.”
“Towards the end of that build, we had to get the turbine back into Scotland urgently. We loaded it on to a crane on 12 December because the Brexit curtain was going to come down on 30 December and I had to get the machine back into the UK before then because we did not know how we would be able to move it across the border from that point on. So, we ended up bringing the turbine into the country unfinished, and we finished it up here in Scotland. As that Brexit curtain came down, it not only harmed our ability to finish the turbine in an efficient way but harmed labour markets, particularly in industries such as hospitality and agriculture, whose businesses suffered so acutely. Those businesses are still suffering and still reporting a shortage of workers, and so are our rural businesses, which depended on those workers.”
“Most of the build happened in 2020; I do not really recommend doing that during a pandemic, but it can be done. Along with Scottish engineers, it was me and colleagues from Spain, France and China, all of whom had moved to Scotland, who did the design, build, integration and commissioning of the system. I say that to illustrate the fact that we do attract people to Scotland in those exciting industries, but I think that we all know, including from the debate today, that we need to attract more. We need to get more labour in those industries, both through encouraging young Scottish people to pick up the skills that are needed in those growing and exciting fields—mathematics, engineering, physics and so on—and through allowing more people to come to Scotland.”
“As members know, I am a new Scot, and this debate has allowed me to reflect on my position as such. Even although I am, as Maggie Chapman said about herself, a white, English-speaking person with a couple of degrees, which makes me a very privileged migrant, I have found Scotland to be not only an exciting place to live, with massive opportunities for those in both my chosen fields— engineering and politics—but one with an exciting future. It is one of the reasons why I support independence for Scotland. The idea of creating something new, creating constitutional change and reimagining the kind of country that you want to live in is exciting. As I said earlier during one of my interventions, when I worked at Orbital Marine Power, we built the world’s largest floating tidal turbine.”
“I move amendment S6M-16034.4, to leave out from first “notes” to end and insert: “understands that Scotland receives 6% of net migration to the UK, which is lower than its 8.4% population share; notes that the Scottish Government has made Scotland an unattractive destination to move to through a combination of higher taxes on skilled professionals, a lack of investment in rural economies, a failure to provide adequate transport routes, an inability to provide enough homes in key areas, and a neglect of public services; further notes that the Scottish Government’s failures have led to depopulation from some of Scotland’s more rural parts, and asserts that immigration is a matter reserved to the UK Parliament and not in the jurisdiction of the Scottish Parliament.” The Deputy Presiding Officer: Rhoda Grant joins us remotely to speak to and move amendment S6M-16034.3.”
“work”. The Parliament was established to work for the people of Scotland on a number of matters. It was not established to grandstand on issues that we have no jurisdiction over, while failing to provide the basic functions of government. The irony is that, if the SNP focused on competent government and following through on promises, Scotland would be a much more attractive destination for migration. As with all debates of this nature, addressing those issues would be a much better use of parliamentary time. Unfortunately, the SNP does not seem to be interested in that.”
“Its failure to provide a high standard of healthcare in rural areas forces residents to travel great distances for routine appointments. Why would anyone want to move to such areas? A report by the Scottish Human Rights Commission found that, in the Highlands and Islands, the Government is not meeting its minimum core obligations on food and housing, while it is only partially meeting its obligations on health. The Scottish Government should be dealing with those factors rather than debating today’s topic. As the development manager for the Federation of Small Businesses in the Highlands and Islands, David Richardson, has said, “Reversing population trends will require moving heaven and earth to retain more young people and attract younger people and families to move in by focusing on making rural Highland the best possible place to ...”
“According to some estimates, more than 2,000 people died last year in Scotland due to a long wait in an accident and emergency department. Waiting lists for surgeries remain far too long, and more and more people are having to pay for private care on top of their taxes. However, once again, the SNP is more interested in spending parliamentary time talking about reserved matters over which it has no jurisdiction, instead of tackling the crisis that we have created in our health service. The Government motion mentions that we need to increase migration to our rural communities in Scotland, but the Government does not understand that its actions are contributing to the problem. Its failure to follow through on its promises to dual the A9, for instance, has done nothing to make small communities in the north of Scotland more connected.”
“Will Jeremy Balfour take an intervention? Jeremy Balfour: I have probably taken enough interventions. The Scottish Conservatives believe that, by allowing people to keep more of their hard-earned wages, we can promote the economic growth that Scotland so desperately needs and establish ourselves as a top destination for skilled migrants in the UK and on the world stage. Too often, people come here not to work but to retire and be with family. Although, as a party, we fundamentally disagree with high taxes, that would be slightly more acceptable if the standard of public services that we received was high. Unfortunately, after almost 18 years of SNP mismanagement, the people of Scotland are not getting anything like value for money. Our NHS is being stretched to breaking point.”