Alex Cole-Hamilton
Scottish Liberal Democrats · Scotland
“I am sure that all members will join me in expressing solidarity with Scotland’s Muslim community after the brutal and unprovoked attacks on the streets of Edinburgh last weekend. That community’s response to those attacks has not been one of violence or revenge; it has been to make a plea for tolerance and understanding.”
“All told, more than 1,400 inmates have been let out of prison since the early release scheme began, and that is because our prisons are bursting at the seams. However, that is not a strategy and it will not protect the public.”
“Let that sink in, because the language of displacement and othering is the antithesis of the cohesion that Lord Offord speaks about so regularly. Liberals believe in reform—of course we do. The Whig Government in 1832— Amanda Bland: Will the member take an intervention? Alex Cole-Hamilton: I will give way to Amanda Bland.”
“This was an opportunity for Reform to prove everybody wrong and to pepper the chamber this afternoon with speeches that were measured in tone and full of bright ideas to fix the things that are wrong in Scotland. We have heard none of that today.”
“I welcome the minister’s remarks about the Edinburgh attacks. Does he recognise, as do members on these benches, that as well as expressing solidarity with the Muslim community of Scotland, we owe them a debt of gratitude that there was no call for activism and action on the streets of Scotland by the Muslim community?”
“That is why the Government is prioritising an economy with a strength that is felt by people, businesses and communities across Scotland. Scotland is a great place and, collectively, we are making it even greater.”
The complete record
Every one of 814 lines we hold for Alex Cole-Hamilton, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 12 of 17.
“Section 35A, which was inserted at stage 2, introduced a role for the Lord President in securing replacement regulatory arrangements for authorised providers, where their accredited regulator has ceased to operate. Amendment 4 amends section 37 of the bill to apply to the Association of Commercial Attorneys the provisions of the proposed new sections that sections 32A and 35A would insert into the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980. Section 76 of the bill expands on the information that must be included in the SLCC’s annual report and also requires the SLCC to consult the Lord President, the consumer panel and each regulator. Amendment 27 responds to concerns that were raised by the SLCC and makes it clear that the requirement to consult is triggered at an early stage in the process, before the report is prepared.”
“In relation to amendment 4, section 37 of the bill applies the new provisions that relate to regulators that are accredited under the bill to regulators that are approved under section 26 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990— for example, allowing a review and updating of the regulatory scheme at the direction of the Lord President. To date, the only regulator that is approved under section 26 of the 1990 act is the Association of Commercial Attorneys. Section 32A, which was inserted at stage 2, allows for a review and updating of the regulatory scheme to take place on the regulator’s own initiative as well as at the direction of the Lord President.”
“Siobhian Brown: I wish to confirm that the provision will not affect the ability of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission’s consumer panel or Consumer Scotland to request a review. Amendment 2 agreed to. Section 20—Measures open to the Scottish Ministers The Deputy Presiding Officer: Group 4 is on minor and technical amendments. Amendment 3, in the name of the minister, is grouped with amendments 4, 10, 17 to 21, 24 to 27, 61, 63, 98 to 106, 108 to 112, 114 and 115. Siobhian Brown: Amendments 10, 61, 98 to 100, 102, 114 and 115 are minor and technical amendments that correct or update cross- references. Amendments 3, 17 to 21, 24 to 26 and 103 to 106 correct errors and tidy up the bill.”
“Amendment 117 disagreed to. Amendment 118 not moved. Amendment 1 moved—[Siobhian Brown]—and agreed to. Amendment 119 not moved. Section 19—Review of regulatory performance by the Scottish Ministers The Deputy Presiding Officer: Group 3 is on review of regulatory performance: request from the Scottish Parliament. Amendment 2, in the name of the minister, is the only amendment in the group. Siobhian Brown: Amendment 2 makes it clear that any request that is made by the Scottish Parliament to the Lord President to review the performance of a category 1 or a category 2 regulator can be made only following a resolution of the Scottish Parliament in plenary. I move amendment 2. The Deputy Presiding Officer: Nobody else has asked to speak, minister. Do you wish to add anything by way of winding up?”
“On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My app would not connect. I would have voted no. The Deputy Presiding Officer: Thank you. I will make sure that that is recorded. For Baillie, Jackie (Dumbarton) (Lab) Baker, Claire (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab) Balfour, Jeremy (Lothian) (Con) Bibby, Neil (West Scotland) (Lab) Boyack, Sarah (Lothian) (Lab) Briggs, Miles (Lothian) (Con) Burnett, Alexander (Aberdeenshire West) (Con) Carlaw, Jackson (Eastwood) (Con) Carson, Finlay (Galloway and West Dumfries) (Con) Choudhury, Foysol (Lothian) (Lab) Clark, Katy (West Scotland) (Lab) Dowey, Sharon (South Scotland) (Con) Duncan-Glancy, Pam (Glasgow) (Lab) Eagle, Tim (Highlands and Islands) (Con) Findlay, Russell (West Scotland) (Con) Fraser, Murdo (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) Gallacher, Meghan (Central Scotland) (Con) Golden, Maurice (North East Scotland) (Con) Gosal, Pam (West Scotland) (Con) Grant, Rhoda (Highlands and Islands) (Lab) Griffin, Mark (Central Scotland) (Lab) Gulhane, Sandesh (Glasgow) (Con) Hamilton, Rachael (Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con) Hoy, Craig (South Scotland) (Con) Johnson, Daniel (Edinburgh Southern) (Lab) Halcro Johnston, Jamie (Highlands and Islands) (Con) Lennon, Monica (Central Scotland) (Lab) Leonard, Richard (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lumsden, Douglas (North East Scotland) (Con) Marra, Michael (North East Scotland) (Lab) McCall, Roz (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) McNeill, Pauline (Glasgow) (Lab) Mochan, Carol (South Scotland) (Lab) Mountain, Edward (Highlands and Islands) (Con) Mundell, Oliver (Dumfriesshire) (Con) O’Kane, Paul (West Scotland) (Lab) Ross, Douglas (Highlands and Islands) (Con) Rowley, Alex (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab) Sarwar, Anas (Glasgow) (Lab) Simpson, Graham (Central Scotland) (Con) Smith, Liz (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) Smyth, Colin (South Scotland) (Lab) Stewart, Alexander (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) Sweeney, Paul (Glasgow) (Lab) Villalba, Mercedes (North East Scotland) (Lab) Wells, Annie (Glasgow) (Con) White, Tess (North East Scotland) (Con) Whitfield, Martin (South Scotland) (Lab) Whittle, Brian (South Scotland) (Con) Against Adam, George (Paisley) (SNP) Adam, Karen (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) Adamson, Clare (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP) Allan, Alasdair (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP) Arthur, Tom (Renfrewshire South) (SNP) Beattie, Colin (Midlothian North and Musselburgh) (SNP) Brown, Keith (Clackmannanshire and Dunblane) (SNP) Brown, Siobhian (Ayr) (SNP) Burgess, Ariane (Highlands and Islands) (Green) Callaghan, Stephanie (Uddingston and Bellshill) (SNP) Chapman, Maggie (North East Scotland) (Green) Coffey, Willie (Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley) (SNP) Cole-Hamilton, Alex (Edinburgh Western) (LD) Constance, Angela (Almond Valley) (SNP) Dey, Graeme (Angus South) (SNP) Don-Innes, Natalie (Renfrewshire North and West) (SNP) Doris, Bob (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP) Dornan, James (Glasgow Cathcart) (SNP) Dunbar, Jackie (Aberdeen Donside) (SNP) Ewing, Annabelle (Cowdenbeath) (SNP) Ewing, Fergus (Inverness and Nairn) (SNP) Fairlie, Jim (Perthshire South and Kinross-shire) (SNP) FitzPatrick, Joe (Dundee City West) (SNP) Forbes, Kate (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP) Gibson, Kenneth (Cunninghame North) (SNP) Gougeon, Mairi (Angus North and Mearns) (SNP) Grahame, Christine (Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale) (SNP) Gray, Neil (Airdrie and Shotts) (SNP) Greene, Jamie (West Scotland) (LD) Greer, Ross (West Scotland) (Green) Harper, Emma (South Scotland) (SNP) Harvie, Patrick (Glasgow) (Green) Haughey, Clare (Rutherglen) (SNP) Hepburn, Jamie (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (SNP) Hyslop, Fiona (Linlithgow) (SNP) Kidd, Bill (Glasgow Anniesland) (SNP) Lochhead, Richard (Moray) (SNP) MacDonald, Gordon (Edinburgh Pentlands) (SNP) MacGregor, Fulton (Coatbridge and Chryston) (SNP) Mackay, Gillian (Central Scotland) (Green) Mackay, Rona (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (SNP) Macpherson, Ben (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) (SNP) Maguire, Ruth (Cunninghame South) (SNP) [Proxy vote cast by Rona Mackay] Martin, Gillian (Aberdeenshire East) (SNP) Mason, John (Glasgow Shettleston) (Ind) Matheson, Michael (Falkirk West) (SNP) McAllan, Màiri (Clydesdale) (SNP) [Proxy vote cast by Jamie Hepburn] McKee, Ivan (Glasgow Provan) (SNP) McLennan, Paul (East Lothian) (SNP) McMillan, Stuart (Greenock and Inverclyde) (SNP) McNair, Marie (Clydebank and Milngavie) (SNP) Minto, Jenni (Argyll and Bute) (SNP) Nicoll, Audrey (Aberdeen South and North Kincardine) (SNP) Rennie, Willie (North East Fife) (LD) Robertson, Angus (Edinburgh Central) (SNP) Robison, Shona (Dundee City East) (SNP) Roddick, Emma (Highlands and Islands) (SNP) Ruskell, Mark (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green) Slater, Lorna (Lothian) (Green) Somerville, Shirley-Anne (Dunfermline) (SNP) Stevenson, Collette (East Kilbride) (SNP) Stewart, Kaukab (Glasgow Kelvin) (SNP) Sturgeon, Nicola (Glasgow Southside) (SNP) Swinney, John (Perthshire North) (SNP) Thomson, Michelle (Falkirk East) (SNP) Todd, Maree (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) Torrance, David (Kirkcaldy) (SNP) Tweed, Evelyn (Stirling) (SNP) Whitham, Elena (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (SNP) Wishart, Beatrice (Shetland Islands) (LD) Yousaf, Humza (Glasgow Pollok) (SNP) The Deputy Presiding Officer: The result of the division is: For 49, Against 71, Abstentions 0.”
“Angus Robertson: I have had this interchange with Alex Cole-Hamilton before and, from the outset, I have been of the view that there is no effective substitute for the Erasmus+ scheme other than Erasmus+. Although the Taith scheme in Wales had much to commend it, I am sure that if, in the cold light of day, he looks at the scope and scale of that scheme compared with Erasmus+, even he must realise that Erasmus+ is where it is at. I hope that Alex Cole-Hamilton will support the Scottish Government in making the case to the UK Government that the scheme should be as ambitious for and widely accessible to as many students as possible. Again, that is an area on which I could not give him any information, if he were to ask, because, sadly, the UK Government has not shared that with the Scottish Government—or with the Scottish”
“I offer my apologies for my slightly late arrival. The agreement is a first step and Liberal Democrats welcome it, but we hope that it is just a first step and that there will be still further closer integration. I was surprised to hear the cabinet secretary claim that his Government has lobbied the UK Government to reassociate with Erasmus+. Within 18 months of Brexit, a Liberal Democrat Minister for Education in Wales had a replacement scheme up and running. Ever since then, we have daily tried to get the Scottish Government to do likewise, yet it is dangerously close to being lapped by the UK Government in the pages of the agreement. Will the cabinet secretary now take the opportunity to apologise to young Scots who have missed out on five years’ worth of vital exchange opportunities?”
“That is the Liberal Democrat vision, and it is one that we will continue to fight and work for in chambers such as this. The Deputy Presiding Officer: We move to the open debate. 15:49”
“Liberal Democrats also want those first baby steps to be steps towards tangibly rejoining the single market and the customs union, as part of a longer road map back to our future with Europe. We are not naive; we know that it cannot happen tomorrow or overnight. However, by taking those steps now, closer integration can be achieved. We are stronger when we work together in this Parliament, across this island of nations and with our closest European neighbours. Patrick Harvie was right: we can depend less on the United States today than we perhaps could as little as three months ago. In that reality and realignment of national alliances, we must look to our nearest European neighbours. The UK’s place is in Europe; it is part of Europe.”
“Angus Robertson: While we are talking about the potential areas of agreement in next week’s summit, does Mr Cole-Hamilton agree that the creative Europe programme, in addition to Erasmus+, is something on which the UK Government should seek agreement with the European Union? Rejoining creative Europe would be transformational for our cultural sector and for our screen sector in particular. Will he take the opportunity of highlighting not only the advantages of rejoining the Erasmus+ programme but of rejoining the creative Europe programme as well? Alex Cole-Hamilton: The cabinet secretary speaks my mind. One of the untold tragedies of Brexit is the massive impact that it has had on our creative sector. I absolutely support his remarks and I associate myself with them.”
“I welcome the UK Government’s commitment to reset our relationship with Europe. However, words alone are not enough. We need a tangible youth mobility scheme; our young people are still missing out on the EU Erasmus scheme. That scheme could not only provide experiences that are sometimes life-changing and formative for our young people, giving them the opportunity to live, study and work in Europe; it could also benefit our economy and enrich our academic institutions, particularly in areas such as the hospitality sector. There is low-hanging fruit and little steps that would mutually benefit us and our European neighbours, such as mutual recognition of professional qualifications to open up labour markets or participation in EU research programmes.”
“We consider the four freedoms that were first espoused in the treaty of Rome—the free movement of goods, people, capital and services—as underpinning the most important charter for freedom that the world has ever seen. Brexit was a body blow to that vision—there is no question about that. Let us be honest about the consequences that we all still face as a result of Brexit. The trade and co-operation agreement has now been in force for four years. It removed tariffs and quotas but left enormous friction in the form of red tape and bureaucracy, which is holding back our exporters, artists and service industries and is stifling growth in our economy. Our young people have lost the opportunities to live, learn and work across Europe, experiences that were so formative to those of us who benefited from them in our youth.”
“In the teeth of such a threat, we should not be playing politics with other aspects of state interests or multistate interests. I have some sympathy with his remarks on that. We have yet to see the exact detail of such proposals, but I would take a dim view—as, I am sure, would other ardent Europeans—if security co-operation were to be linked to other side-show issues, as important as those may be. The Liberal Democrats are internationalists and unapologetically pro-European to our fingertips. The advent of Brexit and the Brexit referendum nine years ago causes us pain to this day. We believe in a Scotland that is at the heart of Britain and a Britain that is at the heart of Europe.”
“That war—the Ukrainian defence of Ukraine—is just three tanks of diesel away. Stephen Kerr: I respect the fact that Alex Cole- Hamilton is a strong supporter of the European Union, but, as he might have predicted, I will ask him the same question that I have asked other colleagues. It is not right that the European Union hinges security co-operation on issues such as long-term access to UK territorial fishing waters. Surely, when we are facing what we are facing— and he has, rightly, been eloquent and articulate on the subject—we should come together without terms and conditions. Alex Cole-Hamilton: The member speaks the minds of many members in the chamber. In many ways, we face an existential threat to the freedoms that we enjoy.”
“It is a reality that has been brought home to me in visceral clarity, not just in the testimony of the Ukrainian refugee who shared our home for nine months, but in the convoy that it was my privilege to take part in with Paul Sweeney over the Easter break, when we drove five ambulances to Lviv. In downtown Lviv, there is a city park that is not dissimilar to Princes Street gardens—or at least it was until the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. It is now known as the field of Mars and is a cemetery for the glorious defenders of Ukraine. City officials hold funerals there every day, and there were three on the morning of our arrival alone. That speaks to the reality that war is never far away. The Treaty on European Union has kept this continent safe, but we need to safeguard it in other ways, too.”
“It was right that the first treaty of the European Union established the European Coal and Steel Community, which gave a collective assurance that no member country of—or signatory country to—that treaty could ever again build a war machine, and the signs of rearmament that led to the second world war could never again be manifest. That legacy is now all the more important in the context of the tragic situation that has been unfolding in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion in 2022—indeed, since the initial invasion in 2014. War has returned to continental Europe.”
“As an ardent European, it gives me great pleasure to speak in any such debate, and I am grateful to the Government for making time for it. As we have heard, last Friday marked Europe day, when European nations across the continent marked and, indeed, celebrated the legacy of a Europe that was rebuilt from the ashes of the second world war—not through rivalry or conquest, but through co-operation, solidarity and, of course, peace. The cabinet secretary was absolutely right to reference the Schuman declaration—a bold, hopeful vision for a future in which countries work together to solve common challenges. That was particularly profound in a part of the world that had been ravaged by war for centuries, and a continent that, until then, had, all too often, been defined by those conflicts.”
“Global instability, particularly the on-going threat of a trade war, is having economic impacts everywhere, including here in Scotland and in the rest of the”
“On Sunday, I chaired a Festival of Europe Scotland event held by the Scottish Council on Global Affairs entitled, “Beyond the UK, beyond the EU–what in the world lies ahead?” It was a fascinating and sobering discussion about the challenges that we are living through, but it was also about how to use these times to offer hope and optimism for the future. We have long known that the major challenges of today, such as humanitarian emergencies, climate change and resource insecurity, can be addressed only by working together as a global community. The Scottish Government of course supports closer partnership between the UK and the EU on defence and security challenges, including on our shared and unwavering support for Ukraine and on condemnation of Russia and the threat that it poses, which we cannot underestimate.”
“The ideals that led to the founding of the European Economic Community and then of the European Union will be at the forefront of our minds—and, I hope, at the forefront of the minds of those in the UK Government—when, on Monday, the Prime Minister will meet the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council for what UK ministers are calling a “reset” summit on UK-EU relations. Tragically, that summit takes place as war has returned to our continent, our international institutions are under threat, the far right is rising across the globe and many people sense that we live in an increasingly divided and polarised world.”
“We have tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees in Scotland, and the Scottish Government supports the United Kingdom Government’s interventions in helping to secure a just peace for Ukraine. As I will come on to later in my speech, we are approaching a United Kingdom-European Union summit next week, at which defence and security will be important parts of the discussion. We support the UK Government’s position on those issues, but there are others where things are a little more challenging. I will come to those later and, if Mr Cole-Hamilton wishes to intervene at that point, I will be happy to take an intervention from him.”
“The Liberal Democrats will support today’s Government motion. The cabinet secretary is right to refer to the European Coal and Steel Community, the establishment of which meant that the nations of Europe could never again build a war machine without others being aware of that. Does he recognise that, in the straitened times in which we find ourselves, with global strife, the threat of war and an existing war in continental Europe, our relationship with Europe has never been more important? Angus Robertson: I thank the Liberal Democrats for their support for the Government’s motion. It has been drafted in a way that has received a welcome from other parties, which is a good thing. Mr Cole-Hamilton’s raising of defence and security issues is also relevant for us all.”
“There is a crisis in social care in Scotland. Research by my colleague Angus MacDonald, MP, shows that, in the past decade, the number of care homes for older people in the Highlands fell by a fifth. At the same time, the older population in that part of the country is surging. Duncan lived in Acharacle in the west Highlands, but, when he needed a care home, the nearest that was available was in Fort Augustus, because the care home that was local to him had closed. That is the equivalent of placing an Edinburgh resident in a care home in Dumfries. The travel time meant that his wife, Nino, was robbed of precious hours with her dying husband every day—time that she can never get back. Does the First Minister think that that is acceptable?”
“Of course I would like to go further, but the real living wage—to which the Government has been committed since 2016—is a substantial improvement on what is paid in”
“Alex Cole- Hamilton is absolutely correct to point to the sustainability of housing in rural areas as also being an issue. Again, we are working in a collaborative way to ensure that our health and social care sector is working closely with our local authorities in order to rise to the challenge, where it occurs locally. On the gap in funding, I am proud to be part of a Government that has increased the amount of funding to social care. We have also increased funding to our national health service. We have given record amounts of funding to our NHS and to local authorities, which also means record funding to social care. In Scotland, we pay our staff more. We value our social care staff.”
“On a note of consensus, I absolutely agree that some of the best care in our country is provided by care workers who have chosen to settle here from overseas. I also agree with the Government that not excluding social care providers from the national insurance contribution increase is a hammer blow. However, does the minister recognise that the actions that have been taken by her own Government, especially in relation to the failure to supply affordable housing to care workers and the massive gap in funding for social care, fall squarely at her feet and are causing the closure of homes, particularly in the Highlands, in communities such as those that she represents? Maree Todd: I absolutely recognise that the latest threats are not the only challenges that the sector faces. I acknowledge that.”
“Our constituents are telling us that, if they get to a point where they are beyond the reach of palliative care, they want the right to say, “This far and no further.” I close with the words of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who said near the end of his own life, and in reflecting on the sad and overly prolonged passing of Nelson Mandela, “For those suffering unbearably and coming to the end of their lives, merely knowing that an assisted death is open to them can provide immeasurable comfort.” I hope that this Parliament will listen to the words of Archbishop Tutu and agree to the general principles of the bill tonight. 15:57”
“That support is mirrored in our constituents. In the polling that has been undertaken on this issue, we have been very careful to ensure that people understand what they are being asked, and by a country mile they support the change.”
“I am gratified that Liam has chosen the narrower scope of terminal diagnosis and mental capacity to ensure that there is no chance of mission creep. Not being a pioneer in this area means that we can rest our proposals on the weight of evidence, and there is sufficient academic research to enable us to legislate with confidence. We have already heard about the briefing from Professor Ben Colburn, who has studied every jurisdiction where assisted dying takes place as it relates to disability. He has found that no people with disabilities are harmed by the change in the law unless they avail themselves of it through the normal processes. They do not face foreshortened or forestalled delivery of care, and the vast majority of disabled people in those countries support assisted dying, as they do in this country.”
“In 25 years, only five of his patients had had breakthrough pain that he was not able to master, but it was for each of those five patients that he supported the efforts of Liam McArthur to change the law. Bob Doris: Will the member take an intervention? Alex Cole-Hamilton: No, I have to make some progress and I recognise that time is short. That speaks to the fact that very few people will avail themselves of assisted dying. Statistically, only one of us in the chamber is likely to need it by the end of our lives. We know that because we are not pioneers in this. Thirty-one jurisdictions have already gone ahead with such a law. They have amassed as much as 30 years of best practice, which we are leaning into.”
“I agree with them, and I support Miles Briggs’s attempts to bring a bill to the Parliament to that end. The issues of palliative care and assisted dying are not mutually exclusive, though. They have walked hand in hand in the jurisdictions that have gone before us in considering such issues. We have seen that palliative care is but the final tool in the drawer, and it provides much-needed reassurance to people in those vital last days of their lives. I was struck by the words of a palliative care nurse who has been working in end-of-life care for 25 years. We met on a panel at the Royal College of General Practitioners that was talking about this very issue, and he told me afterwards that he supported Liam’s bill.”
“Indeed, the only point of mercy that is available to clinicians when a patient is near the end of their life is the removal of sustenance, which makes for a lingering death. That is not at all to criticise our amazing clinicians who work in end-of-life care, many of whom perform daily miracles—sometimes on their knees—and who fight valiantly to give comfort and peace to their patients and the families around them. However, the weight of law, expectation and culture often means that we see clinicians being forced to fight for extra days, as they would for yards in a battlefield, only to see the line behind them collapse as it was always going to do. Edward Mountain and Jackie Baillie have spoken passionately about the need for better palliative care.”
“And so it was: within just a few months, she ended her life in a hospice rooftop garden, in the Vancouver sunshine. At that moment, my mother, and many of Merry’s school friends, thousands of miles away, held her in the light of their love as she freed herself from that illness. In Scotland today, we in the Parliament strive to give everyone rights and agency in their adult lives—except for one part, which is our departure from it. Too often, people with do not resuscitate orders in place have them ignored and find themselves being resuscitated. People are asking—they are actively begging—clinicians to allow them to die, yet the law requires that we sustain them so that they can live.”
“I congratulate my friend Liam McArthur and everyone who has worked with him to get us to this point. I am proud to add my voice in support of the bill. When my mother was growing up in Canada in the 1960s, she had a school friend called Merry. They lost contact, but travel and technology brought them back together many decades later. Very sadly, in 2019, Merry received a diagnosis of a rare, incurable form of brain cancer called glioblastoma. She knew about the terrible pathology of the disease because, tragically, her husband had died of the same cancer just a couple of years previously. She had seen him robbed of his personality, control of his bodily functions and ability to maintain his very sense of identity, so it was immediately clear in Merry’s mind that she would not go in the same way.”
“He ushered in a long peace, and it is a long peace that it is incumbent on decision makers and parliamentarians like us in chambers such as this to safeguard for future generations, and we must also recognise those who draw the sword against tyranny in places such as Ukraine today.”
“He was one of the last surviving witnesses of the sinking of HMS Hood by Bismarck, and he lived to tell the tale. I have 19 hours of audio of his seafaring stories, which I treasure. We have heard a lot about Winston Churchill’s remarks from the balcony of the health ministry on this day, 80 years ago. He gave a very short speech, and much of it has been quoted, but these lines have not: “My dear friends, this is your hour. This is not victory of party or of any class. It’s a victory of the great British nation as a whole. We were the first, in this ancient island, to draw the sword against tyranny.” With those words, he closed out a war that had endured for six years.”
“My father is named for him, such is the enduring memory of his loss. Their sister, Joan, was awarded an MBE at the age of 23 for her service to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the Norwegian legation that evacuated the King and the Government from Oslo as the Wehrmacht rolled in. She walked overland to a resistance farmhouse, led by Frank Foley, and was eventually evacuated by submarine. Sadly, she died in 1945, just after the San Francisco conference that set up the United Nations. Her plane disappeared over the Atlantic, and we still have a letter in my attic from Anthony Eden expressing grave concern for her loss. It was my grandfather who taught me everything about freedom and sacrifice. He served as the lieutenant commander on a destroyer in the north Atlantic.”
“Just last week, in the communities of Lerwick and Scalloway in Shetland, there was a commemoration of the Shetland bus. As part of that operation, merchant navy vessels took troops, ammunition and weaponry to and from the Norwegian resistance. I pay tribute to all of them. Each of our communities played its part in certain ways, but each of us—as the First Minister very movingly told us—will have personal reflections on this 80th anniversary. I think of my grandfather and his three siblings in particular today. His older brother, Dick, was a German linguist and, as such, became an interrogator in prisoner of war camps. His younger brother, David, who was a commander on HMS Sikh, was, sadly, killed on a troop transport, which was sunk north of Tobruk by a Stuka dive-bomber.”
“On dates such as this, we often forget the brave Germans who stood up against Hitler within the Third Reich and those who, for want of freedom, died under its regime. Today, I am thinking of those brave people, such as Sophie Scholl and Pastor Niemöller. We are also thinking today of our brave Scottish communities who, in a singular national effort of determination, pulled together for the war effort. I asked the First Minister about the Polish airmen. I grew up in a farming village not far from RAF Leuchars in Fife, and there was a shed at the bottom of our garden that still had telephone lines and a fireplace for the three Polish airmen who had lived in that shed for three years. Even then, there were still signs of our collective war effort.”
“It is my distinct privilege to offer the Liberal Democrats’ respects to the fallen in our armed forces and in armed forces across the world; to the dead in our civilian population and across the world; and to the victims of the Nazi Holocaust— something that we have heard a lot about this afternoon, and rightly so. I was reflecting on what this 80th anniversary means in Germany, and I heard a fascinating radio interview with a German diplomat who was asked that question. He explained to the interviewer that, in Germany, the date is seen as a commemoration of liberation, because it was a liberation of normal Germans from, in the words of Churchill, “the odious apparatus of Nazi rule”.”
“I leave that observation with members simply so that they will recognise that, although there was great relief on 8 May 1945, a lot of suffering was still going on in households the length and breadth of the country. We should never forget that contrast, which highlights the sense of loss that many individuals experienced. Today, the Deputy First Minister has attended, on my behalf, a commemoration event in the city of Glasgow, and the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture has represented the Government at the national commemorative service at Westminster abbey.”
“That has made me realise that, on 3 April 1945, my mother’s family was devastated by the news of the loss of my uncle, yet, only 35 days later, the streets were full of people jubilantly celebrating the end of the war— quite understandably, of course, because there was an enormous sense of relief. What has struck me is the level of contrast that there must have been between my grandmother’s and grandfather’s household, where people were nursing unbearable grief—which I saw in later stages of my life, when I became conscious of my family’s experience and understood the gravity of the loss that they felt—and the jubilation outside their front door.”
“Of course, in subsequent generations that has led to a very welcoming environment for the Polish community to come to, where, thankfully, they are able to contribute to our schools, local communities, churches and community activities. That is all very welcome, and it is based on the deep roots that Mr Cole-Hamilton has cited. In the past few days and weeks, I have been mindful of a sequence of events that took place in my family’s life, which rather illustrates the mixed feelings that would have been in evidence on VE day in 1945. I had not really thought about this point until the events of the past few weeks. On 3 April this year, I attended a memorial event down at Ocean Terminal, where a memorial to my late uncle, Corporal Thomas Hunter, has stood for many years. Here we are today, only 35 days later, marking VE day.”
“The First Minister is absolutely right to reference the European Union as establishing a charter for peace so that no nation could ever build a war machine again. Much of that fabric was built on the foundation of a cohesion of factors such as the Polish airmen coming to Scotland and fighting so bravely in the battle of Britain, many of them settling here and becoming part of an established Polish community. Will the First Minister join me in paying tribute to them, too? The First Minister: Unreservedly. There is a very strong affinity with the Polish community in the area of Perthshire that I represent—indeed, there is a Polish cemetery in the city of Perth.”
“As we give thanks today for the sacrifice that was laid down by the generations that came before us, we must rededicate ourselves to the promise of that peace and its furtherance for our children and theirs to come. First Minister’s Question Time 12:08 Programme for Government (General Practitioner Appointments) 1.”
“Today, we commemorate the moment when, 80 years ago, the high command of the allied forces received the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich. Although war still raged in the Pacific, across these islands, for the first time in six years, the tension, grind and privations of wartime gave way to lasting peace. In a radio broadcast to the British people and the world, King George VI said: “on this day of just triumph and proud sorrow”, let us “take up our work again, resolved as a people to do nothing unworthy of those who died for us and to make the world such a world as they would have desired, for their children and for ours.” His words ushered in the long peace that most of us have only ever known.”
“This country has so much potential, but it needs a Government that is willing to match the ambition of the people who live here. After almost 20 years, this Government has been found wanting, and it is time for it to get out of the way. The Deputy Presiding Officer: We move to the open debate. I advise back-bench members that they have up to four minutes. There is no time in hand and, if members wish to accept interventions, those must be absorbed within their agreed allocated speaking time. 16:02”
“People are tired of feeling that things are getting steadily worse and of there being little or no clear plan for how to improve them. They are demanding that we do things differently. We need change that is backed by good, competent delivery. People across Scotland see the consequences of delay and drift every day. They have waited years for action on crumbling roads and overstretched public services. In the Highlands, some communities are still waiting for the A9 and A96 to be made safe—a promise that was first made two decades ago. There are other key areas where the Government must act now, but I am running out of time. We need a serious industrial strategy to underpin all of this—not just to attract new jobs but to make sure that they stay in Scotland.”
“Housing is inseparable from skills. If we cannot offer affordable homes, especially to key workers, we will not build the skilled workforce that Scotland urgently needs, where we need it. Mental health must also be part of the conversation. The crisis in mental health is one of the reasons why so many people are economically inactive or unable to return to their careers, yet the Government has broken its commitment to allocate 10 per cent of NHS funding to mental health and 1 per cent to CAMHS. There is a workforce crisis in mental health, too, as well as a serious lack of provision for neurodevelopmental conditions. There has also been a fundamental failure to help the tens of thousands of Scots who are still suffering from long Covid to get back to work.”
“Without a skilled, home-grown Scottish workforce that is ready for the industries of the future, such as defence, renewables, artificial intelligence and precision medicine, Scotland risks being left behind and those jobs going overseas. Over the past two decades, the SNP Government has presided over the quiet death of further education, which has reduced our ability to produce the skilled workforce that Scotland needs. We need to reverse that decline, and fast. Scotland is also actively driving away investment due to a planning regime that is ridiculously slow. In parts of Scandinavia, planning takes about seven weeks from the application to putting shovels in the ground. Here, planning applications are measured in years. A faster, simpler process that still gives a place to communities would attract investment.”