Meeting of the Parliament 17 March 2015
I am doing my best to be as consensual as I can in the debate. The UK Government knows our position and that we are asking for a black-and-white exemption for the NHS. That is what the people, the Scottish Government and a number of parties in the chamber want. People are not convinced by what we are hearing from the Commission at the moment. If the UK Government and the Commission are telling us that there is no threat to the NHS, I can see no reason why we should not see the black-and-white exemption that the First Minister herself has called for. As the member said, that commitment is shared across Europe when it comes to public services.
In spite of all the concerns that we have, the treaty framework is a suitable legal basis for effecting that necessary change. We do not believe that there is a need for treaty change for the reforms to take place. Indeed, many of them can best be accomplished through existing programmes being operated by the European Commission, such as EU 2020.
Politicians, political parties, civic society and perhaps the business sector need to talk more about the benefits of being part of the European Union. We do not do enough of that. Membership of the European Union gives us access to 500 million citizens and around 20 million businesses that operate in the EU single market.
The EU is a vital export market for Scottish firms, accounting for almost half—46 per cent—of Scotland’s international exports in 2013, which is worth a massive almost £13 billion each year. Almost 40 per cent of the 2,100 foreign-owned businesses in Scotland in 2013 were owned by firms based in the EU, and in every year since 2006 Scotland has been ranked as one of the top two areas of the UK outside London for attracting inward investment. Research suggests that more than 330,000 Scottish jobs were associated with exports to the EU.