Meeting of the Parliament 15 January 2015
I am pleased to speak in the debate and I will focus on voluntary emergency services. That is partly because, for many years, I was a volunteer firefighter, so I can claim some insight into the valuable work that such volunteers undertake.
Nearly 30 years ago, I was one of the members of a newly formed volunteer unit that had the distinction of being the first in Scotland to include female firefighters. I am sure that it will come as no surprise to anyone in the chamber to learn that the women in the unit performed their roles every bit as effectively as the men. Strathclyde fire service, as it was then, was rightly proud of that pioneering initiative. It provided first-class training and back-up and, importantly, it did not use the volunteer service as an excuse to downgrade the professional service. At around the same time, it upgraded the Oban station from a facility that was operated by retained firefighters to one that was operated by whole-time crews. A few years later, it built a new and much better station.
Over the years, we dealt with many serious fires, including one in which there was a fatality—a man who was a friend and a neighbour. I know that, in some areas of the Highlands and Islands, fire services are being threatened because of difficulties in recruiting volunteer and retained firefighters. I strongly recommend that men and women take up those opportunities to serve their communities in such a practical way. I found my experience rewarding and interesting.
I take the opportunity to pay tribute to the many volunteer firefighters across the Highlands and Islands and beyond who contribute such a lot to their communities. As a result of my experience, I am very aware of the dangers of fire and of how dependent we are, when disaster strikes, on the skills and courage of our firefighters.
I pay tribute to the coastguard service, which is another organisation that relies on volunteers. Less than two weeks ago, we learned of the loss of the cargo ship the Cemfjord. That was a stark reminder of how dangerous the sea can be, how suddenly disaster can strike at sea and how powerless we are, at times, when it strikes. It is at such times—in daylight and in darkness, and often in ferocious and terrifying conditions—that we see our community of mariners and their friends ashore honour the ancient obligation to come to the aid of those who are in distress at sea.
As an islander, I have witnessed that all too often. I have participated in rescues. I have lost good friends to the sea. I have witnessed at first hand on more than one occasion the distress of bereaved families. I have seen skippers and crews put to sea for rescue efforts in weather that makes me shudder to think of it.
I owe my life to such courageous people—to the crew of a fishing boat who found me on a night of such wicked weather that the lifeboat had to turn back, and a night when the wind was so strong that the helicopter that finally rescued me had to delay the rescue for several hours. The skipper of that fishing boat was sadly lost at sea a few years later.
It is because of that that I am angry beyond words, or at least any words that would be suitable in the chamber, about the UK Government’s cuts to the coastguard service, which are surely unacceptable when recreational and commercial use of our sea is increasing. Only those who live such cosseted lives that they are wholly unaware of the conditions that are routinely braved by those at sea could contemplate such cuts. Only those who have no appreciation or understanding of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland could consider making them.
I do not believe that a single member in the chamber would condone such cuts, I do not believe that a Scottish Government of any political hue would make such cuts and I do not believe that those who advocate austerity fully consider that we will pay for that fatally flawed economic policy in lives lost at sea and on land.
15:10