Meeting of the Parliament 26 May 2016
Thank you, Presiding Officer. I welcome you to your new role in the chair.
There is much about the EU debate that reminds me of Alice in “Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll: up is down and in is out. The two right-wing factions of one party fighting over who is more Eurosceptic reminds me of Alice at the crossroads—or should I say Boris at the crossroads? “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”, asked Boris. “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the cat, who was named Nigel. “I really don't care where,” replied Boris. “Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go,” said Nigel the cat. However, which way we go matters a whole lot to all of us here.
On 23 June, the Prime Minister will ask us a question that is based not on the flimsy deal that he secured at the December Council of Ministers, but on a false premise. The more honest question would be: “Do you agree with the flimsy reforms that I have secured?”
I heard on the radio this morning that the children’s word of the year is “refugee”. Imprinted on the minds of our young folk is a humanitarian disaster of a kind that has not been seen since the second world war, and they want action to be taken to help—from the mouths of babes we hear much wisdom.
Earlier this year, I hosted with the Scottish European Educational Trust an event at the Scottish Parliament—the our Europe premiere and awards ceremony, which was a huge success. Teams of young people from all over Scotland made films about what the EU means to them. I urge all my colleagues to take the time to watch those enlightening films, which spoke of peace, of rights, of rebuilding Europe, of creating opportunity and of democracy.
The films lead me to think of some of the great things that the EU has produced. As you know, Presiding Officer, workers’ rights are very close to my heart. Here are some of those rights—and my thanks go to the Trades Union Congress for providing such clear detail—