Meeting of the Parliament 28 June 2016
We face in Brexit something that I thought we would never have to face. Only a few weeks ago, I said that the leave campaign seemed to have taken leave of its senses, threatening systematic cuts to Scotland’s budget and a reversal of the gains of devolution in the event of Brexit. We are hearing those calls now not just from Lord Owen, but from many others too. Such rhetoric from a key vote leave spokesman has shown the campaign in its true colours—hostile to the Scottish Parliament and to the consensus of Holyrood members and our voters, who voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining within the European Union.
We also hear Theresa May, a potential candidate to be Prime Minister of this country—of this United Kingdom—say that we need to get out of the European convention on human rights. It is those rights that I will concentrate on today.
On 26 November 1792, Robert Burns wrote:
“While Europe’s eye is fix’d on mighty things,
The fate of Empires and the fall of Kings;
While quacks of State must each produce his plan,
And even children lisp the Rights of Man;
Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention,
The Rights of Woman merit some attention.”
That poem was written around the time of the French revolution. Europe was in turmoil—war was always just around the corner. As that revolution progressed and England witnessed the emergence of popular reform societies advocating parliamentary reform, the aristocratic section of the Whigs began to fear the spread of revolutionary ideology on to home territory. How familiar that is today.
In 1793, the radical Thomas Muir was arrested and transported. He said at a convention in late 1792:
“We do not, we cannot, consider ourselves as mowed and melted down into another country. Have we not distinct Courts, Judges, Juries, Laws ... ?”
Absolutely, Mr Muir. Muir was the architect of a new reform society in Scotland. He opted for a nationwide association of reform clubs unlimited to any social class, something that was not the case elsewhere. The Scottish Association of the Friends of the People was duly formed in Edinburgh.
That brings us to what lies at the heart of this current EU debate—nationhood, citizenship, sovereignty, the rights of every man and woman and the fates of empires. Governments ignoring the will of the people will face the dire consequences of doing so. We do not seek revolution as described by Burns and Muir; we seek enlightenment, sisterhood and self-determination. Also in the 1790s, Thomas Paine was lauded for his “Rights of Man”. Our universal human rights—the citizens’ rights that we cherish so much—are not to be toyed with by any Government.
As members know, I am a true supporter of the European convention on human rights and I will fight for it every step of the way. I believe that we can reform the European Union. We know that to be true because we have done it before. Professor Neil MacCormick was an architect of such reform. He almost pushed Europe to a constitution enshrining our fundamental rights—there we are, back to those rights that are so important. His work pushed forward that reform agenda to what we now call the Lisbon treaty. Without his early work, we would not have that treaty. He is another Scotsman who took up the cause of protecting and extending our fundamental human rights as EU citizens.
Article 18 of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union provides that no citizen shall be discriminated against on the basis of nationality. The citizens of member states also have a number of social and employment rights that derive from EU legislation and, following agreement of the treaty of Amsterdam in 1997, the EU treaties have enshrined principles relating to non-discrimination in the areas of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.
As a result, the EU has developed comprehensive legislation in the area of non-discrimination and equality. It began with sex equality in the employment context and has now extended to race, disability, sexual orientation, age and religion or belief in relation to employment and race and sex in relation to the provision of goods and services.
The people of Scotland, through due democratic process, reaffirmed their belief in and support of that European Union. It is only right that this Government be supported by our Parliament to realise the demand placed on it by the people—by the voters.
As stated in articles I-1 and I-2, the union is open to all European states that respect the member states’ common values, which are human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, respect for human rights, minority rights and the free market. Member states also declare that the following principles prevail in their societies: pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality of the sexes. Those are things that I am happy to pin my name to.
“Gerrard, Palmer, Skirving, Thomas Muir and Margarot,
These are names that every Scottish man and woman ought to know.
When you’re called for jury service, when your name is drawn by lot,
When you vote in an election, when you freely voice your thought,
Don’t take these things for granted, for dearly were they bought.”
It is with all those rights in mind that I support the motion in the name of our Government, and I ask it to devote itself to the cause of the people. It is a good cause, it shall ultimately prevail and it shall finally triumph.
15:30