Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 27 January 2021
I begin by recognising the massive challenges that our country is facing and the incredible pressure that individuals and families are living under, with a constant threat from a public health pandemic that, to date, has killed more than 100,000 people across the United Kingdom and resulted in unemployment rising at a rate that has not been experienced in decades. Businesses up and down our country are in serious trouble and are struggling to stay afloat, and people are worried sick about the prospect for the future, not knowing whether they will be in a job next week or next month.
Against that backdrop, we have the hope of the vaccine, and I am 100 per cent behind the Government in getting the vaccine rolled out as quickly as possible. As Monica Lennon said, our number 1 priority is getting the vaccine to as many people as we can as quickly as we can. That is the key point of our amendment.
Our amendment also makes clear that more work must be done on the exit strategy. A few weeks ago, I asked the First Minister about the exit strategy, and she told me:
“The exit strategy ... is the vaccine”.—[Official Report, 4 January 2021; c 34.]
I am not so sure. I would not want us as a country to put all our hope in one basket.
We still do not know much about the effectiveness of the vaccines and the mutations of the virus. New strains of the virus are emerging, and scientists are worried that the vaccines will not be effective against them. That is why we need an effective plan for exiting the lockdown that learns from the last one, that does not have us eating out to spread new variants of the virus and that locks down our borders and enforces basic rules while operating the most effective test, trace and isolate programme that can be put in place.
We must be able to suppress the virus, which is something that, to date, the UK Government and the Scottish Government have failed to do. That is why we are among the worst countries in Europe when it comes to Covid death rates. It is also why Scottish Labour believes that for the Scottish Government to launch a campaign and plan an independence referendum in 2021 while the people of our country are facing such difficult times is not only irresponsible but beggars belief, and must be called out for what it is.
No matter our view on the constitutional future of our country, now is not the time. The silent majority must be encouraged to speak out about such crass incompetence and hypocrisy from the Scottish National Party Government. The public health crisis is deepening. Our national health service cannot cope, as waiting lists grow. Masses of businesses are shutting down and jobs have been lost. Our elderly are terrified in their own homes, and tens of thousands more people are relying on charity for food. The SNP’s answer to that is to hold an independence referendum. I believe that that is not acceptable to the large majority of the population, who want the Government to focus on the crisis that we are in.
On the question of the constitution, I want to be clear. The Scottish Labour Party believes and has set out that
“It is the sovereign right of the people of Scotland to determine their future, and the right of the people of Scotland to determine the form of government suited to their needs.”
Of that there should be no doubt.
I ask SNP ministers to listen to the people, face up to their responsibilities, recognise that we are not doing as well as we should be in tackling the virus, and make the public health crisis and the economic fallout from it the priority of Government until we get through this uncertain and very worrying time. If they are listening to the people, they will know that that is where the majority of the people are at.
I pose the question: why on earth would anyone want to politicise this Covid period? Why on earth would the Government take its focus off Covid in order to have a debate on the constitution? Why would it want to divide people and communities at a time when we need the whole country to come together? Why, oh why?
The Tories are equally guilty of diversion. We are told that the worst UK Prime Minister ever, Boris Johnson, is heading to Scotland this week to stoke the flames of division. What is it that he and his cronies do not understand about the current crisis? We should tell Johnson to stay away.
I ask members to support our amendment and ensure that we focus all our time and all our efforts on tackling the public health crisis and the economic fallout that our country is facing.
16:21