Meeting of the Parliament 17 September 2025
I do not want to pollute the debate with partisan comments because, at the end of the day, victims will judge for themselves whether they see through any contortions or manufactured grievances. As parliamentarians, we have had our debates and our disputes during stages 1, 2 and 3 and I believe that the bill is all the better for it. We have had debates on amendments that we have all either won or lost at some point during the legislative process.
Today’s debate is not about repeating, reheating or rehashing those old debates. Today is about putting our past battles behind us, because, ultimately, it is not about us. Today is about the people who are gathered in the gallery behind us and about the many victims, survivors and victim support organisations the length and breadth of the country.
Once again, I thank everyone for their thoughtful consideration of and engagement on the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill and for their remarks this afternoon. For the record, the bill was introduced with its current title.
I say to Jamie Greene that, I, too, made a promise: the day that I introduced the bill, I promised that I would see it through and do everything that I could with it.
I believe that the Parliament can be proud of the significant reforms that the bill will introduce, which will support victims and witnesses in our justice system. I remind Parliament of those reforms. The bill will introduce a new champion for victims by establishing a victims and witnesses commissioner who will have oversight of a victims charter. The commissioner will have powers to require criminal justice bodies to respond, and if they do not, the commissioner will have a route to the Court of Session. The commissioner will have the purpose and power to hold bodies to account in the implementation of trauma-informed approaches that will avoid the retraumatisation of victims, and to support victims and witnesses to give their best evidence, because that, surely, is in the interests of fairness.