Meeting of the Parliament 16 June 2026 [Draft]
I, too, congratulate Jenny Young on bringing the debate to the Parliament. It is one of the first members’ business debates that we have held in this session, and this is a great topic to discuss.
I will say a few words about my reflections on the debate and the tone of politics in Scotland today. What has come through in the debate is that everyone has said that we need to be more respectful. As David Linden said, we need to watch our language. That really matters, and it matters across the Parliament—I am speaking to every member. We all need to watch what we say to and about one another, because it can have an impact on people. If members are in a debate and lobbing grenades at individuals or parties, they should think about the effect that that might have on those individuals or the parties, and also what the effect might be outside the Parliament.
Patricia Gibson said that all the MPs that she knows have had death threats, which is quite a stark point. I have never had a death threat—I have never even been threatened—but I had some nasty things said about me when I switched parties, and I felt under threat, so I needed to take some security measures, which I did not want to do. That is what I mean when I say that we should watch what we say about people, and we all need to do that.
I am aware that some MSPs—not all, but maybe a handful—have had death threats. Where does the motivation for that that come from? I think that it comes from the language that we use, perhaps on social media, which is why we need to be careful. My plea to all of us is this: yes, we should remember Jo Cox and Sir David Amess, but we should also learn from those experiences.
Over the next five years, let us do what was suggested by Liam Kerr and Stephen Kerr—the two Kerrs, who are both good friends of mine. Actually, when I look around the chamber, I see people in all parties whom I get on with and respect. I think that, over the next five years, that number will grow—I hope that it does, because that is the way that we ought to treat one another. Liam Kerr said that we need to be respectful in debates. It is right to have robust debates, but we should not be abusive, because if we are—if we turn our fire on individual MSPs in that way—it can have an impact and affect them. Therefore, let us not do that. We are all saying that now, and let us keep to that, because it really matters.
I thank Jenny Young once again for bringing this debate to the Parliament.