Meeting of the Parliament 16 June 2026 [Draft]
I say to Ms Young that I am pretty sure that every debate that I schedule is designed to do that. It is then over to colleagues to deliver on the rest. However, I am always willing to hear what topics members might like to be brought forward.
I will finish on a point that has been made by a number of members, which is about the language that we use. Freedom of speech, the right to free assembly and the right to protest are fundamental to a free society and a liberal democracy. However, all too often, of late, some people out there have articulated their activities as being predicated on those principles but have veered into the type of language that I find reprehensible. Many of us—most of us; all of us, indeed—find it reprehensible. Those people are causing concern. In that regard, Q Manivannan was right about the importance of the choice of language that we deploy. We should all remember that. Michelle Campbell and Patricia Gibson made the point about the manner in which we seek to engage in discourse.
When we see some of the activities that are causing real concern and are motivated by various forms of extremism—right now, the main challenge is far-right extremism, which we have seen on our streets in the past few days—we must show leadership. We must call out any rhetoric of that nature. That is something that I am committed to, and we should commit to it collectively, because that is the type of call that, I think, Jo Cox, her foundation and, indeed, Ms Young, in this members’ business debate, have sought to make. We must all aspire to achieve that.
Meeting closed at 18:53.