Hansard

The debate has been interesting and helpful. The view in the chamber on migration and trafficking has been universal. Like everyone else, I commend the committee—under the first-class convenership of Margaret Mitchell—for the way in which it conducted the inquiry and for conducting its work professionally during the parliamentary session.

The debate is a testament to our pride in our migrant populations in Scotland. It is heartening to hear that colleagues from across the political spectrum agree that migrants continue to make positive social, economic and cultural contributions to shaping Scotland.

I will pick up on as many points that have been raised as I can. I will start by tackling migration issues. We all agree that migration is a key element of economic growth, which is the Government’s number 1 policy priority and is probably a priority that is shared across the chamber.

We believe that the current devolution settlement makes it more challenging for Scotland to address our unique demographic and population issues. Throughout the debate, we have talked about the need for us to provide leadership and strong messages of support to migrant communities and said that we should try to combat overtly negative press and ill-informed attitudes towards migration. I believe that the committee and the Parliament have demonstrated that leadership today as well as the need to raise that awareness.

It is particularly challenging for Scotland to disseminate welcoming messages across the world, as it is, when the UK Government is actively discouraging immigration by placing an annual limit on it. We will continue to press the UK Government to consider a more flexible approach that reflects Scotland's needs and, indeed, the needs of the wider UK economy. That position is reflected right across industry and society as a whole. As David Lonsdale, the Confederation of British Industry Scotland’s assistant director, said about migration:

“It's important that we get the structure right and that sufficient flexibility is built in so that highly skilled people who are essential to work being done in Scotland can get a work permit more readily”.

Also, the Federation of Small Businesses said the cap was the

“economics of the sixth form”

and claimed that it could stop businesses filling vacancies during times of high demand. On the other side of industry, both the Scottish Trades Union Congress and Unison have commented on the issue. The STUC said that

“Migrant workers bring valuable skills and are valuable members of our community”

while Unison said that

“public services in Scotland would struggle to cope without the skills of migrant workers.”

As a number of members said, it was helpful that the committee heard evidence that people and the press in Scotland are more positive towards migrants than is the case in other parts of the UK. The Government agrees that more needs to be done, however. As Elaine Smith highlighted in her speech, sections of press coverage remain overwhelmingly negative. As a Government, we recognise that we have a role to play in pressing home positive messages and tackling racism and misunderstanding where and when we can. For example, the Scottish connections hub in the one Scotland, many cultures anti-racism website celebrates the benefits of migration to Scotland. We are clear that asylum seekers, refugees and migrants must be treated fairly and humanely and must be welcomed and supported.

We continue to work with strategic partners such as BEMIS and the Scottish Refugee Council to look at ways to raise awareness and dispel myths about migration in our communities. That work is supported across Scotland. Academics at the University of Stirling have said that the way in which news on immigration issues is framed in Scotland differs from the way in which it is framed in other parts of the UK. They have noted that when Scotland-based media run inaccurate headlines, articles or television pieces on asylum seekers and immigration, they tend to respond more quickly to criticism than do those based in other parts of the UK. That is not to say that everything in Scotland is rosy—far from it—but we need to celebrate the positives as well as challenge and face up to the negatives.

There are many other issues that I would like to cover, but unfortunately I do not have time. It is very important that on issues such as migration and trafficking the Parliament speaks with one voice: we all need to say that, on this issue, we will not separate on party-political lines. On that basis, we can all be proud of the debate that has been held today.

17:24