Meeting of the Parliament 17 June 2014
I thank Alison McInnes, but she knows what they say, and if you get into bed with someone, you have to take the consequences. Her Liberal Democrat colleagues went into coalition with the Conservatives and Westminster and that is what they got. They could have stood up for themselves in other ways.
The Liberal Democrats’ pledge on children in Dungavel unravelled as quickly as their pledge to support free education. As we learned, children were simply transferred to other detention centres. In some cases—and this is absolutely true—children are still being detained at Dungavel.
Jamie McGrigor said that his party supports the work that is being done by the UK Government. Does he mean the racist slogans on the vans that I mentioned? Does he mean his party’s drive to appear to be more racist and xenophobic than the UK Independence Party to appeal to voters? That is what it seems like to me and many others. I am not sure, but to say that the system is working is untrue.
We know that the Home Office is not fit for purpose and that refugees and asylum seekers are treated badly while being used as scapegoats for any of society’s ills. Rather than hiding from that, we need to look at how we can promote a fairer system, and how we can foster trust and respect rather than mutual distrust. “New Scots: Integrating Refugees in Scotland’s Communities” is a good starting place, but we must recognise that the Home Office and UKBA are not fit for purpose, and that we will be able to create a fairer and more inclusive refugee and asylum system only through independence and control of immigration.
16:03