Meeting of the Parliament 21 January 2016
Jean Urquhart is absolutely right. We have had experience of that. In one case that we represented, the person involved discovered that one of their maternal grandparents was Irish. They and their partner-to-be went to Ireland and, because of the law there, they were allowed to marry and become Irish citizens.
I have been involved in many appeals and I thank all the organisations, individuals and lawyers—Fraser Latta in particular—who give a great deal of their time to work for asylum seekers. Many asylum seekers who won their cases on appeal now live and work in Scotland. They have small businesses and are a great asset to Scotland. If they had been sent back, that asset would have been lost. Some of them would probably have been dead by now if they had not won their appeal. I am really concerned about the proposal on the First-tier Tribunal.
On television last night—others might have seen this, too—I saw two young Syrian girls in Clydebank who were scooting along a corridor on scooters that neighbours had donated. I think that they said that Clydebank was paradise. I am not sure that I would go as far as that, but I could see the sheer happiness and relief on their faces that they were safe and that no more bombs were dropping on them. Surely that is what we want in Scotland and not this terrible bill.
12:56