Meeting of the Parliament 26 May 2016
NHS Scotland has been among those contributing to the case that is being made to the UK Government for a migration system that works for Scotland and our public services. Tavish Scott’s point is well made that our NHS in particular is dependent on the very skilled—and very welcome—medical staff in our hospitals who come from other EU countries, and that is why we need to recognise the positive contribution that EU and indeed other migrants make to Scotland. Having said that, I find it interesting that UK nationals who live and work abroad are referred to as expats while those from the rest of the EU who work here are called migrants.
Moving on, I believe that protecting our environment and tackling climate change are global challenges. European decisions have helped us to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions by almost nine tenths in the past four decades, and nitrogen oxide levels have decreased by two thirds in Scotland since 1990. We have to act collectively to solve such problems; after all, environmental issues cross borders and geographies. The EU sets standards for European nations and its projects encourage the co-operation and innovation necessary in developing new technologies, including renewables.
That is of particular benefit to Scotland. Only this week, over £500 million-worth of EU investment in the Moray Firth Beatrice wind farm was announced. That project will eventually be worth £2.5 billion and will deliver many employment and community benefits to Caithness and Scotland as a whole.
Being in the EU puts Scotland in the vanguard of the global effort against climate change. Ahead of last year’s Paris summit, the EU was, as the representative of 28 member states, able to negotiate far more effectively than any of those member states would have done on their own. Co-operation across borders is a necessity in today’s interconnected world. Whether we are talking about climate negotiations or the current refugee crisis facing the EU, international problems require countries to work together more, not less.
As for the issue of sovereignty, I believe that Scotland should be an independent country precisely so that it can decide for itself the bodies and organisations it can pool or share its sovereignty with as an independent nation in an interdependent world.
The economic benefits of EU membership are well known.