Hansard

I welcome this chance to set out the positive case for the European Union.

Labour is Scotland’s internationalist party. We believe in solidarity beyond borders. We believe that sharing sovereignty makes us all stronger, wealthier and safer. We believe in Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom.

Sovereignty shared is sovereignty gained. Walking alone in the world would not mean freedom; it would mean powerlessness. It is a truth that we understand in our own lives—we need each other because together, with others, life is so much more fulfilling.

The vision of nations across a continent coming together has never been an easy one, but it has survived economic turmoil, the fall of communism and expansion to welcome nation after nation.

The changes that we lived through together in the first 60 years of our European family and in the 43 years since we joined are nothing compared with the upheaval that we are living through now, with the shift of power and prosperity to the east, the spread of jihadism, growing inequality, a more confrontational Russia, climate change, conflict within nations, the refugee crisis, disillusionment with democratic politics and the rise of the far right and anti-European parties that fill the void.

This is a test for all of Europe, but all of Europe’s eyes are currently on us. How will we react to the uncertainty of our world? Will we turn our back on our neighbours and turn in on ourselves, or will we face the world together? Will we be the outward-looking nation that made us so successful in the world and took us into Europe in the first place, or will we retreat? That is a question that all individuals and institutions will have to answer.

As with all parties, there is a variety of views on Europe in the Labour Party, and we will hear a bit of the socialist case for leave from my friend Elaine Smith later this morning. However, in contrast to the civil war in the Tory Cabinet or the confusion of nationalists who argue that we can share sovereignty with every European nation except our nearest neighbours, Labour will campaign enthusiastically for our place in the European Union.

This is a decision about where we believe the best future for the United Kingdom lies: in or out of Europe. Those in the leave campaign have attempted to make it a test of whether we believe in our country at all, and they question our patriotism. Those of us who believe in sharing sovereignty with our neighbours defeated those arguments two years ago, but in doing so we learned a hard lesson—that populist arguments cannot be underestimated. In this debate, therefore, the remain side must win the arguments that appeal to the head, but we have also learned that such an approach must be combined with a story that reaches people’s hearts.

We will make the economic case: the importance of trade within the EU is essential to Scottish jobs, as it is worth nearly £12 billion and second only in value to trade with the rest of the UK. We will argue the case for workers’ rights: Europe guarantees basic standards at work for millions of Scottish workers and workers in other nations, regardless of who is in government. Those European guarantees include four weeks’ paid holiday for all; the equal treatment of part-time and full-time workers; the legal principle of equal pay for equal work; maternity leave; and protection from discrimination due to age, race, gender, religion, disability or sexual orientation.

We will argue that, in a world of constant change and confusing new threats, we are more secure in bigger alliances than in standing alone. We will argue that we can tackle the threats to our environment only by working together and that the weight of 28 nations working together has enabled us to secure global action on climate change.

We will argue that case with reason but also with passion. We will make all those arguments, but we will also argue that there is something beautiful about being part of the European family. It is found not in the grey offices of officials in Brussels or in the columns of national balance sheets, but in the hundreds of millions of lives that are made more colourful, fulfilling and exciting in the cities and towns of Scotland, in the UK and in the 27 other nations.

My generation and that of my parents before me have become so used to being part of Europe that we do not stop to wonder at the achievement that the EU represents. We co-operate across an entire continent, sharing freedom and opportunity together. The continent, whose history is written in conflict and chaos, is now defined by peace and prosperity. The nations on the shores of the Mediterranean, the Baltic and the Black Sea, whose citizens lived under totalitarian regimes and military dictators, now take for granted their human rights and free speech, and democracy itself.

We have been a part of that; indeed, we built it. It is not perfect—of course it is not—but it is as extraordinary an achievement as any in our history. We are a more European country for having built that union. We are the richer for it, not just from the bump in our gross domestic product—as important as that is—but from the shared experiences, the mixing of cultures, the people we have come to know, and the amazing experiences and opportunities that the EU has brought to us. I fear we may not realise all of that until it is gone.

I do not listen to those who say that, on 23 June, Scotland will vote overwhelmingly to remain. There is no such thing as a guaranteed win in politics, and this is too important an argument to sit it out. It is too important for half-hearted support and too important not to lead. For my part, I will make the case with everything I have: the Labour case for Scotland and the UK in Europe.