Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 28 June 2016
28 Jun 2016 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
European Union Referendum (Implications for Scotland)
It is easy to listen to the First Minister and her party and think that the European result tells a single story. It does not. It tells 33,551,983 individual stories, with people from all backgrounds, from all corners of our United Kingdom and from different political persuasions coming together to take part in the largest exercise in democracy that our islands have ever seen.
People voted leave or remain for a multitude of reasons, and rightly so. It was a complicated decision, with many competing—and, in some cases, mutually unattractive—outcomes. In that context, we must now be gracious enough to accept that the overall result here in Scotland is just one dimension of that. Rather than jump to hasty conclusions, as the First Minister has, we must take time to digest that fact and reflect on what the result means for people in Scotland and elsewhere in our United Kingdom. In the long run, people will not look kindly on political posturing or idle speculation. Now, more than ever, we have a responsibility to pull together and knuckle down to the task in hand.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Ken Macintosh)
NPA
We will now have a full debate on the European Union referendum. I ask the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs to move the motion tha...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
I ask members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request-to-speak buttons. I also suggest that we allow the opening speakers for each party not t...
Ruth Davidson (Edinburgh Central) (Con)
Con
I thank the First Minister for advance notice of her statement. Too often, political events are described as “seismic” or “earth-shattering” when, in truth,...
Kezia Dugdale (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
We live in uncertain times. The social, political and economic order has been turned upside down. It will take many months and years for us to fully grasp th...
Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green)
Green
I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to a debate that, like others, I wish we did not have to have. I thank the First Minister for providing an ad...
Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD)
LD
I have lost elections. I took my loss in Dunfermline in 2010 very hard and very personally. However, no election defeat has made me feel like I felt in the e...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
I thank members for not intervening on any of the opening speeches.
Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. The decision last Thursday has huge consequences for all our constituents and for this country. By Friday, Parliament...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
I thank Mr Findlay. That is not a point of order, but it was a matter for consideration at the business bureau this morning, and the business managers of all...
Joan McAlpine (South Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
I am sure that many members from across the chamber will have been as shocked as I was this morning to hear Lord Forsyth, who was on the board of the Ieave c...
Adam Tomkins (Glasgow) (Con)
Con
In my first speech in this Parliament, I said that I wanted the UK to remain in the EU. As such—like most members on the Conservative and all other benches—t...
Mike Rumbles (North East Scotland) (LD)
LD
As Adam Tomkins may know, there is not one member in this Parliament who is more pro-UK than me. Given that the First Minister has said that a vote for the m...
Adam Tomkins
Con
I think that we should all work together to help the United Kingdom to negotiate what it means by leave, and to maintain and safeguard the interests of Scotl...
Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP)
SNP
I—like most members, I expect—spent a lot of time at the weekend attending constituency events. Literally thousands of people attended those events, and ever...
Douglas Ross (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
Will Richard Lochhead explain why, given the motion that he supports and is debating, he is the second of the two SNP back-bench speakers to move on to indep...
Richard Lochhead
SNP
It would be helpful if, for once, the Conservatives rallied round with all the other parties in the chamber and put the Scottish interest, rather than their ...
Anas Sarwar (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
I voted remain on Thursday because I believed that it was in the best interests of Scotland and the UK to do so. I felt a huge sadness on Friday morning as I...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Linda Fabiani)
SNP
Members are starting to allow their speeches to drift a bit over time. I ask members to have a thought about that. 15:25
Christina McKelvie (Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse) (SNP)
SNP
We face in Brexit something that I thought we would never have to face. Only a few weeks ago, I said that the leave campaign seemed to have taken leave of it...
Oliver Mundell (Dumfriesshire) (Con)
Con
It is easy to listen to the First Minister and her party and think that the European result tells a single story. It does not. It tells 33,551,983 individual...
Patrick Harvie
Green
Will the member give way?
Oliver Mundell
Con
I have no time. We are keeping strictly to time. In that spirit, I ask all those who voted to remain and who find themselves questioning the democratic proc...
Joan McAlpine
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Oliver Mundell
Con
No. Indeed, across Scotland, more than 1 million voters put their cross next to “Leave”—a larger number than put their cross next to Nicola Sturgeon’s name ...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Lab
In common with many in this chamber and across the country, I was bitterly disappointed at the result of the European Union referendum. It felt akin to a ber...
The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity (Fergus Ewing)
SNP
Will the member give way?
Jackie Baillie
Lab
No, I do not have time; I am in my final minute. Nicola Sturgeon said that the UK had changed, but the EU will also have changed.
Fergus Ewing
SNP
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Ms Baillie just said when she refused to take my intervention, Presiding Officer—
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
That is not a point of order, Mr Ewing. It is up to the speaker who she allows to intervene on her.
Fergus Ewing
SNP
Well, may I make a point about the courtesy and respect with which members should be treated?