Meeting of the Parliament 13 June 2018
I do not have time; I have only four minutes.
We will continue to set out that agenda, even before independence. The demand for a specific net-zero carbon target in the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill is one current example of the determination to achieve transformation that Scotland must show, right now, to assure our future direction of travel.
I welcome the publication of the growth commission report, not as a proposition to fall in line behind, but as an invitation to contest the ideas that it contains—ideas that need to be contested.
Finally, I was surprised and disappointed to see a motion from the Liberal Democrats that is headed “Finance and the Constitution” but which says nothing—not a single word—about the most immediate and urgent financial and constitutional threat to Scotland. The Liberal Democrats say that they want to oppose Brexit and all the self-destructive chaos that it is bringing—but there is not one word about it. That is why my amendment ends with a recognition of the positive economic, social and environmental policies that Scotland could be putting into practice as a full, independent member of the international community and the European Union.
I move amendment S5M-12708.3, to leave out from “Sustainable Growth Commission” to end and insert,
“SNP’s Sustainable Growth Commission; further notes concerns that the commission’s report relies heavily on a flawed economic model that places GDP growth ahead of broader measures to increase Scotland’s prosperity; further notes the Scottish Green Party’s publication, Jobs in Scotland’s New Economy, which argued that, by focussing on delivering low-carbon improvements across the energy, land-use and industrial sectors, Scotland could create over 200,000 new green jobs, and recognises that similarly-sized small countries are successfully implementing progressive economic, social and environmental policies that Scotland could match as a full independent member of the international community and the EU.”
16:20Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.