Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 10 June 2021
I will hold on because I am hoping that the cabinet secretary will respond to the questions when he is summing up. I will get on with some of the words I have here.
The SNP has broken its 2016 promise on the flagship victims surcharge fund; it did not provide even one fifth of the money that it pledged. I ask the cabinet secretary this: is that supporting the most vulnerable people in society?
Only half of violent criminals are going to jail. I ask the cabinet secretary this: does that send out the message that the Government is fighting criminals?
The criminal court trial backlog has more than doubled in a year and will not be cleared for years. I ask the cabinet secretary this: does that show a Government that is taking its responsibilities seriously?
We are at breaking point due to poor management and ineffectiveness from the SNP in Scotland. That is not what the Scottish people deserve from the SNP Scottish Government. We need to do better. The SNP Government is playing with people’s lives and livelihoods.
The Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service says that it will take four years for the courts’ backlog to reach normality. That is not good enough. How many victims will have to wait for justice to be served? How many families will have to go through emotional torment while perpetrators and criminals are able to evade justice?
After 14 years of failures from this Government, which is letting down the people of Scotland, I am surprised that it is still pushing its dividing separatist agenda. Before it blames the United Kingdom Government, let me remind Parliament that justice is a devolved power, which means that the SNP Scottish Government is responsible for ensuring people’s safety in their communities.
Our communities deserve to see their police force on the streets. When was the last time members saw some police on the beat? Today, they are nowhere to be seen. Why? It is because of the SNP’s centralisation.
There was once a time when victims were at the heart of our justice system and criminals were treated like criminals. Today, criminals in Scotland are treated better than the victims. Why? It is because the SNP favours that.
Our emergency workers are true heroes and have shown incredible bravery during the coronavirus pandemic. It is disturbing to see that there have been 851 assaults on emergency workers in West Scotland during the pandemic, when those workers were keeping Scotland safe.
I move on to knife crime. Knife crime is a blight on our communities and has no place in a civilised society, but where I live in East Dunbartonshire, there has been a worrying spike in knife crime and violent crime. Just two weeks ago, a gang of youths wearing balaclavas jumped out of a car and stabbed a 17-year-old, before chasing him for nearly half a mile. In addition, last week a 24-year-old man was rushed to hospital with serious injuries after being attacked by two men with knives. I want to stand here today and give confidence to our residents, but the reality is that those crimes could happen to any one of us.
It is just not good enough. The SNP needs to step up and take the fight to the criminals, or to step aside and let the Scottish Conservatives do the job that it is failing to do. The Scottish Conservatives would keep dangerous offenders off the streets, restore local policing and champion victims’ rights. That is the change that we would like to see from the Scottish Government in the next 100 days—in actions, not words.
If the SNP is serious about tackling crime, it will work together with the Scottish Conservatives to give victims the protection that they deserve with a victims law, and it will put criminals behind bars. There are no excuses.
15:26