Hansard

I am really pleased to bring to the chamber my first members’ business debate, on better protection for Scotland’s war memorials. I appreciate that I am cutting it a bit fine, as I go on maternity leave next week, but I am honoured to have the opportunity to raise such an important issue on behalf of veterans and community groups across Scotland.

Before I begin, I would like to mention the friends of Dennistoun war memorial group. Unfortunately, the group’s members are unable to be in Parliament today, but they have been at the forefront of the campaign to introduce better legislation on our war memorials, so I thank them for all their effort and hard work.

Today is 15 June—a rather innocuous date. To many of us in the chamber, it is simply another Wednesday in the calendar. However, during the great war, 15 June resulted in 2,637 recorded casualties for Britain and her Commonwealth allies. That is 2,637 sons, fathers, brothers and husbands who would never come home. Most of those men still lie in foreign lands, where they went to serve and where they ultimately died. As the poem says,

“and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.”

War memorials were commissioned throughout towns and villages in Scotland to commemorate the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could live in a world that was free of tyranny and oppression. For many of the families and relatives, the memorials provide the only focal point for remembering. It is the names of their loved ones that have been etched on the hundreds of war memorials across the country. The memorials are emotive and are at the heart of our communities.

Many gather at these impressive structures at least once a year, on 11 November at 11 am, so that we can come together to remember all those who have been commemorated in stone. It is important that we continue to meet at those landmarks and that younger generations are educated on what those who are named on the structures fought and died for.

Since 1966, there have been 66 attacks on war memorials in Scotland. Although the number appears to be low, almost 70 per cent of those attacks have occurred within the past decade. That is a worrying trend. Data shows that most attacks have taken place across the central belt, in particular in the area that I represent. During my time as a councillor and now as an MSP, I have been made aware of several incidents in which war memorials have been damaged and vandalised.

The first incident, in 2019, involved the war memorial situated in the Duchess park in Motherwell. I was horrified by the wording of the graffiti that had been drawn all over the names of soldiers who fought and died for our country. Words such as “fascists” and “rats”, alongside the phrase—I apologise in advance for reading this out—“scum of the earth”, were written in red wax that had stained the stone. Although some community members attempted to clean it off, a specialist stonemason was required to carry out the repair work. Like many, I was grateful that the council acted quickly, and the memorial was restored in just a matter of days. However, I was disgusted that someone could be so cruel and disrespectful.

Following that attack, I have been involved in dealing with other incidents, including at the memorial in Coatbridge, the Spanish civil war memorial in Motherwell and the Holytown war memorial. I know that some of my central belt MSP colleagues—