Meeting of the Parliament 08 December 2022
I completely agree with Alex Cole-Hamilton’s comments, which are supported by Bruce Adamson—the Children and Young People’s Commissioner—and others, who are specifically looking for the bill to be brought forward and for the Government to produce a timetable and lodge amendments, in order to progress it. For the life of me, I cannot understand why that is so difficult, given that there has been such a long period of time. We all worked so hard to get to this point.
Lord Reed said that the bill had been deliberately drafted in a way that went beyond the competency of Holyrood and would undermine the Scotland Act 1998. Despite being warned about the bill’s problems, the Government—the SNP—charged ahead, with the sole aim of pinning the blame on the UK Government. Despite knowing that the problems were purely legal and had nothing to do with the bill’s principles, it used the bill to attack the UK Government repeatedly. Despite all members agreeing, as we do today, that a legally competent UNCRC bill would be a positive thing, the SNP decided that creating a grievance was more important.
For proof that the SNP’s motivations were purely political, we can look at what has happened to the bill since then. It has not been passed by the Parliament, the Scottish Government has dragged its heels and its actions have delayed the bill from coming into law and, now, it is so distracted that progress on the bill has ground to a complete halt. Prioritising grievance over the protection of the rights of the child is hardly the progressive politics that the Government would have the country believe it stands for, and it is a shameful way to act.
Today, while Scottish Conservative MSPs raise human rights abuses and champion human rights defenders across the globe, we will also hold the SNP to account for its failures at home. It consistently points the finger down south, often without any justification, but when it comes to what is happening right here in Scotland, it stays silent—unless there is a way to attack the UK Government. By its actions, it has let down the Parliament and made a mockery of what we should be trying to achieve.
Too often, the Parliament is not focused on what really matters—on people’s priorities, including children’s priorities—and it does not make the necessary difference to people’s lives right here in Scotland. It is exploited by SNP members to further their own selfish political obsession, even if that means sidelining a children’s rights bill—which is absolutely disgraceful—or railroading a debate about international human rights day.
I move amendment S6M-07133.2, to leave out from “agrees” to end and insert:
“expresses concern for the abuse of human rights across the world, particularly in Ukraine, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the People’s Republic of China; welcomes the UK Government’s commitment of £2.3 billion in military aid towards Ukraine; recognises that the UK Government has been at the forefront of developing human rights laws and norms and expresses disappointment that the Scottish Government has politicised human rights, particularly when it comes to the rights of children, and, to this end, regrets that the Parliament has still not been provided with a timescale for the return of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill, over one year after the Supreme Court declared that the Bill had been drafted in terms that 'deliberately exceed the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament', and calls on the Scottish Government to make the necessary amendments to the Bill as a matter of urgency."
15:48Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.