Meeting of the Parliament 02 April 2025
Members of Christina’s family and Keith, there are days when this place sits in shadow—in times of national crisis or of political rancour and on days of grief such as today—but there are times when it absolutely shines. More often than not, the spoken contributions of Christina McKelvie lent themselves to the latter occasions.
We came from different political traditions, but I recognised the defiant brightness with which she carried herself from our first meeting, long before I entered politics, in my days as a youth worker. I will never forget the giddy joy that she brought to Aberlour’s “Strictly Come Dancing” fundraiser, when, after a chance meeting with Keith Brown on a train, I persuaded them both to enter months of training ahead of that event.
Christina was well regarded at home and overseas. I was so impressed at the warmth with which she was greeted on a committee trip to Strasbourg by parliamentarians, diplomats and human rights defenders alike. Indeed, the defence of human rights was absolutely central to who Christina was. Presiding Officer, you might recall that she came perilously close to being ejected from the chamber when she wore a Pussy Riot cap in solidarity with the Russian rock band that had been incarcerated for standing up to Putin.
I was Christina’s deputy convener on the Equalities and Human Rights Committee for much of the previous parliamentary session, so I got to know her pretty well, and I was always very fond of her. If you were to ask me to summarise Christina’s personality in three words, I would use these: love, light and laughter. That is so uncommon in the world of politics but, in the final analysis, what else really matters?
On behalf of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, I express our sincere condolences to all those who loved Christina and who grieve her loss today. [Applause.]
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