Meeting of the Parliament 12 June 2025
I am grateful to Fergus Ewing for the important points that he makes. It is not just a matter of whether it shames the Scottish Government—it shames Scotland that we are not doing the right thing by the survivors, and we should leave no stone unturned. It is good that we are having a members’ business debate today, thanks to Colin Smyth’s efforts, but the subject should be debated in the chamber again in Government time, or perhaps in Opposition time. This cannot be the last word.
It is good that, between the efforts of the convener, Jackson Carlaw; Maurice Golden, who is in the chamber today; and Foysol Choudhury, Fergus Ewing and Maggie Chapman, from whom we have also heard, we know that there are many members on all sides of the chamber who care. I know that there are some limitations on what we can say today, and time is always short in a members’ business debate, but I wanted to speak briefly just to demonstrate, again, my solidarity with the Fornethy women.
I knew nothing about Fornethy house or about the survivors until I had a chance encounter outside the Scottish Parliament back in March 2022. I was walking on by—I was there to meet with other campaigners—when I was approached by some of the women. They asked me and my researcher, “Are you MSPs?” and we stopped to chat. I was able to refer some the women, including Marion Reid, to Colin Smyth, given the links to his region, and to my friend and colleague Lynsey Hamilton. Lynsey is currently on maternity leave, or she would have been in the public gallery to support the women today.
That brings me back to Fergus Ewing’s final remarks in his speech: doing nothing is not an option. For me, that chance encounter was a lesson in not being a bystander. Although I am a regular visitor to the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee to speak to other campaigns, I have watched other colleagues, including Martin Whitfield, take this campaign forward. There have been dozens of parliamentary questions, and there has been involvement at the highest level, including from the Deputy First Minister. I know Kate Forbes to be a good person with a good heart, and I know that she will be listening very carefully and will do everything that she can to ensure that we can, together, knock down all the barriers that are apparently in the way.
I am grateful to you, Deputy Presiding Officer, for giving me a little bit of time back. This is about the pursuit of truth, and about justice. I hear what colleagues have said about the redress scheme and the fact that not everyone will want to pursue that route, but it is important that it is there for those who want to access it.
I know that many of the women have had to use a lot of their own money to pay for therapeutic interventions, including therapy. The experience has had an impact and left them with lasting trauma, and everyone’s journey will be different—that should be acknowledged. We have previously united in the Parliament to say sorry to those affected by historical forced adoption, for example, and I was grateful to the former First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, for listening to my call to work cross-party on that issue. This is another issue on which we have to unite and come together, and I know that the Deputy First Minister will do everything that she can.