Meeting of the Parliament 27 November 2025
I welcome to the public gallery representatives from Women’s Rights Network Scotland and Beira’s Place, along with survivors of domestic abuse. Today, we held a vigil outside the Parliament, remembering the 46 women who have been killed by men in Scotland in the past five years. Behind every statistic is a real-life story of a woman whose future has been erased and whose family has been shattered.
Shockingly, the statistics continue to rise. The latest figures show that almost 64,000 incidents of domestic abuse have been recorded by Police Scotland, while there has been an 11 per cent increase in the number of reported rape cases. Let us also not forget that there are grooming gangs operating in Scotland, although the Scottish National Party Government wants to believe that they are not a problem, so it sticks its head in the sand.
Will the First Minister finally commit to backing my Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill, which will better monitor perpetrators and prevent potential victims from becoming victims in the first place? Will he do the right thing and also agree to a grooming gangs inquiry, so that we can uncover the true scale of the abuse of women and girls that is occurring in Scotland?