Hansard

On behalf of the Scottish Greens, I welcome the bill and thank all those who helped to bring it—at last—to stage 3. I thank my committee colleagues, the clerks and all those who gave evidence, provided briefings and shared helpful conversations.

This has not always been an easy bill to navigate, but the progress that has been made and the co-operation that has been achieved between stakeholders, Government and Opposition represent a source of encouragement for the future.

The bill is, in many ways, a compromise, falling short of the radical reform that was called for in Esther Roberton’s report. It is nonetheless valuable and necessary for legal professionals and for those whose interests we, as Scottish Greens, are most concerned about—the people without wealth, power or privilege, for whom good legal services are too often out of reach. People typically need those legal services at some of the most stressful times in their lives—when they are moving home, setting up a business, dealing with bereavement or negotiating separation or divorce, or following accidents, work difficulties or involvement with the criminal justice system. Legal professionals who are skilled and sensitive, conscientious and good at communicating can make a huge difference to people’s lives by lifting burdens, solving problems and providing real support and representation when they are most needed.

Of course, the converse is also the case at times. When legal professionals are slow, careless, incompetent, extortionate or absent, transactions become problems, problems become crises and crises become catastrophes. If, in addition, the system that is supposed to address complaints and redress wrongs does not work efficiently, those difficulties are multiplied. If the system is slow, complex and mysterious, if it uses language that is alienating and even insulting, and if it does not seem to listen, the legacy of legal experience can be bitter indeed.

The bill sets out to reform and improve those systems, enabling them not only to intervene swiftly and fairly when things have already gone wrong but to act proactively to prevent the spread of bad practice and bad experience. What people want so much and so often is to know that the same thing will not happen to someone else.

Access not just to law but to justice is a key foundation of what we Greens believe in. That includes access to good legal services and to redress when they are not received. It also includes dimensions of justice that are not addressed by the bill but are of urgent importance.

One of those is simply access to legal services. For many people across Scotland, legal advice and representation on matters of the utmost gravity, such as their homes, livelihoods, children, safety and liberty, are simply not available, because of either cost barriers or geographical distance. Legal aid reform is long, long overdue.

Another is access to appropriate courts and remedies. An environmental court with specialist expertise and a problem-solving approach would save resources of all kinds—time and money, as well as biodiversity, precious green space and the wellbeing of our communities.

The human rights bill that we campaigned so passionately for would have opened up a route to remedy for violations of fundamental human rights of dignity, equality and respect. At a time when those rights for disabled people, transgender people and people who are seeking asylum and home are under unprecedented threat, access to justice matters desperately.

I welcome the bill, and we will vote for it at decision time this evening. I am grateful to all who have got us here, but we still have so much work to do. I urge us all to remember that, as we vote on the bill this evening, we are talking not only about law but about justice.