Meeting of the Parliament 05 February 2026 [Draft]
I agree with our convener. We almost need a form of expedited process. I am not talking about a change to standing orders; I simply mean that we need a way of looking at the evidence that will come to the committee, the amendments and the views that we will receive on those amendments. I am looking forward to that process, although I think that it will involve some late nights.
It has been hard for the committee to get its head around the breadth of the bill that Monica Lennon has put before Parliament. This is really challenging stuff. At stages 2 and 3, we will need to get our heads around whether there is a consensus on key areas of the bill that need to be changed.
In her response to the committee’s stage 1 report, the cabinet secretary says that the opportunity for further reform of section 40 of the 2014 act in this session has passed. However, she will be aware that my colleague Ross Greer moved amendments at stage 2 of the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill to increase the penalties under the RRA, and I am sure that that is an area that Green MSPs will want to address in some form at stage 2. We cannot allow perpetrators of environmental crime—especially those who have been reckless and have damaged the environment through neglect—to get away with ecocide because the crime may be too difficult to prosecute under the bill’s provisions.
In my closing speech, I will turn to some other aspects of the bill and the evidence, but I reassure Monica Lennon that Scottish Green MSPs will be voting for her bill at stage 1 at decision time.