Meeting of the Parliament 17 February 2026 [Draft]
I think that we will—the cabinet secretary is correct.
Of course children must be respected and they must be heard, but the Conservatives also recognise the foundational truth that children are children. Capacity and responsibility develop, and that is precisely why parental responsibility exists in law. Parents carry duties because children do not yet carry full legal responsibility. That settlement is not outdated. It reflects human reality.
What concerns me more broadly is the direction of travel that is reflected in the bill, because there are voices in our politics who are increasingly uneasy about the idea that the family is the primary unit of moral and social formation. There is an instinct that the state should stand above the family as the final arbiter of disputes even where no harm is alleged. I reject that instinct. The family is the foundational institution of our society. Families come in all forms, but they share a common function. They are the place where children are loved, nurtured, guided and formed. The state can support that, but it cannot replicate it and it should not casually displace it. In recent years, we have seen attempts to extend the reach of the state into areas that were once clearly understood as parental responsibilities. The Supreme Court has reminded this Parliament that constitutional boundaries exist.
I think that I have gone over my time, so I will conclude. Scotland has long been served well by strong families and strong schools, each respecting the proper boundaries of the other, and I do not believe that a case has been made for unsettling that balance. For those reasons, I and we, on the Conservatives’ side of the chamber, will not support the bill in its final form.