Chamber
Plenary, 21 Mar 2007
21 Mar 2007 · S2 · Plenary
Item of business
Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3
By the law of averages, I have no right to be standing here, because I worked in the shipyards. In 1947—60 years ago now—I worked in the city of Johannesburg as a young apprentice marine engineer. I worked in an area roughly the size of the chamber with scaffolding up either side of the inside of the ship's hull. Young apprentice laggers who put on the asbestos would make snowballs out of it and have snowball fights back and forward. Asbestos fell like snow on everyone in the hull of the ship. How they did not all die more or less instantly is beyond my comprehension. I used to go home at night and my boiler suit was white with asbestos. Many women have died because they came into contact with the deadly asbestos through washing their son's or husband's overalls.
The bill is tremendous. Thanks are due to Des McNulty and others who have pushed the issue. The bill has gone through in a consensual way, which is how the Parliament should work. As was said, there is far more to politics than yah-boo debates and First Minister's question time.
I had a good friend, Alex Forbes, who died, it was said, of lung cancer. With hindsight, his death was obviously due to asbestos poisoning. He drilled and countersunk holes in huge slabs of asbestos on a daily basis. That was about 30 years ago—there is no chance of compensation for him or any of his family. Thinking back to the conditions under which people worked, there was ignorance of the fact that asbestos was a dangerous substance to use. It took a long while for that to be realised.
When I see people with their masks on to lift little layers of asbestos out of buildings, I shake my head and think, "My goodness, I didn't realise the danger I was in." At the same time, I was on 40 to 60 cigarettes a day. I stopped smoking on 4 July last year, thanks to the legislation that was passed in this building. People cannot get a smoke nowadays. I am into my 10th month without a cigarette, cigar or pipe, and that is due to this place. We are doing some good. The Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill is excellent, and I thank the Executive for steering it through.
The bill is tremendous. Thanks are due to Des McNulty and others who have pushed the issue. The bill has gone through in a consensual way, which is how the Parliament should work. As was said, there is far more to politics than yah-boo debates and First Minister's question time.
I had a good friend, Alex Forbes, who died, it was said, of lung cancer. With hindsight, his death was obviously due to asbestos poisoning. He drilled and countersunk holes in huge slabs of asbestos on a daily basis. That was about 30 years ago—there is no chance of compensation for him or any of his family. Thinking back to the conditions under which people worked, there was ignorance of the fact that asbestos was a dangerous substance to use. It took a long while for that to be realised.
When I see people with their masks on to lift little layers of asbestos out of buildings, I shake my head and think, "My goodness, I didn't realise the danger I was in." At the same time, I was on 40 to 60 cigarettes a day. I stopped smoking on 4 July last year, thanks to the legislation that was passed in this building. People cannot get a smoke nowadays. I am into my 10th month without a cigarette, cigar or pipe, and that is due to this place. We are doing some good. The Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill is excellent, and I thank the Executive for steering it through.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Mr George Reid):
NPA
The next item of business is a debate on motion S2M-5628, in the name of Cathy Jamieson, that the Parliament agrees that the Rights of Relatives to Damages (...
The Deputy Minister for Justice (Johann Lamont):
Lab
The Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill is a short but significant piece of legislation that will help a small group of people who ...
Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP):
SNP
I apologise, as I will have to leave the debate before the conclusion of the final speeches to go to a meeting of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.T...
Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con):
Con
It is a pleasure to speak in support of this short and unusual bill. It is a measure of the unanimity of the support for the bill that there were no stage 3 ...
Mike Pringle (Edinburgh South) (LD):
LD
I am pleased to speak at stage 3 of the Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill.I have been in the Parliament for only four years, wher...
Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab):
Lab
I think that the member is correct. I cannot recall a previous occasion on which there were no amendments to a bill at stage 3—although I am sure that I will...
Mike Pringle:
LD
Absolutely—without question.The non-contentious nature of this bill was clearly evident in the shortest ever briefing from the Law Society of Scotland. I was...
Mrs Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab):
Lab
I, too, am pleased to speak in the debate. As members said, many people should be congratulated on their support for the bill: my Labour colleagues Des McNul...
Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP):
SNP
As I have said before, we whole-heartedly welcome the bill as a means of bringing some justice to those who are affected by mesothelioma and their relatives....
Eleanor Scott (Highlands and Islands) (Green):
Green
In my brief speech, I will record my party's support for the bill. This is a short, circumscribed but very important bill, which, because it has received sup...
Frances Curran (West of Scotland) (SSP):
SSP
The Scottish Socialist Party very much welcomes and supports the bill. Politics is about power: who has it and how they use it. Although I am part of the con...
Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab):
Lab
Members know that there has been a long history of tackling the injustice of mesothelioma. The Parliament has attempted to use its powers to reform the law, ...
John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP):
SSCUP
By the law of averages, I have no right to be standing here, because I worked in the shipyards. In 1947—60 years ago now—I worked in the city of Johannesburg...
Mike Pringle:
LD
The Deputy Minister for Justice set out all the essential details of the bill, so I will not go over them again. She made an extremely good point about an is...
John Swinburne:
SSCUP
I think that it was not so much that the employers did not know, as that they did not care. That is the difference.
Mike Pringle:
LD
I agree almost entirely with that point. That shows how irresponsible some of our industries were, given that the facts were known a long time ago.This is a ...
Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con):
Con
I declare a technical interest, in that I am the beneficiary of an insurance company pension. I am sure that this is the first time that anyone in the Parlia...
Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP):
SNP
It is no great secret that we have some fairly confrontational debates in this place from time to time and that, although we speak this afternoon in a spirit...
The Deputy Minister for Communities (Des McNulty):
Lab
I am delighted to have the opportunity to wind up this debate on the Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill, which takes forward the w...