Meeting of the Parliament 13 December 2016
I would like to make some progress, please. I am four minutes into my speech.
As Liam Kerr said, the UK Government has committed to resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020, of which I am really proud. The UK Government has played a leading role in ensuring that refugees from Syria are resettled here with the housing, healthcare and infrastructure that they need. I am proud to have played a role in that, as an Aberdeen city councillor. The community planning partnership in Aberdeen has worked to ensure that Syrian refugee families are supported in our communities to adjust to their new life in Scotland.
Since those people have settled in the city—this touches on a point that was raised by James Dornan—we have heard the horror stories of beheadings and crucifixion at the hands of Isis, of families starving to death with no food or electricity, and of the devastation that is being caused by the war that has driven the refugees to leave their homes. I am proud that Aberdeen is playing a vital role in making our multicultural city home to 100 Syrian refugees.
Sandra White said that Scotland is different and that we need a much more flexible approach to immigration. It is worth making the point to her that Scotland is not so different. According to the migration observatory at the University of Oxford, 58 per cent of Scots support reduced immigration to Scotland. In 2015, a YouGov poll found that 49 per cent of Scots—exactly the same percentage of people as across Britain—want less immigration. If Sandra White will not take my word for it, perhaps she will take the word of the First Minister, who said that
“there are not ‘radically different’ views on immigration between Scotland and the rest of the UK.”
Tavish Scott mentioned the situation in Aleppo, which we all know remains dire and desperate. In relation to the status of EU migrants, let us be clear that, as the Law Society of Scotland has reiterated, the UK Government has stated:
“EU nationals who have lived continuously and lawfully in the UK for at least 5 years automatically have a permanent right to reside.”