Chamber and committees

In 2016, the people of Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the European Union, but the United Kingdom Government ignored that vote. Recognising that two countries of the UK had voted to remain, while two had voted to leave, the Scottish Government proposed a compromise, through which the UK would stay within the European single market. The UK Government also ignored that compromise proposal. Instead, the Tory Government at Westminster, under the leadership of Boris Johnson, decided on the hardest of Brexits and a distant relationship with the EU.

At the 2019 UK general election, the Tories sought a mandate for their hard Brexit approach. The people of Scotland gave their answer. The Tories were roundly defeated, and they lost more than half their Westminster seats. True to form, the Tories once again ignored the wishes of people in Scotland.

Then the pandemic hit. Such is their hard-Brexit obsession that even a global public health crisis, the likes of which we have never seen before, was not enough to persuade the Tories even to slow the pace of the economic hit that they were determined to impose on Scotland.

Over the past few days, we have seen the clearest evidence yet of the catastrophic consequences of that reckless decision to press ahead with a hard Brexit in the middle of a global pandemic. The Tories have taken aim at key Scottish industries. Shamefully, they have also taken aim at the poorest people in our society, thereby ensuring that people on low incomes pay the highest price for the disastrous decision to impose Brexit while people and businesses are trying to recover from the pandemic.

The abrupt end of freedom of movement has left Scotland, and the whole UK, with no flexibility to address the impacts of labour shortages in vital sectors of our economy, as is highlighted by the current disruption to fuel supplies that has been caused by a lack of heavy goods vehicle drivers.

On this issue, on which there is so much consensus across Scottish politics that what is going on with universal credit is totally unacceptable, it would be really welcome if Tory party members in this Parliament, who we know privately oppose the change that is being made by the UK Government, would find some courage, stand up in the chamber and call out the UK Government. That would be really welcome. I would be happy to give way to Liam Kerr if he is prepared to do so now.

No? I gave the gentleman an opportunity to make clear his unhappiness about the cut to universal credit. It will be noted that he did not take that opportunity.

The UK Government has placed a burden on those who can least afford it. It risks pushing more people into crisis and putting the most vulnerable people in our society at greater risk of food insecurity and homelessness. Within our powers, we are doing all that we can to support people who are on low incomes. The Scottish Government invested around £2.5 billion last year in targeted support, and we will continue that support through the winter. However, the Scottish Government has only limited power to address insufficient and insecure incomes, which are the key drivers of household food insecurity, and Government powers related to the energy market are reserved entirely. [Interruption.] I have to make some progress.

In the run up to the 2014 independence referendum, campaigners for voting no boasted about what they called

“the strength and security of the United Kingdom”.

They said to people in Scotland that they had to reject independence in order to remain within the European Union. Since then, we have had years of Tory austerity, Boris Johnson has been elected as Prime Minister and Scotland has been ignored and taken out of the EU. A hard Brexit has been imposed in the middle of a pandemic, and today, under Westminster control, people are queuing for hours in the search for petrol. There are even shortages of some foods.

The Tory Brexit obsession has hit our world-class food and drink industry, universities, manufacturers and service companies, and the Tories risk pushing 60,000 people in Scotland, including 20,000 children, into poverty, as they are about to take £20 a week away from working people on low incomes.

I commend the Labour Party for its tone and constructive suggestions on this question. The member will know that the funding package is a matter for the Home Office, and we have been pressing the Home Office and the UK Government to ensure that funding is fully in place. We are working on that with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities in general and with specific local authorities that are making moves to try to accept the Afghan refugees.

I am happy to work on behalf of the member and his party in pressing the UK Government to deliver on its commitments, and I urge him to amplify the calls that he has made in Parliament today.

Before today’s debate, I had a look on the main broadcasters of Poland, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands. Not a single one reported a problem in their country in relation to shortages in shops or labour market shortages. Why are shortages happening here and not in those countries?

It is the people of this country—not Boris Johnson and his band of Brexiteers—who have the right to decide their future.

Motion moved,

That the Parliament believes that the UK Government’s chaotic hard Brexit policy is damaging recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic; deplores the decision of the UK Government to ignore detailed evidence from the Scottish Government and others about the harm that would be caused by removing Scotland and the UK from the European single market and customs union in the middle of the public health crisis; calls on the UK Government to immediately introduce a Temporary Worker Route, extended to 24 months, to alleviate some of the damage that it has caused, as part of a replacement immigration system that will both reduce the harm of Brexit and treat people with dignity and respect; recognises that the UK Government’s failure to introduce such a scheme has led directly to serious levels of vacancies in hospitality, distribution, social care, construction, food production, agriculture and tourism, among other sectors; further recognises that this will only mitigate in part the negative consequence for Scotland of ending the benefits of EU membership, including freedom of movement; believes that the UK Government’s actions and lack of action have led directly to serious petrol and diesel shortages on forecourts and to food supply shortages; further believes that these failures are felt across society and most acutely by the poorest, and agrees that, in a rich country like Scotland, the chaos of recent weeks and the deliberate targeting of the poorest in society make clear the heavy cost imposed on people in Scotland by a UK Government that they did not elect.

Will the member give way?

The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 represents an unprecedented assault on the powers and responsibilities of the Scottish Government and Parliament. It was introduced despite an explicit refusal of consent by this Parliament and the Welsh Senedd. My ministerial colleagues and I regularly make clear to the UK Government our continued opposition to the 2020 act and our concern about the many ways in which it is being used by UK ministers to constrain and undermine decisions made by the Scottish ministers and the Scottish Parliament.

I begin by commending Douglas Lumsden for his implied recognition that there will be an independence referendum. That is extremely welcome.

As the co-operation agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party parliamentary group makes clear, each party continues to have the right to set out its own vision for independence. The Scottish Government’s view remains clear: Scotland will remain a constitutional monarchy, with the Queen as head of state, just as she is in a great many other independent Commonwealth countries.

The gentleman obviously needs to reread some history. Scotland was, of course, part of a treaty involving the Crowns for 100 years before the treaty of union saw the end of the Scottish Parliament.

As the First Minister set out, work on a detailed independence prospectus will now be taken forward, in line with the democratic mandate that has been secured for a referendum. For the record—if it needs any more stressing—the parties that were committed to a democratic choice in the recent Scottish Parliament elections won the election, while the parties that opposed a referendum lost. We will determine how the work towards that referendum will proceed, as we do for delivering our commitments across the whole range of our responsibilities, in the interests of the people of Scotland.

Yes, I do. The UK Government’s Nationality and Borders Bill is deeply flawed and will not create an immigration system that is effective and efficient and which delivers for the most vulnerable people. The bill will differentiate between people on the basis of how they entered the UK, not the protection that they need.

The Scottish Government recognises the need to deter and to prevent abuse of our immigration and asylum systems. However, extremely vulnerable people, including children and victims of human trafficking, deserve a system that enables access to the support that they desperately need—not one that erects barriers. The bill puts Scotland’s reputation as a country of welcome and refuge at serious risk. The Scottish Government will continue to make the case for immigration and asylum systems that at all times treat people with compassion, dignity and fairness.