Chamber and committees

I very much welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to appointing a learning disability, autism and neurodiversity commissioner. What plans does the Scottish Government have to gather the views of autistic people, their families and support organisations to ensure that lived experience informs and shapes the role and powers of the commissioner?

I want to go back to something that Dr Cawston said earlier, which I think goes to the heart of the issues that we are looking at. Dr Cawston, you talked about the fact that those most in need are often the people who are making fewer demands and about learned helplessness. Clearly, we really need to be able to reach into those communities and touch the lives of these people if we want them to be healthy in their 50s and 60s. I am really interested in any comments on that, but, mainly, what key recommendations would you like to see the health committee make in its report to address that?

Professor Meier, you spoke about the Scottish experience being significantly different and very encouraging. You also talked about seeing momentum in the right direction, and that there is too much of a focus on mitigation rather than on root causes. In Scotland, what can we do with the limited powers that are available to us to tackle those root causes? At times, it feels as though we are limited to mitigating policy that comes from the UK Government.

Will Rachael Hamilton join me in condemning the UK Government on its inhumane policy relating to Rwanda?

World refugee day is a day of both heartbreak and hope. It is a day on which to be grateful for the laws that protect the right to seek asylum from persecution and have saved thousands of lives. Everyone has a right to seek safety—whoever they are, wherever they come from and whenever they are forced to flee.

However, safety is just the first step. Once out of harm’s way, refugees need opportunities to heal, to learn, to work and to thrive. As we have heard, Scotland has a long history of welcoming and supporting refugees, and the contribution of refugee communities over successive generations has helped to make Scotland a proud, successful and diverse country.

It is regrettable that the limit of Scotland’s power over the immigration system undermines many of the values that Scottish people hold dear, such as inclusivity, hospitality and, above all, treating people as human beings. Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed the very notion of asylum being radically called into question in the passage of the so-called Nationality and Borders Act 2022 and the Rwanda deal that has been enacted by the UK Government. People across the UK have responded to those appalling attacks on refugee rights with a loud cry of “Not in my name.”

That fills me with hope. Widespread protests that have been led by ordinary citizens erupted across the UK, from the streets of Glasgow to the roads around Gatwick airport. Alongside those protests, fearless immigration lawyers have been defending the rule of law, while being decried by a Tory party that constantly scapegoats others in its terrifying culture wars.

At such critical moments, we cannot afford to feel passive and powerless. We cannot allow a UK Government that has been rejected time and again by the Scottish people to define who matters and who does not—who is disposable, and who is not. Today, 100 million people are experiencing displacement. Each of them is a person with hopes, dreams and loved ones—a person who is looking to rebuild their life.

I am privileged to be able to relay the story of Mohammed, who was a refugee who arrived in the UK 10 years ago after fleeing persecution. Now in his 30s, Mohammed has no status, social security or right to work. He has been stripped of the very freedoms that our laws set out to protect. For Mohammed, these have been 10 years of uncertainty and suffering, with no ability to plan for the future—being constantly trapped in the present and struggling to survive. His most recent appeal to the Home Office, three years ago, remains unanswered.

Mohammed illustrated his experience eloquently. I do not apologise for these words being hard to hear; they are hard for me to repeat.

“The law is like a stone. It cannot feel us, our humanity or our worth, designed by those who live comfortably in a warm home, perhaps with a family and a career. They do not feel what it’s like to be beaten to within an inch of their lives by a brutal immigration system. It’s like the man who makes bullets would not sell to the gun manufacturers if he knew those very same bullets would pierce his heart. How can the lawmakers understand what it feels like to be shipped off to Rwanda, or hunted down by immigration officers like second-class citizens? The law is broken. There is no heart in these laws.”

Mohammed wants us to understand that no one chooses to be a refugee—but we can choose how we respond. The harsh UK asylum system leaves people in limbo and completely restricts their freedom and agency, while conscripting citizens here to enforce unjust immigration laws through the hostile environment.

I would like to see the cruelty of such legislation replaced with the compassion of our communities. As a Parliament, we can show the world that Scotland welcomes refugees and rejects the UK Government’s cruel and racist asylum policies. We must champion a shared sense of humanity. I will quote Mohammed again. He said:

“It should not matter if I am Syrian, Egyptian or Ukrainian. I am human. If I donate blood to someone who needs it, it is human blood and I can save someone. Why then does the law place one over the other? Why does it make me feel like I am not a human being? Why does it take decades for someone in the Home Office, who will not understand the plight of my struggle, to decide I have finally had enough suffering?”

The UK asylum system is driving people to suicide. Mohammed just wants to work to support his family and live beyond surviving each day, but he cannot, and he tells me that

“freedom does not like people like me.”

Refugees such as Mohammed should be celebrated for their courage and they should be supported to flourish and contribute to our culture and society.

When they are forced to flee, refugees can physically only carry so much, but refugees bring generations of dreams, experiences and traditions, they are hugely valuable. Across the world, refugees have brought new life, prosperity and rich cultural diversity to their host communities: they have certainly brought them to Scotland. This is a time to thank them and to recognise their positive impact.

The minister and others have gone into detail on the work that the Scottish Government and its partners are doing to support new Scots. I will simply close with this: let us stand together in solidarity with all refugees, let us defend the inalienable right to claim asylum, and let us never lose sight of our common humanity.

Yesterday, the Home Secretary seemed to suggest that migrants are exploiting Britain. Can I take it that the member disagrees with that?

No—exploiting Britain.

Can the minister expand on how the Scottish Government will work within existing statutory and other frameworks to set out clearly that it does not support the development of further municipal waste incineration capacity in Scotland?

That is great. Does anyone else have anything to add?

I have a small question on Amy Monks’s comment about local variation. Is there anything that we could put in place or roll out to make sure that these things happen across the board?