Chamber and committees

I follow others in wishing Steve Clarke, the Scotland men’s team and the tartan army a safe and productive journey in the US.

The racist violence that we have seen on the streets of Belfast, as well as in Glasgow and elsewhere in Scotland this week, has been utterly shameful. People were trapped inside Glasgow central mosque and the St Enoch centre, sheltering for their own safety. Others were attacked in the street because of the colour of their skin, while mobs shouted “Send them home” at children because they were not white.

Nobody should be made to feel unsafe on our streets, and it is horrific that that has happened to so many people. No so-called legitimate concerns can justify that kind of hateful action. What will the First Minister do to provide reassurances to people and communities who are worried about their safety and that of their loved ones?

This is a time when our Parliament must stand together to condemn racists and fascists who seek to divide our communities, and I am heartened by most of the response that we have had so far this afternoon.

However, today, The National has revealed that an active member of Reform UK, who attended the election count in Glasgow alongside the party’s deputy leader in Scotland, not only took part in the racist scenes on Buchanan Street but also boasted that he would do so again. Last year, that man, who is clearly a friend of Reform UK’s leadership, wrote:

“Jews are forcing us to swallow hordes of migrants, flooding land with the dregs of the world to dilute our Protestant stock and shatter the Union.”

Just quoting that makes me feel sick.

As we have seen this afternoon, this is a party that has consistently branded new Scots as strangers, attacked Glaswegian schoolchildren who speak more than one language, and scapegoated and demonised our migrant communities. What does the First Minister have to say to those on the Reform benches who have fanned the flames of hate and actively welcomed racist and antisemitic members?

The violence this week has been stirred up by an online landscape that is designed to promote hate and by social media algorithms that deliver fascist propaganda into people’s news feeds 24 hours a day. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, used his personally owned social media platform to share abhorrent content, including quotes that call for millions and millions to be deported from the United Kingdom, along with adverts for those protests. That is a direct threat to the safety of communities across our country, and it cannot go unchallenged.

Online regulation is largely reserved to Westminster, but there is one area that this Parliament has control over. Will the First Minister work with the Scottish Greens to class social media platforms as publishers, since the content that they show people is the result of their algorithm instead of people’s choices as users? That way, we can finally start to take action on hateful and misleading online content.

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on banning the use of Prestwick airport by the US military. (S7O-00047)

The US Government’s partner in this aggression is, of course, the Israeli Government, which has already been banned from using publicly owned Scottish infrastructure, including Prestwick airport. During the previous parliamentary session, the Parliament passed a motion calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions in relation to Israel. We later found out that the Government has not even started work on that proposal. When might we see that package of measures coming forward?

We need to do more work at the national level to promote Scottish football, particularly in the Scottish Professional Football League, outside Scotland, in order to generate more money from TV rights.

Falkirk is already selling away tickets for £25. Other clubs could look at its model and consider adopting that approach themselves.

A £25 away ticket price could also serve as a starting point for the conversation. There is potential to reach a level that clubs are comfortable with, while, crucially, ensuring that fans are not priced out of the game. However, we should work with clubs and supporters’ organisations to drive that forward.

The First Minister said in January that he would be happy to consider the issue. Now that the minister for sport is back in place, I hope that she will join me in making calls to cap away ticket prices.

The summer of sport is an opportunity to break down some of the barriers to sport and physical activity. I am pleased that the motion mentions the provision of

“opportunities for children and young people to take part in free and low-cost activities”.

We should be using those opportunities for young people to get parents, grandparents or whichever adults accompany those young people back into sport, too.

However, to secure the legacy of the Commonwealth games, we must get the basics right. Across my region, a number of publicly owned sport and leisure venues are under threat of closure or are coming towards the end of their lifespan.

I have backed calls from constituents who are rightly concerned about the proposals to close Aquatec Motherwell. That leisure facility has been a vital part of the community for decades. It is one of the only accessible venues with good public transport connections and has been a lifeline for residents seeking a place to exercise, socialise and enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

Venues such as the Aquatec, and many similar facilities across Scotland, are important not just for fitness but for community cohesion. If we want to improve the mental and physical health of the nation, we must invest in local facilities where friendships are built and people come together to support one another.

We need to ensure that the next generation of elite athletes, coaches and lifelong sports enthusiasts have local and accessible places to go to.

We must also make sure that people can walk, wheel and cycle in their local areas and that having access to a car is not necessary for them to take part in sport. We rightly provide exercise referrals to allow people to improve their health with cheap or free access to exercise. Those people are less likely to drive, so local facilities are vital. That is not to say that regional or national facilities are not important, but, realistically, a velodrome will not be accessed by as many people as a green space that is suitable for cycling.

The summer of sport has to be the catalyst to get people involved, but the investment must keep up to ensure that the summer of sport lasts longer than a Scottish summer usually does.

We believe that sport should be about the joy of taking part in physical activity and not about huge profits for industries that harm our health and extract wealth from sporting achievements. That is why we want sport to take place in an environment that promotes health and is free from sponsorship by industries that would harm it. It is disappointing, therefore, that two of the partners involved in the Commonwealth games are Coca-Cola and Jubel Beer. I cannot see how that is not at odds with an event that is meant to be about promoting healthy lifestyles through sport and physical activity. I would be grateful if the minister could advise members what conversations she has had with organisers about alcohol sponsorship of the games and what message that sends, particularly given that there is a focus on the participation of children and young people.

The summer of sport is an opportunity to spread the joy of taking part in sport to people all over Scotland. It is a truly worthwhile investment that has the potential to improve Scotland’s health and wellbeing immeasurably. On behalf of the Scottish Greens, I wish all those taking part the very best, and I hope that the next debate that we have on sport is about celebrating their success.

I move amendment S7M-00208.3, to insert at end:

“and believes that to maintain participation in the long term, measures such as a £25 ticket cap for away football fans and support for local authorities to keep local sports venues open, including Aquatec Motherwell, are essential.”

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We all know the evidence about the benefits of physical activity in helping to prevent and manage conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes and reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. The benefits to overall wellbeing, including tackling loneliness and enhancing brain health, are not referred to as often but are just as important. Sport can reinvigorate communities and give people purpose and somewhere to go when other spaces put barriers in their way.

I have previously referenced in the chamber the wonderful work that the community trusts at both Motherwell and Falkirk football clubs in my region do week in, week out. For me, that is an example of the biggest takeaway from the debate: although big, set-piece sporting events should be a catalyst for participation, we need to make sure that promotion and, crucially, funding keep sport accessible for the long term. I am pleased that the minister has recognised that that is essential, and that her examples extend to a diverse range of sports.

The Scottish Greens believe that universal access to sport and physical activity is a right, not a privilege, because it is necessary to support the health of the nation. Unfortunately, however, too many barriers still remain.

Taking part in sport and attending sporting events as a spectator can be prohibitively expensive, whether because of the cost of tickets, uniforms, equipment or membership of clubs. Watching sport can be a gateway to people getting involved in it, whether playing or volunteering. That is why the Scottish Greens want to work with Scottish Professional Football League clubs to introduce a price cap of £25 for tickets for travelling away fans. That would widen access and ensure that fewer people were priced out of Scotland’s national game.

A cap has been in place in England for more than a decade that means that travelling fans do not pay more than £30 for a ticket. In March, it was announced that the £30 price cap on away tickets has been extended for a further two seasons, and clubs voted unanimously to keep the cap in place until the end of the 2027-28 season.

In the United States, just two months ago, in order to tackle persistent concerns about sky-high ticket prices for the 2026 world cup, New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, proudly announced a deal that would allow residents in New York to buy 1,000 world cup tickets for $50 each.

I appreciate that response from the First Minister and, in a second, I will come on to an idea about how we can deliver more from the public sector. I am sure that the new Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform will have plenty of difficult decisions to make. However, as the First Minister reflected, it is crucial that those decisions are not just about looking for cuts that can be dressed up as efficiencies but are about how we continue to build on the work that the public sector is doing to drive up productivity and wellbeing so that workers feel valued and are able to do their jobs well.

In the previous session, the Scottish Greens secured a pioneering trial of a four-day working week in the public sector, which resulted in a 25 per cent drop in mental health sick days and no loss of service delivery or productivity. Although our finances remain stretched, rolling out a four-day week would help to transform public sector work at no extra cost to the public purse. Will the First Minister commit to expanding the four-day week in the public sector?

If it is a wee bit early for cast-iron commitments, the First Minister might not enjoy my next question.

The Scottish Greens have already shown that we can work constructively and creatively to raise more money for public services. Income tax changes that have been driven by Green MSPs over the past decade mean that our public services are now better off to the tune of £1.8 billion each year. However, we cannot fix Scotland’s public finances without fixing how we fund our local councils. For too long, the claim that we need a consensus to replace the council tax has been used as an excuse not to take action. If the First Minister wants to scrap the council tax to fund public services, the Scottish Greens will work with him—that would be a parliamentary majority for change. Will the First Minister work with us to scrap the council tax in this parliamentary session?

The Scottish Greens were the only party at the election to say that we need to use our full taxation powers to raise more money, particularly from the wealth of the super-rich.

Today, the Tax Justice Scotland coalition wrote to the First Minister calling for a post-election reality check of Scotland’s public finances. In its words,

“if we want a fairer and greener country, we need to invest in it. You can’t promise a better Scotland and avoid paying for it.”

We know that public sector reform is badly needed, but trade unions in particular are rightly concerned that reform is usually a euphemism for slashing budgets and cutting jobs. Does the First Minister agree with the Scottish Greens and Tax Justice Scotland that we should explore all options for taxing wealth before cutting public sector jobs?