Chamber and committees

I have been in touch with social media companies, and I have had responses from some of them about the steps that they take. They provided some degree of assurance about material that is taken down, but I do not think that that goes nearly far enough. It is quite easy to view material online that I consider to be completely and utterly repugnant and unacceptable.

Ofcom has strict and clear guidelines in place, but my sense is that those are not being respected by social media companies. We will engage in dialogue with the UK Government to ensure that whatever strengthening is required is undertaken. Social media companies have a responsibility to exercise their duties, and they could exercise them this minute to protect communities from being exposed to unacceptable material.

I thank Mr Ross for his contribution, and I associate myself very much with his remarks in relation to my colleague Richard Lochhead, whom I am delighted to see back in Parliament after a very serious illness. I commend the staff at Aberdeen royal infirmary, whom I had the great privilege to meet, just days after Richard’s operation, in order to thank them for the extraordinary work that they had undertaken. It puts me in awe of what clinicians have to face and to handle. I am profoundly grateful to them, and I am delighted that Richard is back in his place today.

Mr Ross makes a number of comments about the importance of community cohesion and safety, and the safety of children. I associate myself entirely with those comments; he is entirely correct about those things.

Police numbers are growing as a consequence of the very significant recruitment efforts by Police Scotland that are now under way, and we expect the numbers to rise in the period ahead. Police capacity has been adequate and appropriate to deal with the challenges that we face. Indeed, the chief constable has been able to take part in mutual aid to Northern Ireland, which she would only do if she was confident about police resourcing in Scotland, and she has given me the assurance that she is.

In relation to the early release of prisoners, Parliament has authorised the steps that we have taken so far. The prison population continues to rise, and to rise significantly. The Cabinet was updated on that issue by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs this morning. We are having to look at the issues around capacity in our prison system and at whether we have to take any other steps to ensure that the prison population remains safe and sustainable for prisoners and staff. The justice secretary will update Parliament on those questions.

In relation to the work of the United Kingdom Government on terrorism measures, obviously we remain in regular discussion with the UK Government on those questions, and we expect to take forward those discussions in the period ahead, as the UK Government forms its steps.

Mr Ross will be aware that we have taken a slightly different approach to the handling of the communication of these issues in Scotland in the past, which has been built on building community confidence in anti-terror measures. I have a great deal of confidence in that, and I think that, most importantly, the communities of Scotland have confidence in those measures, as we saw demonstrated during the period of instability that we wrestled with over the summer.

I have made clear my view that austerity is damaging our communities and I want to see that resolved. I cannot summon up any appreciation or understanding of why somebody wants to engage in violence—I just cannot understand it at all—so I think that it has no justification. Political participation is an essential way to resolve any differences and debates in our society, and we should all engage in that.

It is important to separate out those different things. We should make our political choices, exercise our political leadership and encourage people to participate in the political process, and we should be absolutely and completely resolute in rejecting any sense that there is any excuse or legitimacy for violence in our society. I know that Christine Grahame will not be of the view that there is such legitimacy. We have to set that out very clearly to ensure that the public are protected and that we invest in and support our communities.

It is important that we encourage and enable the cohesion of communities. Some of that comes about by political leadership, some comes about by community work and some by the active investment in social and economic priorities in the Government’s programme and the programme of local authorities. Of course, our local authorities are heavily involved in all that work on community cohesion at local level.

It is important that we remain focused on that. It is unacceptable that anybody should feel unsafe in our society. It is unacceptable that somebody has to close their business because they are fearful of being attacked—that is completely repugnant to me. Police Scotland is prepared to be visible and active to protect people, and it has done so. A combination of those measures—investment in our communities, effective policing and strong, clear political leadership—will help us through these difficulties.

A great deal of work is under way in that respect through dialogue with stakeholder organisations who are well connected within communities. The justice secretary and I visited the Edinburgh central mosque during the incident and it was reassuring to hear the comments that were being made by members of the Muslim community about their relationship with the police and the dialogue that takes place.

I had my own experience of that when I visited a synagogue in East Renfrewshire and I met the Jewish community and heard similarly their appreciation of the assurance of their safety that was undertaken, although they highlighted to me the fact that, at times, they feel very unsafe and fearful.

We have to actively support activity in that respect and I assure Rona Mackay that that work is under way in Scotland today.

I welcome Mr Sarwar’s remarks, particularly the point that he makes in relation to interaction with social media. There is a responsibility on us all with regard to what we say and what we do on social media, as well as with regard to whether we believe what we see on social media, but there is also a huge obligation on those companies in that regard. The United Kingdom Government has been making those obligations pretty clear to social media companies. Ofcom has also been doing that—its statements at the height of the difficulties were very clear about the obligation of those companies to operate within the code of responsibility. As I indicated in my statement, there is much more to be done to ensure that that is the case.

We cannot pause for a moment to in any way, shape or form relax our rejection of far-right ideology. We have to stand together and be persistent and assertive about setting out that that represents the wrong agenda for our country, that we believe in the importance of diverse, multicultural communities and that we believe in the importance of bringing people together. Therefore, I was delighted to welcome political leaders to Bute house to enable us to have a briefing and to make the point—as colleagues have done—that we are working to create a cohesive society. We want people to come together, and we reject the ideology of the far right in politics.

I acknowledge the importance of Mr Harvie’s points, and I thank him for his comments. Many comments have been made in the mainstream media and by politicians that I would never want to be associated with, because they represent an ideology that I find repugnant. However, I accept that that is a reality, which is why it is important that we exercise political leadership in Scotland, that we reject that ideology and that we reject it across the Parliament. It is to the credit of all parties in the Parliament that we are prepared to stand together to reject that. I will do everything that I can as First Minister to foster a climate that enables that to be the case, because I want this Parliament to speak as one in saying that the far-right ideology of racism or hate has absolutely no place in our society whatsoever.

On Mr Harvie’s point about social and economic cohesion in our communities, as he will know, the Government invests heavily to make sure that we work to tackle poverty in our society. I would like to feel that I was operating in a situation in which I had a more sympathetic, prevailing climate to try to tackle poverty as a consequence of the change of UK Government. I am somewhat bewildered by the fact that we are not making more headway on that question, but it is early days.

It is important that we recognise the damage of austerity—I associate myself with Mr Harvie in that regard. Austerity is damaging our communities and the fabric of life. That is why it has to come to an end, and I want to ensure that that is the case in Scotland.

I encourage people who intend to attend any such event to follow the guidance that is available, to follow any advice from the police and, fundamentally, to stay safe and to engage in democratic peaceful protest. There is a place for democratic peaceful protest in our society—Parliament will be familiar with the fact that I have been on a few such protests over my time. There is a place for democratic engagement, but it has to be done in a peaceful fashion, and I am sure that that will be followed this weekend.

I very much agree with Ben Macpherson. A whole host of community organisations do remarkable work in bringing people together. They exist across all communities. During the summer, I had a conversation with Mr Carlaw about organisations that come together in his constituency to support communities and provide welcome assistance and assurance for individuals. I encourage them to continue to do that and I express my appreciation for all that they do.

One of the issues that Douglas Ross put to me was alcohol-related deaths. I want to share a quote with Parliament, because this is the type of evidence that Parliament needs to chew over and consider when we are dealing with the type of rhetoric that we hear from Douglas Ross. Professor Gerry McCartney, who is professor of wellbeing and economy at the University of Glasgow, said:

“You see lagged effects from decades ago of urban planning, policy decisions and the 1980s economic changes and how that translated into people’s alcohol deaths a decade or two decades later. So it is not unprecedented.”

I simply put that evidence to Parliament, because we have to understand the consequences of the devastation that was wreaked on our country by the policies of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government.

Just to prolong—[Interruption.]