Chamber and committees

I am simply being straight with the Parliament about the realities that we have to face. That is what I am doing.

I understand the issues that Miles Briggs is raising with me. I am totally familiar with them and I understand the importance of them. I have just answered Mr Whittle about the importance of a focus on preventative interventions, and many of the interventions that Mr Briggs is talking about are preventative interventions.

However, the point that I am making to the Parliament is that investment in those services does not happen by accident. It happens by political choice. Mr Briggs was one of those who voted against the Government’s budget and he argued in favour, as his leader did, of £1 billion of cuts in public expenditure. How does Mr Briggs think that it would be possible to invest in local services with £1 billion of swingeing cuts from the Conservatives?

I agree entirely with the analysis that the member is sharing with Parliament. Does he agree that there is a particular threat and challenge to the strength of those global institutions at the moment? There is a duty on everybody to reflect on the significant role that those institutions have played—although it has not been perfect—in avoiding conflict for many years. Does he agree that we all need to recognise the peril that many of those institutions now face?

I agree with Mr Kerr’s point. His example of his mother’s experience resonates with that of my mother-in-law, who was also removed from a tenement block that was bombed in Birmingham, in exactly the same era.

That is an illustration of how people were affected, but there is a substantial point in what Mr Kerr says. If I think back to when I started my parliamentary life, 28 years ago, I would say, anecdotally, that attendance at remembrance events was perhaps beginning to dwindle. Then, in the aftermath of conflict at the start of this century, I saw attendance at remembrance events grow. That is an indication that, sadly, there have been reminders of conflict and loss, which are matters of regret. However, they reinforce Mr Kerr’s point that we cannot, for a moment, allow ourselves to forget the suffering and the after-effects of conflict. I agree very much with Mr Kerr’s point.

Scotland owes a debt of gratitude to everybody who played a part in the efforts to defeat fascism. We live in an environment in which we still witness conflicts that have a profound effect on us all, brought to us by the images that we see, whether of the unbearable suffering in Gaza, which followed the terrorist atrocity by Hamas, or of the on-going suffering of the people of Ukraine in all that they wrestle with. In reflecting on those conflicts, Scotland remembers the sacrifices that were made by so many individuals in the efforts that were undertaken.

Europe day is celebrated tomorrow, when we commemorate the signing of the Schuman declaration and the beginning of what is now called the European Union—which, of course, happened only five short years after the end of world war two. Those steps were taken by France and Germany to ensure that war was

“not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible.”

We think back to the founding values of that dialogue to overcome conflict, yet, in continental Europe, we still have conflict in Ukraine.

Unreservedly. There is a very strong affinity with the Polish community in the area of Perthshire that I represent—indeed, there is a Polish cemetery in the city of Perth. Of course, in subsequent generations that has led to a very welcoming environment for the Polish community to come to, where, thankfully, they are able to contribute to our schools, local communities, churches and community activities. That is all very welcome, and it is based on the deep roots that Mr Cole-Hamilton has cited.

In the past few days and weeks, I have been mindful of a sequence of events that took place in my family’s life, which rather illustrates the mixed feelings that would have been in evidence on VE day in 1945. I had not really thought about this point until the events of the past few weeks.

On 3 April this year, I attended a memorial event down at Ocean Terminal, where a memorial to my late uncle, Corporal Thomas Hunter, has stood for many years. Here we are today, only 35 days later, marking VE day. That has made me realise that, on 3 April 1945, my mother’s family was devastated by the news of the loss of my uncle, yet, only 35 days later, the streets were full of people jubilantly celebrating the end of the war—quite understandably, of course, because there was an enormous sense of relief.

What has struck me is the level of contrast that there must have been between my grandmother’s and grandfather’s household, where people were nursing unbearable grief—which I saw in later stages of my life, when I became conscious of my family’s experience and understood the gravity of the loss that they felt—and the jubilation outside their front door. I leave that observation with members simply so that they will recognise that, although there was great relief on 8 May 1945, a lot of suffering was still going on in households the length and breadth of the country. We should never forget that contrast, which highlights the sense of loss that many individuals experienced.

Today, the Deputy First Minister has attended, on my behalf, a commemoration event in the city of Glasgow, and the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture has represented the Government at the national commemorative service at Westminster abbey.

—but they have not been prepared to put the money in to support people in the communities of Scotland.

The Government engages with health boards around the country, and local authorities have their own decisions to make as part of the IJB structures. We will engage constructively in any way that we can to help on those issues.

Mr Balfour is another one who comes here and asks me to invest in local services, when his party leader wants me to cut public expenditure by £1 billion. How will that help IJBs around the country?

I will not tire of pointing out the total and utter hypocrisy of the people who come here asking for tax cuts and wanting me to spend more money. It is hypocrisy on stilts.

The programme for government has set out the steps that we are taking to expand capacity within the health service to meet the demand for appointments with GPs. It will include the delivery of 100,000 additional appointments, which will be available through GPs, to examine particular high-risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and smoking, but there will also be an expansion of the availability of the pharmacy first service, which is designed to meet the healthcare needs of individuals where it is relevant to their circumstances. It also includes the expansion of the availability of island health practitioners in front-line healthcare services, with a commitment to expand the funding available to primary care services as a greater proportion of new national health service funding. The combination of those factors will make an impact on access to GP services in Scotland.

There are a range of provisions in statute and under existing arrangements to protect tenants. There are protections around evictions, and there have been protections around winter evictions. Support is in place through discretionary housing payments to assist tenants. A range of measures to protect tenants have been put in place by the Scottish Government over the years.

I welcome the fact that we are in agreement with Mr Harvie on the question of the housing legislation that is in front of Parliament, which the Parliament has passed at stage 1 and is considering at stage 2. We will introduce a system of rent controls, and I look forward to further parliamentary scrutiny on that issue.

SEPA’s latest report highlighted that 17 out of 47 areas in Scotland are in alert status for water scarcity, and that most of the rest of the country is in early warning status. An update on that position will be published by the regulator SEPA later on this afternoon. SEPA has contacted those who abstract water, including businesses and farmers, in the affected areas, and has provided them with advice. Public drinking water supply in those areas is not affected.

We are working closely with SEPA, Scottish Water and others to ensure that water supply is monitored and supported in line with Scotland’s national water scarcity plan. Climate change is driving more extreme conditions, and we all need to adapt to that reality. I urge businesses, organisations and individuals to do their part to plan ahead and use water wisely.

I share those concerns. At the present moment, in early May, the water scarcity map makes quite difficult reading, because we face acute challenges that we would never ordinarily face at this time of the year. That illustration of climate change requires us to take the necessary action that Mr Stewart has suggested. That is why it is central to the Government’s programme.