Chamber and committees

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My app would not connect. I would have voted yes.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Sorry—my app would not connect. I would have abstained.

On a point of order, Deputy Presiding Officer. My app would not work. I would have voted yes.

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests.

I thank Marie McNair for bringing this motion to Parliament today. Once again, she is acting not as an unconsidered representative of her party but as a diligent and democratic representative of her constituents, because the working class of Clydebank know better than anyone about the suffering that is caused by negligent industrial-scale exposure to asbestos at work.

Let us be absolutely clear about this: this is not a debate about history. As we debate this motion in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon, and as we mark action mesothelioma day on 4 July, the number of asbestos-related cases in Scotland’s communities is not falling—it is rising. The evidence from practitioners advising the Scottish Law Commission is that more than 700 people are diagnosed with pleural plaques in Scotland every year, and that this number might not yet have peaked. That is why the Scottish Law Commission’s recommendation in its “Report on Damages for Personal Injury”, published last December, which at last resolves the time-bar problem, must now be enacted.

By its own admission, the Law Commission draws heavily on the case that was made by Unite the Union and articulated by its solicitors, Thompsons. Their submission argued this:

“Individuals should not be disproportionately penalised for failure to raise court proceedings for a relatively minor injury when they ... go on to develop a serious and potentially life-threatening illness as a result of the same negligent act.”

The Law Commission has made a strong and unambiguous recommendation, and the Scottish Government and this Parliament must act with the same clear thinking and with the same fortitude, and they must act without delay, because for all of those families and all of those workers, enough time has already been wasted. That is why I call on the minister today in Parliament not to meet me but to give them an unequivocal guarantee that the Government will amend the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, in line with the Scottish Law Commission’s recommendation, before the end of this parliamentary session.

One of the greatest influences on my politics and in my life was my old friend and comrade Alex Falconer, who was a member of the European Parliament, a community campaigner, a socialist, a peace activist, a dockyard worker and a trade unionist to his core. He won a test case in the late 1980s when he was diagnosed with pleural plaques after working with asbestos as a lagger in Rosyth dockyard. I remember the two of us going to meet the Transport and General Workers Union’s lawyers in Glasgow, going to meet Hugh Campbell QC in the splendour of Edinburgh’s new town, and then meeting him again on the steps of the High Court in Edinburgh just days later, to be told that the Ministry of Defence had decided at the last minute not to defend the action.

It was a test case in which the insurance industry was finally forced to recognise that a civil award for pleural plaques could be pursued, and to do so did not close the door on a later damages claim for mesothelioma. Sadly, that is exactly what happened in the life—and then in the tragic death—of Alex Falconer.

For many of us, action mesothelioma day is not abstract. It is very real, and whether inside Parliament or outside of it, in that battle for justice, alongside the grass-roots campaigners in Action on Asbestos and the Clydebank Asbestos Group, we will carry on. It remains painful, poignant and personal, but it is political as well, and so we will carry on—striving, struggling, yielding to none, facing setbacks but unflinching in our determination. In the name of all those we have lost, we will carry on. We will never give up. We will always carry on. We will carry on.

I remind members of my voluntary register of trade union interests.

The Deputy First Minister’s statement is more a defence of the Government’s position than it is a plan of action to save these facilities and to save these workers’ jobs.

The fact is that the last two factories building buses in Scotland are facing closure at a time when there is no shortage of orders for new buses. That comes in the shadow of the closure of the Grangemouth refinery, and here we are again facing a close-and-import strategy. When is the Government going to recognise that these are strategic national assets? When will we see a proper Scottish Government industrial strategy? When will the Government understand that manufacturing matters, rescue these jobs, prevent these closures and save this industry?

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My system would not connect in time. If it had, I would have voted yes.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Apologies. Again, my system would not connect. If it had, I would have voted yes.

I remind members of my voluntary register of interests.

Scottish Water workers are on strike this week. On Tuesday night, Scottish Water’s chief executive turned up at pay talks with the trade unions for less than two minutes. If Scottish Water’s chief executive officer can scoop up almost half a million pounds a year, why can he not lead pay negotiations? So, will the First Minister instruct his acting cabinet secretary and direct the bosses of Scottish Water—whose inflation-busting salaries, bonuses, pensions and benefits he, as a minister, for more than a decade, personally supported and signed off—to do the job that they are lavishly rewarded for, enter meaningful negotiations this afternoon, make an acceptable offer and get this industrial dispute resolved once and for all?

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had regarding its support for humanitarian assistance, in light of reports of the increasing number of deaths in Gaza. (S6O-04737)

I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. Last August, the cabinet secretary met Israeli Government representatives. Last October, Israel banned the UN aid organisation UNRWA. Last November, an arrest warrant was issued for Benjamin Netanyahu for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare. Netanyahu and Donald Trump have handed over food aid in Gaza to private contractors, whilst blocking humanitarian aid from any other source. In just the last few days, scores of Palestinians have been killed and injured by Israeli forces whilst waiting for food from the US-owned Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

So, will the cabinet secretary today condemn the privatisation and militarisation of humanitarian aid in Gaza, back the reinstatement of UN agencies to provide all aid, support an immediate ceasefire, pledge that his Government will enforce the International Criminal Court arrest warrant and support an immediate ban on arms sales to Israel?