Meeting of the Parliament
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Meeting of the Parliament Tuesday 28 March 2017 Session 5 © Parliamentary copyright. Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Information on the Scottish Parliament’s copyright policy can be found on the website - www.parliament.scot or by contacting Public Information on 0131 348 5000 Tuesday 28 March 2017 CONTENTS Col. TIME FOR REFLECTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1 TOPICAL QUESTION TIME ................................................................................................................................... 3 Article 50 (Discussions) ................................................................................................................................ 3 Queensferry Crossing ................................................................................................................................... 5 INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM ............................................................................................................................ 9 The First Minister (Nicola Sturgeon) ............................................................................................................. 9 Ruth Davidson (Edinburgh Central) (Con) ................................................................................................. 12 Kezia Dugdale (Lothian) (Lab) .................................................................................................................... 15 Andy Wightman (Lothian) (Green) .............................................................................................................. 18 Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD) .......................................................................................... 20 Kate Forbes (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP) ................................................................................ 22 Oliver Mundell (Dumfriesshire) (Con) ......................................................................................................... 24 Ben Macpherson (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) (SNP) ........................................................................... 26 James Kelly (Glasgow) (Lab) ..................................................................................................................... 28 Sandra White (Glasgow Kelvin) (SNP) ....................................................................................................... 30 Liam Kerr (North East Scotland) (Con)....................................................................................................... 32 Stuart McMillan (Greenock and Inverclyde) (SNP) .................................................................................... 35 Johann Lamont (Glasgow) (Lab) ................................................................................................................ 38 Clare Haughey (Rutherglen) (SNP) ............................................................................................................ 40 Jackson Carlaw (Eastwood) (Con) ............................................................................................................. 43 Tom Arthur (Renfrewshire South) (SNP) .................................................................................................... 46 Pauline McNeill (Glasgow) (Lab) ................................................................................................................ 48 Edward Mountain (Highlands and Islands) (Con) ....................................................................................... 50 Mike Rumbles (North East Scotland) (LD) ................................................................................................. 51 Ross Greer (West Scotland) (Green) ......................................................................................................... 54 Lewis Macdonald (North East Scotland) (Lab) ........................................................................................... 58 Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) .............................................................................................. 61 The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (John Swinney) ...................... 65 DECISION TIME ................................................................................................................................................ 70 INCLUDED IN THE MAIN CAMPAIGN .................................................................................................................... 82 Motion debated—[Graeme Dey]. Graeme Dey (Angus South) (SNP) ............................................................................................................ 82 Daniel Johnson (Edinburgh Southern) (Lab) .............................................................................................. 86 Jeremy Balfour (Lothian) (Con) .................................................................................................................. 87 David Torrance (Kirkcaldy) (SNP) .............................................................................................................. 88 Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green) ........................................................................................... 91 Johann Lamont (Glasgow) (Lab) ................................................................................................................ 92 Alexander Burnett (Aberdeenshire West) (Con) ......................................................................................... 94 Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab) ................................................................................................................ 95 The Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science (Shirley-Anne Somerville) ................ 96 1 28 MARCH 2017 2 love to our communities. Fortunately, Mike and Scottish Parliament Jude were able to find dignity, respect, celebration of difference and an open inclusiveness in the faith Tuesday 28 March 2017 tradition that nurtured them. I know that those same values are aspired to in this place. [The Presiding Officer opened the meeting at In a political world of much shallowness and 14:00] untruth, be aware that there are many in this land who thank you for the times when this place Time for Reflection upholds the values that I mentioned. Thank you. The Presiding Officer (Ken Macintosh): Good afternoon. Our first item of business is time for reflection, for which our leader is the Rev Andrew Frearson, rector of St James the Great church, Dollar. The Rev Andrew Frearson (St James the Great Church, Dollar): Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament, thank you for the opportunity to address you today. Late in 2015, I officiated at the funeral of Kelsey Clarke, aged 18, who was a transgender student at St Andrews university. She did volunteer work for St James Episcopal church in Dollar. Extremely intelligent, she represented Scotland in debating and was an advocate for justice in political affairs. Her mother, Jude, a parishioner and friend, advocated for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and especially for improving mental health care, and she came here often to work for that end. Jude, too, took her life last September. Those losses are keenly felt, yet their legacies and contributions live on, though they could not cling on themselves. Their constant plea to any who would listen was for more kindness and compassion in this world, which they exhibited in spades. In a previous parish, I knew Mike, a professional violinist, who for several years had been in a dark depression and had been unable to play or teach violin. While visiting him one time, I asked him out of the blue to improvise nine passages of music in a forthcoming three-hour Good Friday service. He had played only from written music before, and improvisation terrified him. To my amazement and his, he accepted. It was tense on the day. Would Mike be able to play, and in a way that he had never done before? What followed blew me and more than 200 other people away. Many knew his situation. He conveyed the pain and torture and suffering of the world, and his world, as he connected to the Good Friday story. There was not a dry eye as he closed his own wet eyes and literally played to the gods. No one wanted that to end. My experience over and over has been that the support of those who face huge obstacles in staying well, and of others in embracing their true identities, can bring unique gifts of creativity and 3 28 MARCH 2017 4 Topical Question Time Michael Russell: I agree, because the issue of nationals from other EU states is crucial. It is absolutely astonishing that today, on the eve of the triggering of article 50, no reassurance has 14:04 been given to those EU nationals. No reassurance Article 50 (Discussions) has been given, either, to the Scottish and British citizens who are resident in other countries in 1. Christina McKelvie (Hamilton, Larkhall and Europe. Those are two sides of the same coin. It is Stonehouse) (SNP): To ask the Scottish ridiculous that we are in that situation. Government whether it will provide an update on its discussions with the United Kingdom On the wider issue of human rights, it is Government ahead of the triggering of article 50. important that members realise that the threat of (S5T-00490) Brexit has consequences. Yesterday, I attended a round-table