Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) Tuesday 18 May 2021 Session 6 © 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 18 May 2021 CONTENTS Col. FIRST MINISTER ................................................................................................................................................. 1 Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD) ............................................................................................................. 1 Douglas Ross (Highlands and Islands) (Con) .............................................................................................. 3 Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow Southside) (SNP) ............................................................................................... 5 Douglas Ross ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Anas Sarwar (Glasgow) (Lab) .................................................................................................................... 11 Lorna Slater (Lothian) (Green) ................................................................................................................... 12 Willie Rennie ............................................................................................................................................... 14 The First Minister (Nicola Sturgeon) ........................................................................................................... 15 URGENT QUESTIONS ........................................................................................................................................ 19 Police Scotland and Rangers Football Club (Engagement) ....................................................................... 19 Covid-19 (Glasgow) .................................................................................................................................... 24 Greensill Capital ......................................................................................................................................... 28 BUSINESS MOTION ........................................................................................................................................... 32 Motion moved—[Graeme Dey]—and agreed to. 1 18 MAY 2021 2 can live as they wish, not held back by prejudice Scottish Parliament or expectations, and where every person can achieve their potential, lifted up by a healthy body Tuesday 18 May 2021 and an educated mind. I want an open and outward-looking Scotland, [The Presiding Officer opened the meeting at not one that blames its neighbours for our 14:00] problems. I want a country that looks to the needs of people next door and around the world, and of First Minister people in the future, and not just to our own interests today. I want a Scotland with people who The Presiding Officer (Alison Johnstone): come together to overcome the enormous Good afternoon. Before we begin, I remind challenges that time throws our way. That would members that social distancing measures are in be my driving philosophy as First Minister. place in the chamber and across the Holyrood campus. I ask that members take care to observe I would start by putting recovery first. The those measures, including when entering and people who are waiting up to three years for leaving the chamber. I also ask members to use mental health treatment need recovery to come only the aisles and walkways to access their seats first. The friends and family of the 1,256 people and when moving around the chamber. who lost their lives in a single year to drugs deserve our attention. Those who are looking for The first item of business is the election of the work cannot wait. Those who are desperate for a Parliament’s nominee for First Minister. A note hip replacement or cancer treatment cannot wait, explaining the procedures that are to be followed nor can those who wait for a good education and this afternoon has been placed on each member’s nor can future generations who want a healthy desk. Information will also be provided in the chat planet. They all deserve our focus, because they function for the members who are taking part cannot wait behind another debate on the remotely. constitution. That is why I would put recovery first. I have received three valid nominations for When no single party has a majority, no one selection of the Parliament’s nominee for First should assume a right to the office of First Minister. I will now announce the nominations in Minister. Most people did not vote for the largest alphabetical order. They are Willie Rennie, party, so it is important that their voices be heard Douglas Ross and Nicola Sturgeon. I will ask each today. I stand for nomination as First Minister with member to speak in support of their candidacy, for great hope, but with a liberal dose of realism. up to five minutes. This country is divided like never before—right After the nominees have spoken, members will down the middle, according to the polls and the be asked to cast their vote for their preferred election. Yet the situation is worse than that: nominee. A separate vote will be called for each hardened supporters on both sides cannot nominee, and members can vote only once. Once understand each other any more. They have all voting has been completed, any member who stopped listening to each other, and the election has not yet voted will be invited to cast a vote to campaign entrenched those differences. The abstain. There will be a short break for a few Scottish National Party’s materials often featured minutes while the result is verified, then I will Boris Johnson more than Nicola Sturgeon. The announce the results of the voting. Conservatives were more interested in attacking A nominee will be elected if an overall majority Labour and the Liberal Democrats than in trying to is obtained. If no majority is obtained, the win over SNP supporters. They both stoked up candidate or candidates with the smallest number people’s fear, which resulted in thousands of of votes will be eliminated. I ask members to note people voting for one extreme for fear of the other. that, if we have a vote between only two In that race to the bottom we lost out, but so did candidates, all that is required is a simple majority the country, as the chasm grew. Ever greater for one of the candidates to be elected. Members radicalisation of the hard-core support on each might wish to record an abstention; no account of side is not sustainable, regardless of whether those votes will be taken in establishing whether a Scotland is part of the United Kingdom, because simple majority has been achieved. we will need the skills and the talents of everyone We will then proceed to a further round of to overcome the enormous challenges that we voting. face. There is an important lesson for those who want 14:02 to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom— especially for the Conservative Party. Many Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD): I want people have yet to make up their minds about Scotland to be a liberal country where everyone 3 18 MAY 2021 4 independence. We must reach out to them and to Our first would be a bill to introduce a victims others, and we must listen, understand and act. In law—a detailed blueprint to overhaul Scotland’s the election campaign, I reached out across the justice system to put victims first. Never again constitutional divide. Anas Sarwar reached out, should those who suffer at the hands of criminals too, but the Conservatives did not. That might feel that the accused gets more support than they have held it together for the Conservatives this do. time, but that strategy will not keep Scotland in the We propose an enterprise bill, to stimulate the United Kingdom, and looking after their economic growth that is needed to propel our Conservative friends through Government country out of the Covid crisis, to protect and contracts, cutting international aid, taking a create jobs in every part of the country and to cavalier approach to Northern Ireland and picking engage with businesses and sectors that have felt fights with Europe does not help, either. Far from ignored for far too long. Never again should being the defenders of the union, the businesses in Scotland’s largest city find out at the Conservatives are the biggest threat to the union. back of 4 on a Friday afternoon, just 48 hours However, Boris Johnson and the Conservatives before they had planned for significant reopening, are not the United Kingdom; it is bigger and better that they would not be moving out of the existing than that. I refuse to walk away from a partnership Covid restrictions. Under the SNP, the spirit of of the peoples of the UK because of the enterprise has been stifled. Under a Scottish Conservatives. I am here to work for a liberal Conservative Administration, it would be fostered country—an open, internationalist, reformed, and encouraged. caring, fair and green country that is packed with We would also introduce a right to rehab and opportunity for everyone, no matter their recovery by enshrining in law the right to access background. That is the country that I want to live residential rehabilitation services. Never again can in, and that is the country that I will always work a Scottish First Minister take their eye off the ball for. as drug