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As it stands, the Labour Government has chosen to save British Steel, but not Grangemouth; fund carbon capture in England, but not in Aberdeen; support artificial intelligence in Cambridge, but not in Edinburgh; and impose austerity measures across the UK, which the Scottish National Party Government has spent £1.2 billion on mitigating so that Scotland is the only place in the UK where child poverty levels are going down, not up.

Does the cabinet secretary agree that fiscal autonomy will allow the Scottish Government to fundamentally rebalance the economy—

In 2023, more than 58,000 overseas care workers came to the UK on skilled worker visas, representing nearly half of all new entrants to the social care workforce. Following the UK Government’s announcement of its proposed immigration reforms, Unison’s general secretary said:

“The NHS and the care sector would have collapsed long ago without the thousands of workers who’ve come to the UK from overseas.”

Does the minister share my concern that the UK Government’s decision to restrict recruitment from abroad will leave many providers with staff shortages?

—to deliver for the people of Scotland?

Will the cabinet secretary advise what support is provided to the board of NHS Grampian at level 4 of the escalation framework? Will he advise when the board will set out a recovery plan to deliver an improved position with that support?

We have heard today that palliative care should be increased and that we should have better palliative care. Does the member agree that assisted dying is not instead of palliative care? It is not a case of either/or—it should be “and”. We should have decent and good palliative care, as well as the right to decide on assisted dying.

I understand that the EIS noted in February that the number of violent incidents in schools has increased steadily since the onset of UK Government-imposed austerity. That is a further example of the harm that UK Government policies cause in Scotland. Will the cabinet secretary outline what steps the Scottish Government is taking to tackle the sustained impact of austerity on our young people?

Will the First Minister comment on the importance of a just transition for energy workers? I say to Conservative members that I do not find it funny.

It is an honour to speak in today’s debate commemorating the 80th anniversary of VE day, as we remember the sacrifices that made VE day possible.

The First Minister said today that we all naturally think about how the lives of our own families were affected by the war. The stories that have come from across the chamber today have reflected that.

My first thoughts are of my granddad, Private James Dunbar. He served with the Gordon Highlanders and was captured with the 51st Highland division at St Valery. When granddad left home to serve his country, my dad was just weeks old. After years as a prisoner of war—of which he rarely spoke later—victory in Europe meant that he got home safe. He got home to my granny and their bairns, including my dad, who was by then five years old and had no memory of ever meeting his dad, so to him it was a first meeting. My granddad got to enjoy the peace and freedoms that he fought for and he got to see his children and grandchildren grow up with those.

That was not the case for thousands of others who served during that war, including 57,000 Scots. Today, as we remember those who lost their lives during world war two and those who contributed to the war effort across that time, I urge folk also to reflect on what they fought for.

VE day was a victory for democracy. It ensured freedoms for folk across Europe. In its aftermath, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was agreed and concerted efforts were made to maintain and build on what was secured with the end of that long and bloody war. There was a recognition that peace for their time was not enough and that building a lasting peace is an on-going process.

Scotland has enjoyed 80 years of peace since then, but across the world we are seeing democracy, human rights and basic freedoms increasingly under threat. We cannot afford to just paper over the cracks. We owe it to those who sacrificed so much to make peace happen in the first place to ensure that it continues for decades more to come.

We also owe it to them, and to the veterans who since then have helped to maintain that peace, to ensure that we look after those who served and their families. Charities such as Poppyscotland, Legion Scotland, Forces Children Scotland and many others go above and beyond to ensure that people do not slip through the support net that we have in place. They support and stand up for everyone who is part of the armed forces family. I put on record my appreciation for the work that they do.

I finish on the point that, 80 years on from VE day, there are not many veterans from world war two left. The youngest, who would have been just teenagers at the end of the war, are nearing 100 years of age. The second world war is fading from living memory. The next few years will be the last chance that we have to hear about world war two at first hand, rather than just reading about it in history books. I hope that folk will take that chance to speak to the veterans that we have left, not just about what they did, but about why they did it, why it was so important to win that war and why it is so important that we build peace and commit to not repeating the mistakes of the past. Their legacy is the peace that they secured and built on, and we need to ensure that that legacy is passed on to generations to come.

Harbour Energy, which is the largest independent oil and gas firm in the North Sea and is based in my Aberdeen Donside constituency, has announced that it will cut around 250 onshore jobs in Scotland. It has put the blame squarely at the feet of the Labour United Kingdom Government and its policies.

Successive UK Governments have ignored warnings about job losses and treated Aberdeen as a cash cow, and efforts to deliver a just transition are being undermined. What assessment has the Scottish Government made of the on-going situation? Will the First Minister join me in writing to the UK Government to urge it to take the action that is required to support jobs in Scotland’s energy sector—[Interruption.]

To ask the Scottish Government when it last engaged with the United Kingdom Government on the subject of food security. (S6O-04611)